Keeping A Stable Kh Level?

[Fingers68]

Hi Folks

Just bought a test for KH level, my tank is reading around 8.6

Acording to the net and the test this should be more like 7 - 8.

So how can i reduce it a little and hope is it kept stable.?

 

[rabbut]

Natural sea water is KH 7-8dKH, but most reefers aim for 10-11dKH if they have a hard coral reef. 8.6 is no problem at all, let it be Stability is key, if it moves a lot, the corals go on a strop IMBE

 

[Fingers68]

Natural sea water is KH 7-8dKH, but most reefers aim for 10-11dKH if they have a hard coral reef. 8.6 is no problem at all, let it be Stability is key, if it moves a lot, the corals go on a strop IMBE

Cheers Rabbut,

How can I keep it stable and if it does go pear shaped what can you do to fix it?

 

[rabbut]

Well, I would't touch the Alk (KH) in a soft coral or fish only system personally, as it shouldn't move unless the salt you are using for waterchanges hasn't been mixed properly For a hard coral reef, I'd look at Magnesium and Calsium levels also before moving anything. If Mg is low, buffer that one, then the Alk and then Ca. Sodium Bicrabonate is usualy used for raising Alk, cooked or uncooked. Just bear in mind though that it will lower the pH if used uncooked, so you want to dose it in small ammounts, and drip it into a high flow area over a few hours from a container

Don't move Alk levels unless you know the readings for Mg.

Only raise the Alk by 1dKH at a time

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Fingers68]

Thanks Rabbut

I have about 26kg or live rock
8 Small fish,
many hermets,
some snales,
4 pepermint 2 clearner shrimp,
2 emerald crabs
1 clam
a great deal of soft coral,
some large polyp hard coral.

All seem to be doing good.

I am wanting to take a few small polop corals but not till this sytem establishes more. So I will not worry about it for the mo, I will revist this when I am closer to the time when my system is ready. I did see some small polyp hard coral yesterday at the local shop, that I just have to have, but also told by the shop keeper, will have to wait.

 

[rabbut]

If you have a fair few LPS, you will likely want to be monitoring and adjusting as nessisary the Mg, Alk and Ca now, rather than when you get into the SPS corals What lights do you have, they have to be pretty good for many SPS species...

 

[Fingers68]

Heres my tank

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?s=&amp...t&p=2291406

I have 4 t5's, 3 white and 1 blue.

The one very small piece of small polyp hard coral I have it alive and growing, but as to if its growing fast? I would not know.

 

[rabbut]

Ah yes, that tank With one hard coral in there, normal 20-30% weekly waterchanges should do enough to maintain it very easily if you have a good salt mix

 

[SkiFletch]

Agree with rabbut. A good way to start is weekly testing to see where you're trending. With few hard corals as rabbut stated, you'll probably be OK with waterchanges, but weekly tests will show you if they're enough or insufficient requiring extra supplimentation.

Having kept an elegance coral myself for a couple years now I can advise to keep magnesium and alkalinity high. They can deal if calc is a little low, but HATE low alk. They don't really care about magnesium but you'll need it at a decent level if you hope to keep alk and calc stable as rabbut already mentioned.

 

[Fingers68]

Done another test for the KH / Alk, with a little more care on the drop technique this time.

KH = 10.2
Alk = 3.66

I will see how stable this is over the coming weeks.

 

[rabbut]

Hang on, the Alk must be in Mql and the KH in dKH yes? Just a unit coversion from the same kit? If they are different kits and the same unit, those readings should be the same

 

[Fingers68]

Yes its dKH and meq/L

Same test, two chart readings.

 

[rabbut]

Good, good, had me worried there for a moment. With things like this, it always helps to note the units with the numbers to avoid confusion