dkh gone through the ROOF!!! HELP!

hunted

Member
My ph has been low so i've been buffering for that, and when I checked my hardness it was at 160mg/l how do i fix this, through water changes or what
 

ophiura

Active Member
First off, if you take a reading too soon after buffering, that can impact things. That being said...perhaps I am missing something, but that seems to be an acceptible value?? It wouldn't surprise me if I am missing something though...
What were your calcium and alkalinity readings before you started buffering?
 

hunted

Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
First off, if you take a reading too soon after buffering, that can impact things. That being said...perhaps I am missing something, but that seems to be an acceptible value?? It wouldn't surprise me if I am missing something though...
What were your calcium and alkalinity readings before you started buffering?
It's a day after i buffer.
My calcium is 440,dkh 125 mg/l And I just checked my ph and it's reading 7.74
 

ophiura

Active Member
There are several reasons that pH can be low and it may not have to do with your buffering. What is your circulation, and do you have glass tops on the tank?
 

hunted

Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
There are several reasons that pH can be low and it may not have to do with your buffering. What is your circulation, and do you have glass tops on the tank?
I have no glass tops, and my canopy is running three computer fans to drive the heat from the lights. My circulation is exellent, both my returns are hooked up to a 1100 gph each, and I also have two 1100 gph power heads on each side of the tank.
 

hunted

Member
Originally Posted by halcyon_diver
are you sure your not thinking ppm?
160 ppm = 3.2 meg/l or 8.96 dkh
Well in this booklet that came with the test kit they are discribing mg/l = to (ppm). But it also says that 105 - 125 mg/l is ideal for salt water, and it says that anything above 125 mg/l is not good and mine is at 165 mg/l.
 

ophiura

Active Member
What test kit is that? For a reef tank, IMO, you are fine in that range and as mentioned could probably bump it.
Do you have an air pump? If so, take a gallon of tank water and vigorously aerate it for 24 hours. Take a reading of its pH before and after to see if it changes. If it does, you have a gas exchange issue.
 

bencc

Member
I just posted the exact same problem. My PH is at 7.7 and my KH is through the roof. I was buffering trying to get the PH up and in the process jacked my KH way up and PH is still at 7.7
 

hunted

Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
What test kit is that? For a reef tank, IMO, you are fine in that range and as mentioned could probably bump it.
Do you have an air pump? If so, take a gallon of tank water and vigorously aerate it for 24 hours. Take a reading of its pH before and after to see if it changes. If it does, you have a gas exchange issue.
Ya I think thats what I'm going to have to do, because during the day while my gas furnice is is keeping the house temp at 22 deg C and there is more going on with myself my wife and my three dogs, there is definetly less oxy, in the air, and my furnice is down stairs as well as my tank, plus I have my calcium reactor return going in by my skimmer. I read a really good artical last night on ph and dkh, and it was mentioned to aerate a gallon of water in the house for a couple of hours and check if the ph changes , and than aerate a gallon with outside air if it don't change with the inside air and does with the outside air than the c02 inside is high. If that is the case I will run two line from outdoors to my skimmer. I really can't open any windows right now because it is -20 - -30 deg C outside.
The reason why I say this is because during the day my ph drops while the lights are on and at night the ph rises with the light s off, this is backwards

Plus the reason why I think this may be the problem is because I have that much water movement through my tank It has to be getting aerated, I hope anyway

There is a power head in the top right and one on the bottom left, and two returns left and right in the centre, here are some pics. AND THANKS FOR THE HELP EVERYONE.



 

wattsupdoc

Active Member
The air lines ran outside will probably cure the problem.
You can measure hardness as DKH, MG/L OR MEG/L thay all are different representations for the same value.
 

hunted

Member
Originally Posted by wattsupdoc
The air lines ran outside will probably cure the problem.
You can measure hardness as DKH, MG/L OR MEG/L thay all are different representations for the same value.
I will run the lines tommorow and post if it worked or not. thanks all
 

hunted

Member
Originally Posted by MilkMan
Your using the Hagen Test kit correct. How many drops are you counting untill the color changes?
Yes it's a hagen kit. The last test i did was 16 drops....
 

sharkbait9

Active Member
Originally Posted by Hunted
Yes it's a hagen kit. The last test i did was 16 drops....
That test kits is really a POS, like someone else said. I used that kit once when I ran out of salifert.
That test kit was so off it was not even funny, it got me so upset and scared that my CA reactor was going nuts, I shut down the unit and ran to the LFS that test with salifert and everything was fine. Two test on the salifert and a retest on the hagon. The hagon test was so high. Trusting hagon test kits is like trusting a serial killer with a gun in a crowd.
I put hagon test in the same line up as red sea, pure garbage. I would trust APP test before those.
 
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