DKH leveling

bassn99 · Oct 15, 2017

I have been trying to lower the DKH in my tank with not much luck. I lost most of my fish to a large spike and have been 7nable to get it back down. I’ve been dosing alca balance by tropic Marin which states it should lower by 1.5 per dose. My DKH spiked over 12+ .
I’ve dosed three times and still getting a reading of 11.6 on my Hanna reader.
Also used an API test kits with same results.
Any help would be appreciated, all other parameters are in line.

Ty Hamatake · Oct 15, 2017

If you're trying to bring levels down, I'd consider holding off on the dosing for a while, test daily, and go from there.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 15, 2017

Can you describe the aquarium?
11.6 dKH is not necessarily a problem and you may be best off just letting it drop on its own.

bassn99 · Oct 18, 2017

My tank is a custom built 48”x24”x32” with a 40 gallon sump.
Vectra return pump, an mp-40 and an mp-10 for circulation.
When the tank was first set up it contained all artificial corals, they did not work out well and held undesirables.
All were removed and replaced with live rock that had been running in a vat for over a year. I added additional bacteria to the tank to be on the safe side.
The DKH was running around 8.5-9 before.
PH is currently pretty stable at 8.15-8.25
I was running ozone for awhile but stopped.
Only the that was added was some liferock branch.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 18, 2017

I'd just let the alkalinity decline on its own. It can be lowered with acid, but it is not needed in a tank such as yours.

bassn99 · Oct 18, 2017

Any thoughts on this?
I was running Ozone, UV, carbon reactor and a GFO reactor. This was a FOWLR.
All fish perished with the exception of the lone Chromis.
My thoughts are I possibly over sterilized the tank and the ozone depleted their slime coat to the point of death.
The first signs were a white film, then eyes clouded over, rapid breathing then death.
I thought at first velvet, but my aquarium guy says probably not.
This tank also runs three filter socks in the sump which I change out at least once a week.

rkpetersen · Oct 19, 2017

Were you monitoring/controlling the ozonizer with an ORP probe? Did you have any carbon at the output of the ozone reactor/skimmer? I suppose residual ozone in the DT might cause excess mucus production and damage to delicate structures like gills and eyes.

With that said, it still sounds like it could be velvet, though.

Randy said it, just let your alk drift down. If I may ask, how did your alk get so high? A dKH of 11+ seems like an impossibly distant horizon for me sitting here at ~9 with heavy two part dosing. I was at first resigned to the fact that I'm not likely to reach that level without some radical changes, and eventually realized that I and the corals are better off where we are right now.

bassn99 · Oct 28, 2017

Ozone was being controlled by Milwaukee controller. Ozone being dosed through the skimmer with carbon. ORP was never above 400.
The only thing I can figure was my PH was low, so I dosed Tropic Marin alca to raise it slowly.
It was being maintained at 8.3/4
I’m thinking that could have been the cause for the DKH spike. Based on my logs from the tank start up last year it was 8.5 -9.6 and remained steady until the spike.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 28, 2017

bassn99 said:
I’m thinking that could have been the cause for the DKH spike. Based on my logs from the tank start up last year it was 8.5 -9.6 and remained steady until the spike.

Definitely. Don't add a buffer to boost pH. It is rarely the best solution and typically ends with alkalinity too high since they are all alkalinity supplements.