dkh lowering?

[pomme]

dkh lowering?

Okay i did my weekly test tonight.

Here are the results from a week ago:

Temp - 27
Salinity - 1.025
pH - 8.1
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 2.5
Calcium - 440
dKH - 12.6
Mg - 1500
Strontium - 8
Phosphate - 0

And tonights results:

Temp - 27
Salinity - 1.025
pH - 8.1
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 2.5
Calcium - 440
dKH - 9.9
Mg - 1500
Strontium - 8
Phosphate - 0


so all is well except the dKH which has fallen considerably. So i have added some Kent dKH and will add some more in small doses to bring the level back up.

The equipment i have is a ca reactor and kalk reactor, could this be something to do with the reactions for the kalk reactor?

All help very appreciated,

a

 

[steve-s]

The DKH is a measure of the total alkalinity in the tank. It is affected by many things including acids, CO2, fish respiration, wastes as well as CaCO3 consuming animals as they build their skelatons.

It is more than likely the pull on the alk is just higher than the consumption of Ca. Tweeking the levels a bit to keep up is not abnormal IMO. Instead of tweeking the equipment, I would just keep augmenting with the buffer as needed. Adjusting your equipment will not likley solve the problem.

Cheers
Steve

 

[pomme]

but i always thought the 'pull' for ca and dkh were the same?

 

[steve-s]

They may seem similar but as the tank ages the pull of either part will vary some especially as different CaCO3 animals are added. Even though additions are added is a balanced fashion, the tank will rarely use them as such.


Cheers
Steve

 

[pomme]

cool thanx for the help steve.

 

[Biggen]

but i always thought the 'pull' for ca and dkh were the same?

There is a ratio that says" For X amount of Ca drop, there is X amount of Alk drop assuming the two are balanced".

If I remember correctly, Alk drops faster than Ca. I am not sure of the exact ratio so perhaps someone else will know.