I can't get my dKh up

[FriedReef TV]

I can't seem to get my dKh above 7. Help? I have a 20 gallon tank that's been running for about 3 months. I have a few soft corals, 4 small fish and some crabs snails and shrimp. temp:79 salinity:1.025 ammonia:0 nitrites:0 nitrates:0 phosphates:0 pH:8.0 dKh:7.0 calc:510 mag:1320
I have a small fan blowing on the surface of the water to help with c02 exchange and lots of surface agitation from my wavemaker. Currently I've been using aqua vitro eight.four to try and raise pH and alkalinity but it seems to always fall back to 8.0 pH and 7 dkh

 

[Crabs McJones]

What test kit are you using to determine your dkh? Possibly an expired test kit? with a low alk and a high calcium you should start seeing your corals get upset.

 

[dwest]

I agree with crabs. I would also wonder how you test salinity.

 

[ylreefer]

I can't seem to get my dKh above 7. Help? I have a 20 gallon tank that's been running for about 3 months. I have a few soft corals, 4 small fish and some crabs snails and shrimp. temp:79 salinity:1.025 ammonia:0 nitrites:0 nitrates:0 phosphates:0 pH:8.0 dKh:7.0 calc:510 mag:1320
I have a small fan blowing on the surface of the water to help with c02 exchange and lots of surface agitation from my wavemaker. Currently I've been using aqua vitro eight.four to try and raise pH and alkalinity but it seems to always fall back to 8.0 pH and 7 dkh

I've had my 20g nano set up for 3 months now to and had a similar issue with low PH and ALK. I do have mostly SPS no softies so Alk/Ca is expected to be used more than your current setting however this may be of help to you.

I had started dosing redsea foundation A/B about 3 weeks ago which increased my ALK from 6.5 to 8.4 @ 0.5dkh perday, however getting the correct balance of CA/ALK wasn't easy.

I've always, used instant ocean reef crystals. On Friday I did a 5g water change with redsea coral pro salt and turned off my Doser (as an experiment). An hour after the wc my DKH was 9.6 and Ca 490.
For the last 3 days, both have steadily gone down as expected and I'll start dosing again once I have the correct figures

The redsea salt seemed to make a big improvement for my tank. [emoji6] Worth a try.

 

[smellytunic]

One way to help figure out if your salt mix is the culprit is to test a fresh mixed batch.

 

[FriedReef TV]

What test kit are you using to determine your dkh? Possibly an expired test kit? with a low alk and a high calcium you should start seeing your corals get upset.

my corals seem ok. I'm using API test kits I know they aren't the most accurate but I'm broke so can't afford anything better

 

[FriedReef TV]

I agree with crabs. I would also wonder how you test salinity.

I have a refractometer

 

[FriedReef TV]

I've had my 20g nano set up for 3 months now to and had a similar issue with low PH and ALK. I do have mostly SPS no softies so Alk/Ca is expected to be used more than your current setting however this may be of help to you.

I had started dosing redsea foundation A/B about 3 weeks ago which increased my ALK from 6.5 to 8.4 @ 0.5dkh perday, however getting the correct balance of CA/ALK wasn't easy.

I've always, used instant ocean reef crystals. On Friday I did a 5g water change with redsea coral pro salt and turned off my Doser (as an experiment). An hour after the wc my DKH was 9.6 and Ca 490.
For the last 3 days, both have steadily gone down as expected and I'll start dosing again once I have the correct figures

The redsea salt seemed to make a big improvement for my tank. [emoji6] Worth a try.

ok I'll look into it thanks

 

[FriedReef TV]

One way to help figure out if your salt mix is the culprit is to test a fresh mixed batch.

ok thank you I'll test next time I water change