Just did my First DKH test and....

[mimi117]

Hi yall.

Just did my first DKH test with the Salifert Testing Kit (was pretty cool)

I am keeping a journal and will be testing DKH for a week to see how my levels go down each day, test registered at 10.9 dkh, I did a 20% water change yesterday evening.

I also set my tank up with a doser (chihiros) and I have my kalkwasser mix all set up (1/2 tsp) per gallon to start with.

I am also going to carbon dose w/ White Vinegar soon to test if it has any effect on anything, I do have a few test corals in my tank now, a few acans, some zoanthids.

I am dosing 1M each a day of Restor and Recover from Brightwell, since I ordered some frags online they came in very stressed and I believe those two additives are helping as they are starting to puff up more each day now.

Main reason I want to dose Kalkwasser is to get my PH up, now I know there is a lot of mixed feelings about not even testing for ph or (chasing that number) but I am trying to replicate natural sea water as much as possible, eventually I do want to keep acro's, right now I sit at a steady 7.8ph all day and hoping to get that to 8.3

The goal is to keep dkh and ph as stable as possible, as from what I am reading (it doesn't really matter what your parameters are as long as they are stable) this idea makes sense since every tank is different, some do good with 7-8dkh, some do good with higher dkh, some do better is lower ph, some higher.

So my question is, is it possible to dose the kalk to get my ph to 8.3 (stable) without affecting my dkh to increase too much?

Thanks for your help reefers!

 

[tbrown]

Have you tested your source Saltwater for alkalinity?

With the listed corals there isn't going to be much of a drain on alkalinity so dosing Kalk may not be helpful.

Vinegar doesn't have much of an effect on alkalinity in my experience, but it is an acid so it will potentially drop it some. Nowhere near what Muriatic acid does though. With that said, dosing vinegar is an acid and will lower the pH somewhat, so that may also be counterproductive to your pH stability question. Why are you wanting to dose vinegar? Are you seeing high nitrates?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The pH boost of kalk depends entirely on how much alk is dosed. In a low alk demand situation, it cannot do much for pH.

 

[mimi117]

Hi @tbrown

Yea for now, the kalk dosing is mainly to stabilize or try to stabilize ph to 8.3 as opposed to maintaining dkh, I do regular water changes so dkh in the long run should be good.

As far as my nitrates, I have an API test kit (i know gross) - I am looking to buy a Hannah nitrate tester.

My nitrates are around 20 ppm, which isn't bad, and actually I am not upset about it, but I would like to get it down to around 10 ppm.

Now last week , I was feeding heavy, since - I have cut that down to 2 moderate feedings a day, but these fish are savages and want to eat a lot lol.

So I want to continue feeding heavy and more frequent as the tank matures and as I get more corals, so to combat that I want to dose the white vinegar.

Hope that makes sense.

(edit - yes, I will test the source salt water alk myself, I mix it myself :) good idea!)

 

[mimi117]

The pH boost of kalk depends entirely on how much alk is dosed. In a low alk demand situation, it cannot do much for pH.

Randy I have a small 1500 ml container, I tested the PH of it yesterday, its registering at 12.2

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The point is, unless you NEED a lot of alk, you should not add a lot of alk, and without adding a lot of alk, there will be not much pH boost from the added kalk, regardless of the pH in the dosing container (which will always be in the 12's). :)

 

[mimi117]

I see what you are saying, only way to see what it does is to test, I appreciate all yalls input! I'll report back :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I see what you are saying, only way to see what it does is to test, I appreciate all yalls input! I'll report back :)

That's not exactly what I said.

No need to test as it won't work usefully to raise pH unless you have a substantial amount of alkalinity demand, and no new tank has such demand. That demand comes from growing hard corals. The more you have and the faster they are growing, the higher the alk demand.

 

[mimi117]

I made a batch of salt water yesterday, at 1.024-1.025, DKH reading came back at 15.2!

I use Ocean Reef Crystals they are known to have high DKH, a reading of my display was 10.9, that's a pretty big difference. I know my corals aren't consuming that much.

I wonder if maybe smaller water changes is the play here to minimize swings.

