Question about having high alk

[Tayreef93]

I have a 20 gallon aquarium and the only inhabitants are crabs and trochus snails. I just did a water change yesterday and it was the last of the salt mix in the bucket i had. I checked my level today and its 16 dkh. There are no corals aside from some coralline on a couple of rocks. Im not sure but i think i should have mixed the salt when i first bought the salt because maybe it settled and thats why it made my alk so high the new salt wont arrive until next week so will having a dkh of 16 harm my inverts or prevent my coralline from growing, im worried itll hurt the inverts and kill the coralline im trying to grow.

 

[Gatorpa]

I have a 20 gallon aquarium and the only inhabitants are crabs and trochus snails. I just did a water change yesterday and it was the last of the salt mix in the bucket i had. I checked my level today and its 16 dkh. There are no corals aside from some coralline on a couple of rocks. Im not sure but i think i should have mixed the salt when i first bought the salt because maybe it settled and thats why it made my alk so high the new salt wont arrive until next week so will having a dkh of 16 harm my inverts or prevent my coralline from growing, im worried itll hurt the inverts and kill the coralline im trying to grow.

That’s a crazy high DKH.

Id retest with another test kit and double check your process.

What kit did you use?

 

[Tayreef93]

Red sea and hanna

 

[Wrassenaround]

I have a 20 gallon aquarium and the only inhabitants are crabs and trochus snails. I just did a water change yesterday and it was the last of the salt mix in the bucket i had. I checked my level today and its 16 dkh. There are no corals aside from some coralline on a couple of rocks. Im not sure but i think i should have mixed the salt when i first bought the salt because maybe it settled and thats why it made my alk so high the new salt wont arrive until next week so will having a dkh of 16 harm my inverts or prevent my coralline from growing, im worried itll hurt the inverts and kill the coralline im trying to grow.

I wouldn't be super concerned with your inverts, if you had corals yes but just crabs and snails. Thats nothing a few water changes wouldn't fix. It won't take much to affect that number in a 20 gallon setup. I had a 20 gallon earlier this year and water changes always did the trick. Remember that it doesn't take much to effect the levels in a smaller tank.

 

[Gatorpa]

Red sea and hanna

When we get lab results that don’t make sense retest.

Be sure you’re doing it right.

Can you take a sample to a LFS and get it tested there?

A DKH of 16 will stop the coralline from growing for sure.