Help With KH

[Madreefer]

So it turned off the kalk reactor and shut off my ph monitor for the calcium reactor. The effluent is still going. Well nothing has changed in the alk. Should I shut off the effluent? I also checked my test kit with some freshly mixed IO and it tested at what it is supposed to be at so the test kit is not the problem. What next? Should I be concerned with a kh of 15? It has been like this for 2 years. The old saying "if it aeint broke don't fix it" So is it broke?

[untamed]

Yes, 15dkh is too high and you should fix it...slowly You're overdosing on Ca/Alk. Shut off your Ca reactor and Kalk and monitor the alk daily. It will come down.

Shutting off the Ca reactor means stopping the flow through it completely. If you just reduce the flow, you might actually INCREASE the output of the reactor. Restart it once the tank Alk is down to 9 or so. Then check the alk the next day to see that it is staying at that level.

If the alk starts to rise again, you'll have to dial back that Ca reactor. Run it at higher pH.

[Madreefer]

Thanks guys. I turned it right off now. The calcium actually went up to 440.

[Madreefer]

Ok so got my kh down to 10 and have been maintaining that for about a 2 weeks with my calcium reactor back on line. Now my cal is at 360 and i'm running my mag a liitle high right now at 1500. I have yet to put my kalk reactor back on line. If I do will it bring up my calcium and make my alk to high again? My calcium reactor is set at 20 bubbles per minute and the effluent is at 40ml per minute. Any suggestions on tweeking the calcium reactor?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Madreefer

Thanks Myka! Can you look at my last post as things have changed for the better and now just looking to tweek the calcium reactor and if I should put the kalk reactor back on line. Sorry, forgot to mention. Since my first post I have switched new test kits. Elos now for KH

You're welcome. How much difference did you find between the Elos and Salifert?

Originally Posted by Madreefer

Ok so got my kh down to 10 and have been maintaining that for about a 2 weeks with my calcium reactor back on line. Now my cal is at 360 and i'm running my mag a liitle high right now at 1500. I have yet to put my kalk reactor back on line. If I do will it bring up my calcium and make my alk to high again? My calcium reactor is set at 20 bubbles per minute and the effluent is at 40ml per minute. Any suggestions on tweeking the calcium reactor?

Is that 10 dKH with the Elos? You should aim to be in the 7's for dKH with an Elos kit. Turn off the reactor for a day or a few (depending how many corals you have) to lower the alkalinity further.

Calcium and alkalinity won't magically balance themselves just by turning the reactors off or on. Both calcium and kalk reactors add calcium and alkalinity in fairly balanced amounts, so turning these reactors on or off will raise or drop both elements at a fairly even rate. You can't get either of these reactors to just dose one element, the reactors dose both simultaneously.

You need to dose calcium manually to bring it up around 400-420 ppm to be in balance with the alkalinity in the 7's. Kent Turbo Calcium or Fauna Marin Calcium chloride are two of my favourite calcium products. For alkalinity Seachem Reef buffer 8.3 and Fauna Marin Sodium bicarbonate are my two favourite alkalinity products. You should have a calcium and alkalinity product on hand at all times as calcium and alkalinity will get out of balance on occasion and need to be manually dosed to avoid situations like you have now. There will be times when you will need to dose alkalinity to bump it up a tad to keep it in balance, and there will be times (like now) that you need to dose calcium to bring it into balance.

You understand what I mean by balanced calcium and alkalinity?

If you go test calcium and alklinity right now, then dose calcium to bring it up by 25 ppm or so, then test alkalinity again you will find that the alkalinity will have dropped a bit. By dosing the calcium that is needed you will help to bring the alkalinity down as well.

[Madreefer]

I did not test between the 2 test kits. I want my kh where it is right now. I just want to bump my calcium up tp 420. I don't dose with anything and never have, other than some Zeo products. Maybe I'm misunderstanding things. Is that not what the calcium reactor and kalk reactor does? If it matters my SPS are really hairy with polyp extension.

[Myka]

Why do you want your KH at 10 dKH? In order to have a balanced calcium and alkalinity you would need to keep your calcium close to 430 ppm.

Balanced Calcium and Alkalinity: (as per Randy Holmes-Farley)

360 ppm to 0 dKH
370 ppm to 1.4 dKH
380 ppm to 2.8 dKH
390 ppm to 4.2 dKH
400 ppm to 5.6 dKH
410 ppm to 7 dKH (natural seawater)
420 ppm to 8.4 dKH
430 ppm to 9.8 dKH
440 ppm to 11.2 dKH
450 ppm to 12.6 dKH
460 ppm to 14 dKH

Calcium and Alkalinity need to be kept in balance for optimal absorption by corals and inverts. Keeping the levels elevated (in comparison to NSW values) the only thing you will accomplish is a greater rate of calcium precipitation in such places as powerheads, pumps, heaters, etc where heat is added to the equation. Elevated levels will not increase the rate of absorption by corals, that's an old reefer's tale. The balance of calcium and alkalinity to build corals is similar to the balance of calcium and phosphorus to build human bones - insufficient balance will lead to osteoporosis.

Calcium and kalk reactors for the primary dosing of calcium and alkalinity, but they are not perfect. They will not provide calcium and alkalinity in perfect balance, and reefs will not absorb in perfect balance. The balance will get misaligned over time with one of the elements getting either too high or too low. This is why testing on a regular basis is required...technology (dosers, reactors, drips, etc) has not been able to take the place of test kits yet. Reactors are not set and forget, neither are dosing pumps, neither are any sort of calcium and alkalinity supplementation. Is that more clear?