 

[Shirak]

I made a batch of salt water yesterday, at 1.024-1.025, DKH reading came back at 15.2!

I use Ocean Reef Crystals they are known to have high DKH, a reading of my display was 10.9, that's a pretty big difference. I know my corals aren't consuming that much.

I wonder if maybe smaller water changes is the play here to minimize swings.

Could find a salt which matches your alkalinity goal.

 

[mimi117]

Yeah, looks like I am going to have to, 15.2 is wild!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Might be a test issue as well. What test did you use?

 

[mimi117]

Salifert.

I'll retest in a while, both the tank and the fresh made water to see if there are any inconsistencies.

 

[DanP-SD]

I think many experienced reef keepers will focus on stable dkh (preferably in the 8.0-9.5 range) and not try to manage ph but look at it as another data point. If it measures low, first make sure your measurements are trustworthy. Investing in a good digital ph pen and calibration solutions will help ensure you’re working with good data. But if you are and you find that your ph is staying below 8 when your dkh is stable and at or above natural sea water levels, I would consider gasses as a potential driver.

CO2 buildup in your house can significantly impact ph. Try opening windows while monitoring ph to see if it makes a difference. You can also install a simple CO2 scrubber on your protein skimmer air intake or route the air intake to pull outside air (assuming the skimmer is close to a window or otherwise can access outside air). I haven’t had this issue personally because I live in a warm climate where our windows are open all year but there are many reports on this forum and elsewhere of hobbyists who have documented significant bumps to ph by taking these simple steps. I think BRS TV even posted some data on it — albeit connected with a pitch to sell CO2 scrubbers.

That said, I wouldn’t chase a set ph number. As long as it’s close to 8 and the overnight drops are a few tenths or less from the daytime peaks, I’d focus on stable dkh. If you see that the daytime ph is good but you have big overnight drops, a refugium with lights on at night would help by driving photosynthesis during the night. Photosynthesis absorbs CO2 and produces O2. Respiration does the opposite. Without a night-illuminated refugium, our tanks are all respiration and no photosynthesis during the night so ph will naturally drop.

 

[mimi117]

Yea 10-4 on that @DanP-SD.

I don't have a fuge setup since its an AIO tank, I don't run a protein skimmer yet, but I have it on the good ol amazon list and will probably be purchasing one in the next few days.

 

[DanP-SD]

Yea 10-4 on that @DanP-SD.

I don't have a fuge setup since its an AIO tank, I don't run a protein skimmer yet, but I have it on the good ol amazon list and will probably be purchasing one in the next few days.

Just adding a skimmer might raise your ph a few tenths of a point. Beside their filtration function, skimmers along with surface agitation in the tank are a primary source of oxygenation. Until you get a skimmer, I’d make sure you have a powerhead or return outlet pointing high enough to create surface agitation in the tank.

 

[DanP-SD]

Just adding a skimmer might raise your ph a few tenths of a point. Beside their filtration function, skimmers along with surface agitation in the tank are a primary source of oxygenation. Until you get a skimmer, I’d make sure you have a powerhead or return outlet pointing high enough to create surface agitation in the tank.

Also, you can set up a refugium with an AIO tank.

 

[mimi117]

100% on that @DanP-SD, both my return pumps point to the surface, and I have a Hygger Nano wave maker on wave mode 100% power at highest frequency and it constantly is creating a wave pattern near the pump head!

As far as refugium, I have considered it since I have room but the only compartment I have room in now is the main compartment where the 2 returns are, unless I move my mechanical filtration from 2nd baffle over to where the return pumps are, then I'd have room to throw some cheato in that 2nd baffle, what do you think @DanP-SD ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just adding a skimmer might raise your ph a few tenths of a point. Beside their filtration function, skimmers along with surface agitation in the tank are a primary source of oxygenation. Until you get a skimmer, I’d make sure you have a powerhead or return outlet pointing high enough to create surface agitation in the tank.

On the counterpoint, however, a skimmer can also lower pH when put into a high CO2 environment.

 

[mimi117]

Yea, I am going to buy one of those home c02 readers to see where our levels are, I would be surprised if they were under 1k