DKh question.

Well Ive been battling a High Dkh / Caronate Hardness for a while. I've noticed my LPS and such havent been looking so good. Ive been dosing liquid calcium soo much and my levels just wont go up & hold. So I tested my water Iwas using forever and its 14-15dkh out of the tap (really well water, thats ran throw softner,and Ge smartwater filter) before adding salt. I just started buy ro/di water from the LFS. tested there naked ro water its 0 dkh, and there per mix saltwater is 8 dkh. I did a 15% water change and have now 12dkh in my tank.

If I use just naked ro/di water for topoff water will that alone drop my dkh in the tank. or do I need to do more water changes to get it down in the 8-10dkh range?

I want to get some SPS frags soon. When I first started this reef 9+ months ago my Dkh was really really high = 19-20+dkh. so 12 is the best Ive had it. I do notice all my corals are looking better now too. zoas, mush, etc..

so basically my question is does hardness decrease when water is evaporated or does it stay in your water column like salt?

If I use just naked ro/di water for topoff water will that alone drop my dkh in the tank. or do I need to do more water changes to get it down in the 8-10dkh range?

 

Night Rida

I wouldnt worry about 12dkh to be honest, as long as its not there supressing your calcium that is
recomended range in home aquaria is 7 - 11 dkh but as said above provided your calcium level is in balance , then running slightly higher is OK according to many sources
and many people do run higher in order to better protect the PH against acidic swings.

If your going to be adding SPS in the near future, then their presence alone is going to start making demands on your Alk so I wouldnt lower it in the mean time

it will lower naturally in time, and then your task will be to maintain it at the level you have opted for based on your calcium level.

Steve

 

ok sounds good.. well near future was today my friend. I purchased a 5" tall purple berry staghorn SPS frag for only $20! its now my first SPS since I killed all the others 8-9 months ago with high Dkh and nitrates. So wish me luck, if this lives more than a month with some growth. more SPS will come. My camera is still not working, but heres a picture I found of someone elses to give you an idea..

My frag is 5" tall with 4 small branches.. looks like a hand with a big middle finger pointing up. lol Its been in the tank for 1-2 hours, starting to see some polyps coming out I have it highest point in tank about 10" below T5 fixture and in excellent flow.. probly about 2' feet from powerhead.

 

Great purchase.

What brand fixture and bulbs?

 

fixtures suck.. odysseas. but good bulbs..

4x65w PCs = UVL 454nm x 2 / UVL 14k x 2
2x54w Tw = UVL 12k / CURRENT 10k

will be changing current 10k bulb to ati blue plus very soon, maybe next weekend.

 

Should work for the acro, just keep it up high. When you get a chance upgrade to a fixture with individual reflectors or ones that the ends hang past the bulb.