High dkh

[Bruce7267ad]

So I have a dkh of about 10 or 11 and I'm at 400 with my calcium I use instant ocean reef crystals is this normal? I have six little frags in a 10 gallon quarantine tank

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

So I have a dkh of about 10 or 11 and I'm at 400 with my calcium I use instant ocean reef crystals is this normal? I have six little frags in a 10 gallon quarantine tank

Sounds about right on the dkh side of things

 

[Bruce7267ad]

Sounds about right on the dkh side of things

O I thought dkh aka alkalinity should be about 8

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

O I thought dkh aka alkalinity should be about 8

Not with using reef crystals, I use regular instant ocean and that mixes about 9-9.5

 

[Waters]

Just remember if you do keep your ALK higher like that, to make sure you have plenty of nutrients due to the higher growth rate of the coral. You also don't have much room for error if the ALK spikes.....that is the reason most prefer to keep their ALK in the 8 range.

 

[motortrendz]

I run my alk about 10.5 ish calcium at 450-470 and my mag at about 1400. So your not too bad,

are you dosing 2 part? Seems a bit high for your salt? What's your salinity?it could be mixed a bit high.. Do you use a refractometer? Might need to be recalibrated to zero. Have you checked your mag levels?

Edit: you said reef crystals, was thinking instant ocean. I'd think reef Crystal's would mix higher. Kinda like the red sea blue bucket and the red sea coral pro mix at different dkh as well.

 

[EMeyer]

Im always amazed when I read that people keep corals alive at high alkalinity. In any of my tanks, if the alk drifts above 8, SPS starts dying. Funny how different tanks can be.

 

[PatW]

At a specific gravity of 1.026 the Reef Crystals bucket claims 450 on Ca and 1350 on Mg. DKH would be about 12. I use it and when I measure it, I get close to that.

 

[Rick.45cal]

In my experience it’s more important to keep the alkalinity stable than worrying about if it’s too high. As long as you have some nitrates and phosphates available it shouldn’t be a problem. My system has been pretty stable at 9.6 dKh for the last 6-7 months. It’s 10ppm NO3 and 0.5ppm Phosphate at the moment. (I’m working on bringing down the PO4). Picture from yesterday

 

[Bruce7267ad]

At a specific gravity of 1.026 the Reef Crystals bucket claims 450 on Ca and 1350 on Mg. DKH would be about 12. I use it and when I measure it, I get close to that.

I'm keeping my salinity at this level I'm still kinda worried and the alk being this high. My calcium is at 400 so kinda interesting calcium is being used but alk is taking a back seat. I just put these frags in a couple days ago. And set the tank up a day prior to putting the frags in

 

[Bruce7267ad]

In my experience it’s more important to keep the alkalinity stable than worrying about if it’s too high. As long as you have some nitrates and phosphates available it shouldn’t be a problem. My system has been pretty stable at 9.6 dKh for the last 6-7 months. It’s 10ppm NO3 and 0.5ppm Phosphate at the moment. (I’m working on bringing down the PO4). Picture from yesterday

I could only hope my system looks like this someday haha. Looks great!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Im always amazed when I read that people keep corals alive at high alkalinity. In any of my tanks, if the alk drifts above 8, SPS starts dying. Funny how different tanks can be.

Most likely, that is because there is not enough nutrition to support the faster skeletal growth than can happen at higher alkalinity.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My calcium is at 400 so kinda interesting calcium is being used but alk is taking a back seat. I just put these frags in a couple days ago. And set the tank up a day prior to putting the frags in

No, that is not the case. There is no way for calcium to be used without consumption of a proportional amount of alkalinity (about 2.8 dKH for each 18-20 ppm of calcium). Either the calcium is not declining, or alkalinity is being added some other way.

 

[EMeyer]

Most likely, that is because there is not enough nutrition to support the faster skeletal growth than can happen at higher alkalinity.

Yeah, Im familiar with the lore on this point but cant achieve NO3 above 2 in any tanks no matter what I do. So instead I keep alkalinity at NSW levels