Tropical Fish Forums

[Ocean Hugger]

I had my water tested at my LFS (using Salifert tester)
pH- 8.3
NO3-0
NO2-0
calcium-450


he tested my dKH and its was at 16 twice the amont of natural sea water so I want tolower it to 10. How would I do this? thanks

[FloridaBoy]

Do it carefully.
Are you dosing anything on a daily basis or using a reactor?
If you stop dosing for a few days I think it will slowly come down on its own. I think the most important thing is that you understand WHY you are getting that high reading in the first place. First, I would suggest getting one additional test from a different source just to be sure. Aside from false readings and errors in testing, there is a fair amount of confusion on carbonate hardness in the industry. Do some research on water chemistry in marine aquariums. Note the following comment form Holmes-Farley:

"Because of these potential points of confusion, in any discussion of alkalinity other than the total alkalinity, one needs to be very clear about the definitions being used... the various units used for alkalinity are themselves cause for confusion...

Finally there is the German term dKH (degrees of carbonate hardness), or just KH (carbonate hardness). Strictly speaking, it is the same as the carbonate alkalinity ( AC in equation 8 ) Unfortunately, it is a very confusing term, as it has nothing to do with hardness. Further, it has been corrupted by the marine aquarium hobby to mean the same as total alkalinity, and every test kit that tests for dKH with a single titration is giving total alkalinity. The only kit that I am aware of that even makes a distinction between carbonate alkalinity and total alkalinity is one of the Seachem kits (Reef Status: Magnesium, Carbonate, & Borate) and it thankfully doesn
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Keepin' marines happy for 25 years