DKH Question

What is the optimum and max DKH. My DKH is at 15 and I was told 12 is the max. If it is too high is there anyway to bring it down besides water changes and / or turning off my calcium reactor?

 

8-12 for reefs, higher will take care of algae problems

 

So higher is OK?

 

my dkh is usually 13 and higher and I dont see any problems in my tank.

 

Plants cant grow in high dkh water (hard water)

 

What kind of sw plants are we talking about.
My concern would be mostly fish, inverts & corals.

 

alot of things going on here, algae comes from having to much PO4. reefkeeping.com has a chart for balanced system requiments as far as Ca and dKH with Mg being the buffer. tune your calium reactor to 6.8 Ph on the effluent, adjust your effluent rate to the consumption rate of the tank. the calcium reactor is actually a dKH reactor. changing your effluent rate will change your Ph level unless you redue your CO2 bubble rate. once you get it tuned in no problems. sounds complicated but it isnt. the more CO2 the lower the Ph, the more effluent the lower the Ph with the same CO2 bubble rate. any questions please feel free to email me.

 

Thanks reef guru. Got it. Only thing is my DKH is high (15) and my Calcium is low (400) so I need to get the calc up and the dkh down.

 

i came back in to send a second note, but anyway. the balance between Ca and dKH is rough but simple. the solution of the effluent is balanced. but to high for a tank. my tank parameters are 460 Ca, 14 dKH, 1500 Mg. which is ballanced for the most part. if you have a higher Ca then dKH, then add dKH, the levels will balance. and the opposite holds true according to the specifications on the label. that will only work if the calcium reactor is properly adjusted to the consumption rate of the tank. remember Mg is a buffer if its low the Ca and dKH wil swing alot. everyting has a maximum, i wouldnt go over 500 Ca, its not recommended. the consumption rate is more important. the tank ( corals ) will only consume so much, no need to poison the tank. so if your Ca is 400 and is staying steady, no worries. me personally i dont do water changes. some say its bad. again the consumption rate. if you do regular water changes remember the water being put in should match the same components, then your components will rise. if you do water changes with out adding components to the stock salt, then your components will lower. matter of physics. again simple yet complicated. first things first get your calcium reactor of the effluent of 6.8 Ph. depending on how heavily you tank is stocked with corals will depend on how much effluent comes out. whether its 20cc or 40cc. the Ph should be close to 6.8. most media will melt at that point.

 

OK...I'll keep working on it. The PH in my reactor is 6.5 presently. Any higher than 6.6 and it seems to stop disolving the media.