Low dKH

[thetedinator]

Recently, the alkalinity in my system dropped to below 8. I got curious and did something I had never done. I measured the dKH. This water was made from the last of a bucket of IO salt and I had to supplement with CoralLife salt to make the 25 gallons I keep ready. The water has been sitting for almost a month. It has been circulating with a powerhead; was filtered thru an Eheim canister filter for a week when first mixed and I also ran the water thru activated carbon when first mixed.

Anyway, the dKH measures less than 3! So I am going to toss this batch and mix a fresh batch.

A number of possibilities occur to me: bad salt, filtering removed some buffer, activated carbon removed some buffer.

When I make the next batch, I'm going to measure and see what I find.

Ted

 

[mojoreef]

Hey Ted it could be a number of things, or even a combination of things. One big one would be CO2, being in such a small container for such a long time could have affected it. Could also have percipated out on to the carbon??

Also if memory serves me correctly Coralife uses a different cabonate system, and doesnt measure properly with our test kits.

Let us know how the new batch turns out

MIke

 

[thetedinator]

Hey Ted it could be a number of things, or even a combination of things. One big one would be CO2, being in such a small container for such a long time could have affected it. Could also have percipated out on to the carbon??

Also if memory serves me correctly Coralife uses a different cabonate system, and doesnt measure properly with our test kits.

Let us know how the new batch turns out

MIke

Mike,

I'm going to use IO salts for the next batch. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ted