Troubles raising KH

[Douglas]

I'm having issues raising my KH to a desirerable level. I've switched products from B-Ionics to bulk reef Sodium bicarbonate, about 3 months ago, and still can't raise my KH past 6 dKH. With all the instructions i've been reading, i'm still having a very hard time raising the KH. I've increased my doser, and manually added more, but i'm still getting low readings.(brand new test kit). What can i do next? My corals are suffering.

HK today...5.4dKH
Cal....400
mag....350

[Proteus]

Bring mag up first up 1000 points and what's ph

[Douglas]

oops type-0.....

mag at 1350
and Ph at 8.03(daytime), 7.64(nightime)

[Reefer Rob]

Have used a Reef Chemistry Calculator?

[Douglas]

My biggest problem with using a reef calculator like that, is detemining the exact water volume.

Display size + sump size, - the rock amount, to get exact or approx water volume.

I tried that, and added the amount requested, but still get a low KH reading.

[Proteus]

Can I ask what your testing with. API. hanna

If your using API. I have bought one that must have froze at some point and gave me off readings

Could it be so high that your getting a bad reading

[htfn]

Same here except my Ca and Mg are higher than your reading. I'm using IO salt. My Ca is 440 and Mg is 1650, but KH is low as 5.6dkh.

Originally Posted by Douglas

I'm having issues raising my KH to a desirerable level. I've switched products from B-Ionics to bulk reef Sodium bicarbonate, about 3 months ago, and still can't raise my KH past 6 dKH. With all the instructions i've been reading, i'm still having a very hard time raising the KH. I've increased my doser, and manually added more, but i'm still getting low readings.(brand new test kit). What can i do next? My corals are suffering.

HK today...5.4dKH
Cal....400
mag....350

[FragIt Dan]

If your dKh is that low, your corals may be sucking up the carbonates you are adding fairly quickly. If I were in your position, I would confirm your test is accurate and if so, increase your dosing a lot, perhaps doubling it in the short term to get your dkh up. Is this a recent problem? How is it that your dkh is this low... Did you not test for a while? I add ~25grams bicarbonate to ~130gallons/day, although the actual weight is slightly less than that as I convert some bicarbonate to carbonate before i add it. This equates to about 1.5 degrees dkh per day.