seeking dKH lowering and facts

Mranderson · 11/12/2012, 01:05 AM

i need to get my dKH down. higher than preferred. 13-14. Uneducatively added calcium supplements at first because my calcium levels were reading way low, but then with research i realized my carbonate alkalinity was capping my calcium levels. does that sound right? so my calcium additives were to no avail. so my real problem is KH. best methods ive heard to be were time and wc's. planning on doing a water change very near future. anything else i can do to ease impatience? We're talking nano here [20g], so i don't imagine it'll take too long to reach desired levels because it hardly takes long to reach undesired levels. i did a water change two saturdays ago [the onset of my problems] and some of my corals started suffering rtn/stn. pretty sure i've lost my xenias for good. as usual, trying to keep losses to a minimum. kenya tree is limp, and i'll say wilting, and dropping limbs. before i realized my problem was a carbonate hardness i tried adding a few ml of kent liquid calcium reactor, calcium advantage and last but not least fiji gold coral calcium supplement (not all at once obviously!). Can i assume this is all merely precipitate in my tank now ?[minus the reactor]? will it come back to bite me in the arse when other appropriate levels are reached.
ph. 7.8-8.0 dkh +12 (13-14) ca 360 PO .25 those are my problem levels
nitrite nitrate ammonia 0ppm

all that aside, time and wc's, i've been trying to understand carbonate associations. i understand that KH can be tied with pH and that KH can determine soluble levels of ca++. other than that i'm clueless and real curious as to what factors in to my dKH levels. enlighten me!

11/12/2012, 01:05 AM	#1
Mranderson Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: central PA Posts: 69	seeking dKH lowering and facts i need to get my dKH down. higher than preferred. 13-14. Uneducatively added calcium supplements at first because my calcium levels were reading way low, but then with research i realized my carbonate alkalinity was capping my calcium levels. does that sound right? so my calcium additives were to no avail. so my real problem is KH. best methods ive heard to be were time and wc's. planning on doing a water change very near future. anything else i can do to ease impatience? We're talking nano here [20g], so i don't imagine it'll take too long to reach desired levels because it hardly takes long to reach undesired levels. i did a water change two saturdays ago [the onset of my problems] and some of my corals started suffering rtn/stn. pretty sure i've lost my xenias for good. as usual, trying to keep losses to a minimum. kenya tree is limp, and i'll say wilting, and dropping limbs. before i realized my problem was a carbonate hardness i tried adding a few ml of kent liquid calcium reactor, calcium advantage and last but not least fiji gold coral calcium supplement (not all at once obviously!). Can i assume this is all merely precipitate in my tank now ?[minus the reactor]? will it come back to bite me in the arse when other appropriate levels are reached. ph. 7.8-8.0 dkh +12 (13-14) ca 360 PO .25 those are my problem levels nitrite nitrate ammonia 0ppm all that aside, time and wc's, i've been trying to understand carbonate associations. i understand that KH can be tied with pH and that KH can determine soluble levels of ca++. other than that i'm clueless and real curious as to what factors in to my dKH levels. enlighten me!