Carbonate Hardiness?

Can your carbonate hardiness be too high?

Lesley

 

You want less than 12 dkh. What you got?

 

14. What do we have to do to lower it?

 

I think it would be fine for now, how is your ph? It should drop soon on its own.

 

pH is approx 8.0-8.2

 

14 can be fine... a lot of people run their tanks constantly at that number.

WHen you say 14, I'm guessing you're saying dKH.


Anyway, the point is it is a ratio between your Alk (Carbonate Hardness), Calcium, and Magnesium.

So post those numbers too and then we'll know if 14 is too high.

FYI - I run at 11 dKH, 420 Ca, 1450 Mg. I would run 12, 450, 1500, but I can't seem to get it any higher than this, so I just maintain at these numbers...

 

we done 5 ga water change yesterday with ro/di (we have a 54g tank, 5 ga water changes once a week). I do not have a test for mag however the KH is 14 dkh and Ca is 380

 

Carbonate hardness (alkalinity) is more important than Calcium in my understanding. Too high or low really impacts coral growth/health. 14 is on the upper end of safe from my understanding but as long as your magnesium and calcium levels are balanced with that alk level then it should be fine. Some people maintain 14-15 dkh to get the best growth out of their stony corals because alk apparently affects growth rates more than calcium does, as long as calcium is over 360 I belive coral will continue to thrive.

I try and maintain 8-11 dkh as the outer ranges personally and specifically 9-10 to give myself and my test kits some wiggle room on boths sides of the safe zone.

Here's an article for a little more reading. Lots of other good chemistry stuff on the site as well if you want to browse/google around it.
Calcium and Alkalinity by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

Thank you for the information it was helpful!

 

I run mine between 13 and 15 but keep my Ca around 500. Just leave the tank be and it will consume it over time and come down.