Kh And Ph

[1234-fishy-freind]

Hi guys.

I tested my Kh and it was 7.
My ph was 7.8 which is is pretty much all the time.

It would seem that these levels are a bit low. What do you think?

If they are too low, how should I go about getting them higher?

thanks

 

[rabbut]

The KH in mine is maintained arround 12dKH now. 7 will be fine for many reefs and FO systems, pushing it up high like mine would require the monitoring and dosing of Mg. High KH requires high Mg, or the KH will precipitate out after addition...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

Well my Mg is fairly high anyway, i keep it at about 1350.
What about the ph, doesnt it need to be somewhere about 8.1 - 8.2?

 

[rabbut]

Idealy, yes. How old is the tank? Mine started on a low pH, but it recovered and settled itself down after a while from just being left. In an established tank, you could dose Sodium Bicarbonate to up the KH and hence the pH. 1350ppm of Mg would arguably not be considered "high". I aim to run mine of 1500ppm, though you could get away with 12dKH at 1450ppm...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

The tank is almost 2 years old so I guess you could call it established.

 

[rabbut]

I'd mebe look to pull the Mg up a bit (to arround 1400ppm) and then up the KH to arround 10dKH. This said, if it's FO or a softie reef, it probibly won't be bad for the livestock if it's left be, but hard corals will benefit from the Mg and KH increase, especially if Ca is monitored and bumped up as nessisary also

I've tryed to use the link in your sig to your Journal and work out your situation, but the link is bust

All the best
Rabbut

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=221858


try that

 

[rabbut]

Nice set-up

Just the one hard coral jumping out at me in the last round of pics, the hammer coral at the front. That alone shouldn't be putting much downward pressure on anyting in a 100g system, so the lack of KH is probibly down to your salt mix. This will mean regular dosing of Sodium Bicarbonate if you choose to dose. This should boost the hammer's growth though also.

Whats your Ca stats?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

Ca is about 480.

 

[rabbut]

No probs with Ca then. I'd lift the Mg and then the Alk and that should pull up your pH to 8.2 nicely for you

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

Ok thanks alot

Any particular products you would reccomend to boost the kh?

Also what are your thoughts on the importance of iodide in reef tanks?

Josh

 

[rabbut]

I haven't doesed or properly researched Iodide yet. I haven't seen any issues with not monitoring it as yet, but it may have benefits. As said though, I don't realy know enough about it to say if it is beneficial to dose, but it certainly doen't seem to be essential IMBE.

I use Balling Salts from Reef Dreams now, on BigC's recomendation, but most of Seachems suppliments are good when I've used them before, if more diluted... In a 100g though, salts will be the only cost effective way to do it

All the best
Rabbut

EDIT to add, it's Magnisuim Chloride, Magnesium Sulphate, Non NaCl salts for balling and Sodium Bicarbonate that you need. Calsium Dihydrate can be used for dosing Ca if you are thinking about using suppliments over waterchanges. When mixing the Calsium Dihydrate, add the salt to the water, not visa versa. It's quite a violent exothermic reaction if you add the water to the powder that leads to it spitting boiling solution at you.... (Found that one out hte hard way )

 

[SkiFletch]

Remember, natural seawater is ABOUT:

1.026sg
8.2pH
KH 7
Calc 400
Mag 1280

Local variations aside that's seawater. If you can make perfect natural seawater in your tiny closed ecosystem in a closed up house in the middle of the winter, you're some kind of superaquarist .

So, your personal issues. Calcium is a little high along with magnesium a tad high, KH is low (proportional to calc) and pH is low. pH is low because you've got a closed up house in the middle of the winter and there is high ambient CO2. CO2 dissolved in water is acidic and lowers pH. Raising your alkalinity would help a little but probably wouldn't get the pH any higher than 8.0. So I'd go ahead and get your alk up to around 10-11 where it will be balanced with your calc and keep your pH a little more buffered. Just use baking soda and any google-found reef chemistry calculator . Your situation is not reallhy that problematic though so don't loose sleep

Personally, in the wintertime I strive for:
7.9-8.0pH
10-11dKH
~450ppm Calc
~1300ppm Mag

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

Ok thanks.
So my water isnt really that bad then, though nitrate and phosphate could come down a little but that shouldnt be a problem as i can water change often now that i have my own ro unit.

Ski, what are your views on iodide?

Josh

 

[rabbut]

Ski's recomendations are spot on for most appliations. I'm just tend to keep things that get metabolised fast in a closed loop system a bit on the high side. Alk drops nearly 2 points in 3-4 days in mine, with just 3 hard corals... If something should strike me down for a few days, the folks wouldn't likely know where to start with dosing, so I like to keep it such that a couple of weeks without monitoring/adjustment shouldn't do the livestock any harm