Low DKH please help!

I decided to do some water testing after a chalice frag i purchased from jason fox started to recede. I put it into complete shade and low flow hoping it will heal. Cyano (red and green) has been growing in the display tank which is unusual. I havent changed the RODI filter carttridges in about 8 months of 10 gallon weekly water changes + topoff. I do not have a TDS meter at the moment.

Just did some water testing

PH = 8.4
DKH = 5.5 or 6
Ammonia = 0
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0
Calcium = 440
Magnesium = 1425
Phosphate = 0
Salinity = 1.0235

I have the solutions made up for BRS recipe 2. I have never used it before because water changes have kept my levels in check. If I add any sodium carbonate my Ph will go up higher. I need to do something because my alk is so low.

What should i do to increase alk but decrease Ph at the same time?

Please let me know.. thanks for your help

 

bbrian

1stly that salinity is a bit on the low side - increasing that slowly to 1.025- 1.026 would help maintain parameters in the long term ( with a low salinity its harder to keep all the ions you target in the solution)

2ndly PH
do you test your PH at night? in many cases there is a natural drop in PH during darkness
due to extra CO2 being present from the respiration of any plant and algae matter in tank

so dosing an alk supplement that does increase PH is best done during darkness IMO

Trying to increase the dkh to quickly can have negative effects - corals suffer from it
so do not increase your DKH by more than 1 in any 24 hour period

I would go even safer than that, and take 2 days to go from 6 - 7 and then another 2 days to increase from 7 - 8

I would replace evaporated water in the mean time with , saltwater in order to increase your SG and continue to do this so that it slowly increases to 1.025

Steve

 

Thanks steve

I just tested the ph during daylight hours for my tank. I have tested it a lot of other times during the day and the highest its ever been was 8.3 so now i am a bit worried.

 

I would not be overly worried about the PH at this point bbrian

often in cases like this a faulty test kit is found to be the root cause
for example if the lid has not been screwed on fully tight some evaporation can occur
causing the concentration of the liquid to increase and thus giving a false high reading when kit is used


Steve

 

Thank you steve.. i will start increasing my dkh tonight after lights out

 

i thought that BRS 2 part recipe 2 did lower PH and recipe 1 raised PH. if you have recipe 2, you should be able to increase DKH without raising PH.