Kh question

[Bruce7267ad]

So what is the point of testing for kh in a reef aquarium?

 

[vetteguy53081]

KH is the hardness and one the more important building blocks in reef tank systems.
It is the buffering capacity that stabilizes PH While neutralizing acids in the tank

 

[Bob The Reefer]

So what is the point of testing for kh in a reef aquarium?

The point of measuring it is to know what the values are ... you cannot control what you can't measure ...

 

[Bruce7267ad]

The point of measuring it is to know what the values are ... you cannot control what you can't measure ...

Is kh alkalinity?

 

[vetteguy53081]

No. KH IS THE essential building block for coral growth and stability of hardness.
Alk is PPM OF CALCIUM CARBONATE or carbonate hardness whereas KH is measured in degrees if hardness. Seems confusing but they do work together.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Alk and DKH are usually used interchangeably.

 

[rkpetersen]

For our purposes, dKH is just one of 3 common ways to measure alkalinity.
1 dKH alkalinity = 0.358 mEq/L alkalinity = 17.9 ppm alkalinity
or
1 mEq/L = 2.79 dKH = 50 ppm

 

[PatW]

So what is the point of testing DKH. Marine organisms use Calcium and carbonate (measured in DKH) to form calcium carbonate for their hard parts. Snails use it for their shells, coralline algae use it and hard corals use it. They remove Carbonate from the water and decrease DKH. If DKH gets too low, it can cause a tank crash.

Now if you have rapidly growing hard corals, you will have to dose calcium and carbonate to keep your water parameters sort of constant.

If you only have snails and a little coralline, consumption of DKH will probably be small and routine water changes should be enough.

It is good to buy test kits for calcium and DKH just to be sure and test weekly or maybe monthly. API is cheap and easy but not horribly accurate but good enough for a low demand system. For more exacting conditions you will want higher quality test kits like Hanna, Red Sea Pro or Salifert.

People who run high demand systems test daily and usually have dosing set up under computer control.