Very high alkalinity levels!

[takitaj]

Yea, either try a different test kit or take a sample to your LFS before you take any action. Something doesn't sound right.

 

[hds4216]

I am almost certain this is impossible. I believe this is testing error, either caused by the user or the test itself.

 

[mdb_talon]

Your test kit is faulty or you are doing something wrong. It simply not going to get that high without dosing. Even then you should see lots of other things going on.

 

[Hunter90 HD]

Magnesium of 1200 I don't believe would support a kh of 24. I believe Calcium and alkinity would precipitate out causing a crash of both alk and Ca. Your not dosing kalk water are you? Topping off with fresh RO water not salt water? I suspect, your alkalinity is fine, but, I would retest with a different test kit. Something isn't right unless your dosing something else...

Ahh okay, no dosing of kalk water. I have been topping up the aquarium with fresh RO water not saltwater as the salinity increases slightly with evaporation and on a 57litre tank it’s noticeable - it goes up by 0.01 per day, so I have been topping up with fresh OU daily to reduce salinity.

I will source a different tester, the Hanna test kit seems a good reliable tester - It did seem strange to me that I would have 12dKH coming out of the RO unit.

not dosing anything else, corals are not fully expanding daily, a new addition seems to be opening around a 1/4 while the other one which has been in there a while has not opened up today.

I would like to add I do feed my corals using the Red Sea coral nutrition. 2ml daily but I don’t think this would harm any levels?

 

[laverda]

Thank you for your reply. My alk of my Marine Salt Water is 7.5 Meq/L and 21 dKH. No dosing at the moment although I do have all the Red Sea foundations to dose. I will lower my alkalinity now to 1.025...
I should mention I have a green algae issue at the moment comes back quick which I am treating with Red Sea NOPOX

If the Alk of your new salt mix is 21DKH than that is the issue. Doing a water change is not going to help at all.
I would get another test kit or have someone else test your water for you to confirm your results. If they are correct get a different salt mix.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I will rerun them now, and test the aquarium and RO water. It seems high coming out of the RO unit at 12dkh

If that is 0 ppm TDS RO/DI water, it does not contain 12 dKH.

If it does contain 12 dKH (like tap water may), then that explains why the seawater alk made from it is so high.

 

[Rmckoy]

Ahh okay, no dosing of kalk water. I have been topping up the aquarium with fresh RO water not saltwater as the salinity increases slightly with evaporation and on a 57litre tank it’s noticeable - it goes up by 0.01 per day, so I have been topping up with fresh OU daily to reduce salinity.

I will source a different tester, the Hanna test kit seems a good reliable tester - It did seem strange to me that I would have 12dKH coming out of the RO unit.

not dosing anything else, corals are not fully expanding daily, a new addition seems to be opening around a 1/4 while the other one which has been in there a while has not opened up today.

I would like to add I do feed my corals using the Red Sea coral nutrition. 2ml daily but I don’t think this would harm any levels?

A new test kit or get your lfs to test alk .

 

[kartrsu]

I read that your salinity is 1.26 ppm and I’m confused. If you are referring to specific gravity, are you targeting 1.026 or 1.26? That’s a huge difference and would definitely juice your alk way too high.

 

[Rmckoy]

I read that your salinity is 1.26 ppm and I’m confused. If you are referring to specific gravity, are you targeting 1.026 or 1.26? That’s a huge difference and would definitely juice your alk way too high.

If that were possible .
alk would be higher to match the extremely high salinity but mag and cal would also be extremely high .
Even salt mix with high alk is still only around 11dkh

 

[Hunter90 HD]

I read that your salinity is 1.26 ppm and I’m confused. If you are referring to specific gravity, are you targeting 1.026 or 1.26? That’s a huge difference and would definitely juice your alk way too high

apologies not 1.026 specific gravity not 1.26

 

[1ocean]

Stop dosing nopox if you don't have a skimmer. It will cause a bacterial bloom and suffocate your fish. Just use a phosphate test and some phosphate remover.

exactly throw away the nopox stuff. It will cause red slime in all your tubing, filters and in your tank.] It happened to me in my 140 gallon.

 

[Hunter90 HD]

If the Alk of your new salt mix is 21DKH than that is the issue. Doing a water change is not going to help at all.
I would get another test kit or have someone else test your water for you to confirm your results. If they are correct get a different salt mix.

Should be around 7.5 but I am just running a new batch of fresh RO water and will test the alkalinity before and after adding the salt.
I will source another test kit I think, don’t know anyone who could test this for me to confirm, unless the aquarium shop down the road can test it for me to clarify my testing equipment

 

[dvgyfresh]

The only way I ever got high af dkh is when I used tap water + instant ocean salt , somehow my alk was 16 dkh! I just go to lfs for water now lol

 

[Hunter90 HD]

exactly throw away the nopox stuff. It will cause red slime in all your tubing, filters and in your tank.] It happened to me in my 140 gallon.

Going in the bin now...

 

[Spare time]

Thank you, I will cease using this now and source a phosphate test and remover

The hannah phospahte tests are the best (they are digital). Salifert one is decent too. A lot of depends on how well you can see the colors. Avoid the API test as it doesn't go low enough.

 

[laverda]

It did seem strange to me that I would have 12dKH coming out of the RO unit.

Your RO/DI should not have a DKH of 12! Something is very wrong there. I suspect you have your waste and product lines switched.

 

[Hunter90 HD]

The only way I ever got high af dkh is when I used tap water + instant ocean salt , somehow my alk was 16 dkh! I just go to lfs for water now lol

lol I don’t blame you, I know my lfs sells the water, might be the solution once I test the alc with another test kit and if my levels are coming out at 12dkh from RO then it’s not doing a very good job at purify the water

 

[biocubeboy]

Definitely your source water. I was using well water and it mixed up at 26-28 dkh. Now I use RODI water and that keeps it at 9.5-10.5 with instant ocean reef mix.

 

[Hunter90 HD]

Your RO/DI should not have a DKH of 12! Something is very wrong there. I suspect you have your waste and product lines switched.

O my days! I think you’ve cracked it! Just checked and I think I had them plumed in the wrong way around!!!!
Retesting levels now...

 

[Hunter90 HD]

Your RO/DI should not have a DKH of 12! Something is very wrong there. I suspect you have your waste and product lines switched.

You’ve cracked it!! That is what has been causing this issue and my levels are generally that high!
I can’t believe it! It’s 0 coming out of the RO unit now.

thank you very much I will do daily 20% water changes until I reach the levels I need.

lifesaver thank you!