Help Dkh/Alk is off the scale.

[Reef Guy11]

Well I got A READING OF -13.44 DKH and ALk is -4.80. My Calcuim is 380 ppm I use B-Ionic 2 part. So should I just add the Calcuim part until thing stablize. PH is 8.12 in the morning also I have seen it 8.09 and in the evening it is 8.20 to 8.27. So if I can get some advise on what to do that would be very good. 8O :?

thanks,

 

[Kenzy]

Nothing wrong with those numbers, Your alk is hardly "off the scale" although some may say its a tad high, I usually aim for 3.5-4 meq/l (9.8-11.2dkh). As a result its pushed your calcium down a bit and your ph up a bit.
As a remedy I would, like you suggested, just add the calcium part for a day or 2, it shouldn't take long for your alk to come down.

The real question is what did you add to get it out of balance in the first place?

 

[Reef Guy11]

Well when I tested the tank it read negative 13.44 dkh, and negative 4.80. The PH barely get to 8.20 By the time the lights go off after 8 hours of light maybe up it another 2 hours I don't know. Also the Calcium was at 380 ppms.

I did a water Change Saturday and tested everything today and dkh is now 13.9, and the Alk is at 4.96. the Calcuim has dropped to 360 ppm. I did use Kalkwasser to drip to keep everything stable. So do I just use the Calcium until I see that it is going up and the dkh and alk start to drop.

 

[kim]

There's no such thing as negative. You've either got it or you haven't, but you can't have negative amounts.

Possibly you misinterpreted the reading ?

kim

 

[Reef Guy11]

Okay you do the math when you minus 1 from 1.84 mg/L you get -0.84 x 16 = -13.44. So there is alway such a thing as a negative and a postive #. The Question is how could that be and what to do about it. I even tested for a second time after that reading and got the same reading. But it seem cool now just half to get the Calcium up and the PH. up So I think by just using the Calcium and not ALK buffer that should do it.

 

[kim]

Yes, positive and negative numbers exist.

Negative amounts of calcium and alkalinity do not.

1 subtracted from 1.84 is + (plus) 0.84 ?

kim

kim

 

[Reef Guy11]

Well I guess I did it wrong. But anyways I'm going to do what you told me to do and see if that helps. But If My ALK. is high you that it would bring my PH up a little. It is close to 8.09 in the morning and barely gets to 8.20 in the mid day of the light cycle. If Continue with the Kalkwasser Should that affect the Alk in Dropping to a stable point. I f you could help a little more that would be great.

I wasn't getting mad I was just say the salifert say to take 1 and minus it by the number that that you get in your reading. which was a high # than 1, so that give you a Negative number. That is why I was saying that it was coming out as - 13.44.

Thanks,
Darrell