Problem too high dKh ?

[stambo3]

Hello,
I have a tank around 150g with soft and LPS corals. There are seven fishes. The tank is one year old and was started with dead rock and sand. 6 months ago I also added live rock and now they are 50-50%. For several months I have had a problem with very high alkalinity 16 dKH. I thought I had the wrong test / Salifert / which showed a maximum dKh, so I also bought an AquaForest test, but it also showed a maximum. I decided it was my fault and ordered a Hanna - readings -- 16.3 dKh.

Parameters:
Calcium- 440 ppm
KH- 16.3 dKH
PH - 7.9-8.0
Magnesium- 1450 ppm
Phosphate- I can't exactly measure it with Salifert
Nitrate------- 40-60 ppm - I am dosing vodka and NO3PO4-X with little success
Ammonia - 0 ppm
The corals are alive but showing no signs of elongation.
Please help how to reduce dKh, to acceptable limits!!!

 

[Kmst80]

Whats your Salinity?
Do you do waterchanges? if yes Source of new Saltwater. Have you tested new Saltwater?
How do you top up for evaporation?
Are you dosing for Alkalinity?

 

[stambo3]

I use AquaForest salt -- AF Sea Salt.
My salinity -- 1025.
The window of the room is constantly open. No one lives in it and yet the Ph is only 8.0 maximum.

 

[stambo3]

Whats your Salinity?
Do you do waterchanges? if yes Source of new Saltwater. Have you tested new Saltwater?
How do you top up for evaporation?
Are you dosing for Alkalinity?

I dose only All-For-Reef 30 ml per day. I rarely change water every 2-3 months by 40%. I manually add RO-DI water, about 1g per day. I have ordered several times from this salt in recent months, I did not think it could be from her and I have not tested it.

 

[Kmst80]

Just looked up all for reef and this is their Dosing Instructions:

Application and dosage
Start with a daily dose of 5 ml of ALL-FOR-REEF per 100 litres (26 US-gal) of aquarium system volume. Increase the daily dosage ? by continuous monitoring of alkalinity ? weekly by 2.5 ml per 100 litres (26 US-gal) of aquarium system volume, until a constant carbonate hardness of 7 to 9 ?dH is reached.

I would stop dosing All for reef and monitor closely Alkalinity Calcium and Magnesium.
Once you get the Alk slowly where you want it start dosing smaller amounts of all for reef and raise as needed to keep alk/cal/mag where you want it.

Eventually i would raise Salinity to be between 1.0256 and 1.0264sg or 34ppt to 35 ppt.

For your Nitrates i would recommend looking into a refugium with some macro algae or you need to do more frequent waterchanges. I would try to get Nitrates under 40 ppm.

 

[stambo3]

Току-що потърсих всичко за риф и това са техните инструкции за дозиране:

Приложение и дозировка
Започнете с дневна доза от 5 ml ALL-FOR-REEF на 100 литра (26 US-gal) обем на аквариумната система. Увеличаване на дневната доза? чрез непрекъснат мониторинг на алкалността? седмично по 2,5 ml на 100 литра (26 US-gal) обем на аквариумната система, докато се достигне постоянна карбонатна твърдост от 7 до 9 ?dH.

Бих спрял дозирането на All for reef и бих наблюдавал внимателно алкалността на калция и магнезия.
След като получите Alk бавно там, където искате, започнете да дозирате по-малки количества от всичко за риф и го повишавайте, ако е необходимо, за да задържите alk/cal/mag там, където искате.

В крайна сметка бих повишил солеността до между 1,0256 и 1,0264sg или 34ppt до 35 ppt.

За вашите нитрати бих препоръчал да потърсите рефугиум с някои макро водорасли или трябва да правите по-честа смяна на водата. Бих се опитал да накарам нитратите под 40 ppm.

Thank you.
I followed the instructions, my tank is 600 liters. I dose a minimum of 30 ml. and I haven't picked it up because of the high alkalinity. For the last 2 weeks I have not dosed anything at all and the alkalinity has not decreased. I have a refugium with Chaetomorpha but it is not growing at all. I had set up Donovan's Nitrate Destroyer with which I was able to get the nitrates down to 5-10 ppm. Unfortunately, it clogs frequently and I no longer use it. I also used 5kg of dead coral as media which is now in the sump with the idea of helping with nitrate reduction. Could these dead corals be raising my alkalinity?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If the alk measurement is accurate, definitely stop dosing AFR or any other alkalinity supplement. ALWAYS dose AFR based on alkalinity (IMO).

Did you use tap water to make new salt water and/or water changes?

Tap water can contain a lot of alkalinity. Sometimes more than seawater.

A big nitrate drop will add alkalinity. How much did nitrate drop and was alk high before that? 2.3 dKH of alk is added for each 50 ppm of nitrate decline by denitrator.

 

[stambo3]

If the alk measurement is accurate, definitely stop dosing AFR or any other alkalinity supplement. ALWAYS dose AFR based on alkalinity (IMO).

Did you use tap water to make new salt water and/or water changes?

Tap water can contain a lot of alkalinity. Sometimes more than seawater.

A big nitrate drop will add alkalinity. How much did nitrate drop and was alk high before that? 2.3 dKH of alk is added for each 50 ppm of nitrate decline by denitrator.

Thank you.
I have always used RO-DI water.
For the last 2 weeks I have not dosed anything at all and the alkalinity has not decreased. Every day I dose vodka and the nitrates vary between 40-60 ppm since I don't have a dosing pump and only dose manually in the morning. But the alkalinity remains always high. The denitrator is not working at the moment as it has clogged twice and I have removed it. I dispense vodka into the return pump compartment.

 

[Kmst80]

Test your new saltwater.Maybe the Saltbatch is no good. Test your salinity with a second method.
If you do small frequent waterchanges you should get alk down as well as nitrates, I mean like 5% daily until your alk has come down.