ATO vs KH

[Droberts0724]

So I have a question regarding my KH...after I got the fresh water ATO my KH is struggling to reach 8 or 9 it stays around 7 no matter how much I dose my tank! My PH is also now about a 7.8 all other number are good. Calcium is about 460, Magnesium is 1520, ammonia 0, Phosphate is 0 (probably not really a 0) Temp 77.5, Nitrites 0....salinity is 1.026 I use Red Sea salt how can I get my KH up??

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

What is your salinity?
Kalkwasser seems to work for people but I have no experience.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Ato should not affect your kh unless it's overfilling.

What are you dosing? Tank volume? Test kit?

What is your daily kh consumption? Have you tried dosing them testing again shortly after ?

 

[ACF930]

ATO could affect your majors (Alk, Ca, Mag) but you have to be filling a lot and your salinity would drop significantly too. Do you have a lot of corals since they could be consuming Alk? Also, you could switch to 2-Part Dosing which gives you greater control on just Alk dosing.

 

[Droberts0724]

What is your salinity?
Kalkwasser seems to work for people but I have no experience.

1.026

 

[Droberts0724]

Ato should not affect your kh unless it's overfilling.

What are you dosing? Tank volume? Test kit?

What is your daily kh consumption? Have you tried dosing them testing again shortly after ?

Dosing alkalinity/KH daily 1ml. I have a nano tank its 32 gallons with about 25-30 ponds live rock...so maybe about 27 gallons water no I never test after I dose...should I?

 

[Droberts0724]

ATO could affect your majors (Alk, Ca, Mag) but you have to be filling a lot and your salinity would drop significantly too. Do you have a lot of corals since they could be consuming Alk? Also, you could switch to 2-Part Dosing which gives you greater control on just Alk dosing.

I do have a lot of corals...will they consume my KH??

 

[Droberts0724]

Ato should not affect your kh unless it's overfilling.

What are you dosing? Tank volume? Test kit?

What is your daily kh consumption? Have you tried dosing them testing again shortly after ?

 

[Droberts0724]

All corals seem happy with the exception of my Alveopora its been closed like 2 days now....it does that sometimes..

 

[BeejReef]

Raising alkalinity is no real big trick. You can use baking soda or bake the baking soda. If you google "randy alkalinity recipe" you'll find it straight away.

Before doing that, I'd want to doublecheck my salinity, my fill-to line in the sump, the calibration of my refractometer, and re-test your mixed salt water. If you're noticing this after a change to the system... an ato in this case... there's a strong chance it's somehow related and is just an oopsie.

If you weren't routinely topping off with freshwater before installing the ato, your salinity would have been gradually increasing and that would give an apparent boost to all of your major element levels.

 

[Droberts0724]

Raising alkalinity is no real big trick. You can use baking soda or bake the baking soda. If you google "randy alkalinity recipe" you'll find it straight away.

Before doing that, I'd want to doublecheck my salinity, my fill-to line in the sump, the calibration of my refractometer, and re-test your mixed salt water. If you're noticing this after a change to the system... an ato in this case... there's a strong chance it's somehow related and is just an oopsie.

If you weren't routinely topping off with freshwater before installing the ato, your salinity would have been gradually increasing and that would give an apparent boost to all of your major element levels.

I calibrate my refractometer before each use and my salinity it definitely 1.026. The only real change to my tank is location. I uprooted my entire tank to move it upstairs to make room for a 150 gallon downstairs....since then I have also had an outbreak of red and green cyno on my rock only (it was removed to put in buckets to get the tank up the steps) but other than that...nothing has changed. All my coral and fish are mostly happy except my Alveopora but it does that from time to time it will close for a few days. Before the ATO I was doing daily fresh water top offs by hand

 

[Droberts0724]

ATO could affect your majors (Alk, Ca, Mag) but you have to be filling a lot and your salinity would drop significantly too. Do you have a lot of corals since they could be consuming Alk? Also, you could switch to 2-Part Dosing which gives you greater control on just Alk dosing.

2 part?? What is that may I ask

 

[Droberts0724]

Ato should not affect your kh unless it's overfilling.

What are you dosing? Tank volume? Test kit?

What is your daily kh consumption? Have you tried dosing them testing again shortly after ?

Oh yeah test kit is API

 

[ACF930]

I do have a lot of corals...will they consume my KH??

Your corals will consume greater Alk over time if they are happy and growing. Since Alk and CA are disproportionally related, you should also notice your CA to be flat or decrease as well (or move in the opposite direction as your Alk). It's pretty easy to raise your Alk by using methods the others have mentioned. The most important thing is to change your Alk slowly. I like to change my Alk no more than 0.5 dkh per 24 hours.

 

[Droberts0724]

Your corals will consume greater Alk over time if they are happy and growing. Since Alk and CA are proportionally related, you should also notice your CA to be flat or decrease as well (or move in the same direction as your Alk). It's pretty easy to raise your Alk by using methods the others have mentioned. The most important thing is to change your Alk slowly. I like to change my Alk no more than 0.5 dkh per 24 hours.

Well my mag and calcium are both high and the KH is low....460 calcium and 1520 magnesium and 7 KH PH is 7.8 as well they both decreased by a bit...PH was 8.0 and KH was 8

 

[ACF930]

Well my mag and calcium are both high and the KH is low....460 calcium and 1520 magnesium and 7 KH PH is 7.8 as well they both decreased by a bit...PH was 8.0 and KH was 8

Stability is most important for Alk than the actual number. 8 dkh is fine. Also if your Alk has been fairly stable throughout the day then it's about matching your corals consumption rate of Alk. You can then raise your Alk slowly to a higher range and try to keep it steady from there.

 

[Droberts0724]

Stability is most important for Alk than the actual number. 8 dkh is fine. Also if your Alk has been fairly stable throughout the day then it's about matching your corals consumption rate of Alk. You can then raise your Alk slowly.

It's been stable at 7 not 8 that's what I am aiming for...I also want to know if I should dose to raise my PH? If my PH goes up will that help my KH? Also I have green/red cyno and have not seen that since the beginning of my tank...something is definitely off. Plus some of my coraline algae has disappeared...not all but some...this tank is driving me nuts!

 

[ACF930]

It's been stable at 7 not 8 that's what I am aiming for...I also want to know if I should dose to raise my PH? If my PH goes up will that help my KH? Also I have green/red cyno and have not seen that since the beginning of my tank...something is definitely off. Plus some of my coraline algae has disappeared...not all but some...this tank is driving me nuts!

I've used Seachem Reef Builder sometimes to raise my Alk, but there are many other alternatives. Also, I would stay away from PH Buffers since they tend to raise your Alk and create instability. To raise your PH, you can try other safer long-term methods like CO2 Scrubber (with your Skimmer), chaeto in your sump, etc. Higher PH will increase Alk consumption / calcification in your corals so your Alk could gradually decrease as PH increases, causing you to increase your Alk dosing to maintain stability.

 

[Isaac Alves]

I might have missed this but can you describe your ATO setup? What container are you using? Is it sealed? What about the water? Is it RODI? What’s the quality of the freshwater?

 

[Droberts0724]

I've used Seachem Reef Builder sometimes to raise my Alk, but there are many other alternatives. Also, I would stay away from PH Buffers since they tend to raise your Alk and create instability. To raise your PH, you can try other safer methods like CO2 Scrubber (with your Skimmer), chaeto in your sump, etc. Higher PH will increase Alk consumption / calcification in your corals so your Alk could gradually decrease as PH increases, causing you to increase your Alk dosing to maintain stability.

I have chaeto in my 3rd chamber in the back (biocube) I also have reef builder on hand just have not used it...