KH reading of 11

[ev960d]

I have been reading many post on how to increase the kH, but I check my kH and found that it is 11 ! My pH is 6. What to do in this situation ?

I have 4 x 36kW PL, 2BPS CO2 and my tank size is 54gallon.

I also realize my riccia and other plants have stop bubble after i did some rescaping and put in a bogwood. Any advise ?

(my water is already 11 dkH before i done my rescaping)

Thank you.

[wasabi8888]

What substrate are you using? there must be something in your tank that caused such a high KH. typically it's due to coral chips or limestone

[ev960d]

I dont use any substrate, just simple gravel. Do you think it is caused by the new bio rings which i put in the canister recently ?

[|squee|]

Those bio rings are Mr Aqua brand? I read a post that they raise kH.

[ev960d]

Can't recall if there is any brand for the bio ring. Got it from NA. Maybe I should do a 50% water change and see what happen. Read some post that adding distill water can lower kH, but seems like most people are advising against this.
Thanks for the reply.

[alvchong]

guys,

i may have the same problem here. however, before that, i need to ask u guys of what is the unit of measurement when testing ur KH?
i got two test kits:
1) hagen: It took me 10 drops to change colour, meaning is 100 mg/L as per hagen booklet. i also know the unit of dH, after convert is 5.6 dH.
so i thot my KH is 5.6dH.

here is what confused me....

2) Azoo tested also 10 drops of solution to change the colour, but the Azoo box said, 10 drops = 10 dH'. so? my KH is 10 now?

do i need to convert? does 10 drops means 10dH as what forumer used for standard unit of measurement when discussion in forum?

btw, i hv 5 pieces of stones, all different shape... with style. how does limestome look like, any method to test if it alter the PH or KH?

[juggler]

alvchong:

Usually the test kits for kH in the market are simple to use. i.e. the number of drops till it changes colour means the kH value. So in your case will be 10 dkH. I don't think they make it complicated that you need to mulitply a factor.

Anyway, high kH also means high pH usually because of limestones or corals in the tank.

Test your pH also, it should be more than 7 if you are not injecting a lot of CO2. Or you take a sample of tank water and let it stand for a few days before testing the kH and pH.

Corals also react to acids like vinegar. Can take out those suspect stones and apply some vinegar to see if it fizzles.