Alkalinity High !!! 14+ dKh !!!

nano reefer

nano reefer

Active Member
My alkalinity is crazy high in my 55 reef. The test this morning showed 14.1 dkh. In my cube it is 11. In my 55 reef my calcium is perfect but mag is only 1260 ppm. My LFS guy said if your magnesium is low then alkalinity is high. But, my magnesium is only a little low and my alkalinity is sky rocketing. What causes high alkalinity and how do i eliminate the source?
 
trigger11

trigger11

Member
A few things come to mind.
The magnesium level is barely low so I dont believe that is the issue. Although it wouldnt hurt to bump it up a bit.
Have you done any water changes recently? If so then what was the source of the water you used? RO or tap? Did you recently change water sources at all?
If you havent done a water change in quite a while then I would suggest doing one. That should get the alkalinity lowered and raise the mag level at the same time.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
bionic won't get you that high if dosed properly
what are your test kit dates (each bottle?) also, their instructions are a little off...
this picture shows the coloration changes, the instructions say to go to the last color, but the owner of salifert says to go to the second to the last (on the right) color.
if you go all the way, it adds approximately 1.3dkh
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
the reason i asked what the dates are is, while a lot of false high readings are user error by reading the crappy instructions, there is one lot of test kits that actually are bad. they claim to have most, if not all, of those test kits back though.
 
G

garychef1

Guest
the batch is good until 2012. The batches are: KH-ind batch is 0407-H and my KH batch is 0207-D.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
ok, you have newer kits. the bad ones were from 1106. you *may* still want to go to their website and request a control sample. the next batch is going out soon. it will be a bottle of water that is at 10dkh so you can use your test kit and see if it is bad or good.
also, do not leave the bottles open. That's how i ruined mine. i was getting readings of over 16dkh
 
G

garychef1

Guest
also, (its me) when i fill up the syringe does the back part of the piston touch the 1 ml mark? Lemme reword this, When i hold the 1 ml syringe with the tip up do i fill it so the top of the piston or the bottom?
 
G

garychef1

Guest
i just did a test and when it turned purp the reading showed 13.1 dkh.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
My first suggestion is to get the reading done elsewhere with another brand of test kits.
How do you rinse out the testing containers?
 
G

garychef1

Guest
my LFS said 13.4 a week ago, but now that i think of it he used salifert too. To rinse the containers i run them under the sink in hot water for a few seconds.
 
chilwil84

chilwil84

Active Member
since you are using a 2 part additive and have had your water tested by another source cut back on the alk part till you find a dose that makes up for what your tank is using
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
ok, on that syringe question:
holding the syringe in the container, you want the pointy tip on it, and you suck up the solution until the bottom of the black oring (or if you have a bd plastipak) the bottom of the long black plunger is at the 1ml mark. the air that gets sucked up into the syringe does not matter.
when you get to purple, you then read the number below the black plunger part, and that is what you look at on the chart. don't do any subtraction or anything.

 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
Originally Posted by chilwil84
since you are using a 2 part additive and have had your water tested by another source cut back on the alk part till you find a dose that makes up for what your tank is using

but properly dosed, b-ionic states they can only get your dkh up to 8.
have there been any calcium magnesium or pH tests done?
 
nano reefer

nano reefer

Active Member
calcium is fine, mag is 1350,havent dona a pH test in a while. I have not used the b ionic part 1 for about a month.
 
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