Dkh Low - high PH and normal Ca and Mg

[Keen4]

I can’t figure out what’s going on with my alkalinity. I’ve been dosing Kent Pro Buffer yo raise it. Not working. It’s stabilizing at 6.4- then I dosed magnesium from Brightwell and got that up to nearly 1400ppm. Didn’t think I needed to dose my Ca because it was at 450. My ph is 8.7
I just bought Brightwell code A today. Let’s see if that works. Any suggestions? I’m afraid to dose baking soda or powder - I forget which I e Randy says works good. I do t want to fluke over dose my tank again like I did with the disodium phosphates

 

[blasterman]

Want to raise alk? Then use baking soda and the online reef calculator.

You've illustrated why I hate pre diluted reef dosers. I dont even know what kent buffer is or what it does. I also don't know what brightfull code b is, though I assume it's a more dedicated sodium bicarbonate formula. Still, I have no idea what dilution it is.

However, when I use the online reef calculator and plug in my tank size it tells me exactly how many teaspoons I need of baking soda to use. No variables....no mystery. It just does what I want for a fraction the price. As long as I trust my test kit I can't screw it up. Before somebody makes a comment about the purity of grocery store baking soda please supply me with ICP results of kent buffer and brightwell.

Also need to confirm your test kit is indeed working right. I prefer salifert for accuracy, reliability and price.

 

[Keen4]

Want to raise alk? Then use baking soda and the online reef calculator.

You've illustrated why I hate pre diluted reef dosers. I dont even know what kent buffer is or what it does. I also don't know what brightfull code b is, though I assume it's a more dedicated sodium bicarbonate formula. Still, I have no idea what dilution it is.

However, when I use the online reef calculator and plug in my tank size it tells me exactly how many teaspoons I need of baking soda to use. No variables....no mystery. It just does what I want for a fraction the price. As long as I trust my test kit I can't screw it up. Before somebody makes a comment about the purity of grocery store baking soda please supply me with ICP results of kent buffer and brightwell.

Also need to confirm your test kit is indeed working right. I prefer salifert for accuracy, reliability and price.

Thanks man. I just did my tests again after a 10% water change. Dkh went up .6 ppm- it was at 9 on Feb 23rd. Then declined from then till now.
Mg 1150-1160 per salifert (I believe this is why dkh is so low)
Ca 430-440 per salifert test kit
Dkh 7.0 per Hanna Test
PH 8.7 per Hanna test
Salinity 1.026
The Brightwell buffer I have is Reef Code A and it’s a calcium and Alkalinity (which this nor any other buffer can be used until Mg is at 1290-1320) The Kent pro buffer is also an Alkaline buffer. But my mg was really low so I’m gonna raise the Mg with my Brightwell Magnesion first then go from there to adjust the dkh.

 

[arking_mark]

I can’t figure out what’s going on with my alkalinity. I’ve been dosing Kent Pro Buffer yo raise it. Not working. It’s stabilizing at 6.4- then I dosed magnesium from Brightwell and got that up to nearly 1400ppm. Didn’t think I needed to dose my Ca because it was at 450. My ph is 8.7
I just bought Brightwell code A today. Let’s see if that works. Any suggestions? I’m afraid to dose baking soda or powder - I forget which I e Randy says works good. I do t want to fluke over dose my tank again like I did with the disodium phosphates

Assuming your measurements are correct, which may be a bad assumption, your tank is out of balance.

I recommend you stop dosing multiple products and do several larger water changes with a quality salt over the next couple of weeks.

 

[Keen4]

Assuming your measurements are correct, which may be a bad assumption, your tank is out of balance.

I recommend you stop dosing multiple products and do several larger water changes with a quality salt over the next couple of weeks.

Ok- So I have been using Coral Pro salt by Redsea since day 1. I'll just keep doing water changes then. and forget about dosing Mg I suppose. My anemones were so happy- they're looking very upset right now. Shrinking tentacles after each water change ive been doing. and DKH is still not raising.

 

[Keen4]

So update: dkh never went up after several water changes. If anything by GsP started to get really upset and all faded away and died. My bta’s keep splitting from all of the swings. Everyone else is thriving. Zoas look great, devils hand looks amazing. Everyone is fine except the gsp. I’ve managed to save what little I could. I finally just bit the bullet and got a red sea doser2 to do a 2 part dosing of red sea foundation A & B.