high alkalinity

[veselym]

I have had my biocube up for 2 weeks, it was done cycling this past Monday and I started doing WC's to get the nitrates down (they were at 40ppm now in the single digits)

my parameters on Tuesday were as follows...I am using Red Sea Pro test kits and Reef Crystals salt mix w/RODI

Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79
PH: 8.1
Calcium: 400
KH: 9.1
Mag: 1280

I just did a WC again today that got my nitrates down to around 6ppm so I tested everything again as I did bump my Mag and Calcium with BRS 2 part

Calcium: 430
KH: 12
Mag: 1360

I did NOT add any KH 2 part as 9 is what I am going for, I will only start dosing when I get corals and they start consuming it...my question is why did my KH jump so much? I have tested the tank a total of 4 times so far and each of the first 3 showed 9DKH but now it's 12?? I though KH only jumped higher when your calcium was really low but I raised it 30ppm

is this a harmful number and what are your theories as to why it changed?

 

[KoleTang]

It's your salt mix. Reef crystals has an alk of like 14dkh+ in certain batches.

 

[veselym]

yikes...I need test the water then before a WC

another question, why didn't the first 2 WC's up the Alkalinity? I tested yesterday about 3 hours after the WC and it was showing 9DKH

I was doing 9G WC's on a 29G cube, so approximately 30% yesterday and today

 

[veselym]

ok so I just re-tested it and my reading is saying 9DKH again...weird, I did test the water immediately after the WC so I wonder if it messed up the test kit

 

[Reefing Madness]

Always double check your test when its out of whack.

 

[ifarmer]

for just 2 weeks old tank. I wouldn't worry about anything except salinity level.

 

[Alabamareef]

your numbers are not to bad. One thing to shoot for is consistency. Also when things start to grow you'll have to adjust levels to match your tanks demand.