Can carbonate hardness be too high?

[Wilhelm]

My test reads 15 for dKH. My test kit, Reef Master by Mars gives a range of 0-12. My Aqua Tracker applet gives a range up to 14. I add Purple Tech regularly to help my coraline grow. Have I added too much? Will it harm my fish and coral?

Thanks for the help.

 

[rkaragozler]

not sure but that test kit might have expired, those readings are very high, if you want to swing by I can lend you a hanna checker, or salifert test kit.

 

[ToManyFrags]

Go buy a good test kit like elos or fauna marine. Salifert and Hanna are not accurate when testing for alk and dkh. I have all theys test kits and had my water sent in for testing and the Hanna and the salifert test kits were way off the elos was close like 2dkh off and the fauna marine kit was dead on from test results .

 

[rkaragozler]

IMO, i think the answer is not how accurate the levels are but how consistent they are, I also think that all corals whether sps, lps, softies, and also fish will acclimate to your parameters. I have been using salifert since I got into the hobby, and just keep my parameters with in range of what I read on the test kit. Maybe if I went out and spent the money ($1000 +) on top end test kits like LaMott, Hach, or the upper Hanna meters, I can fine tune down to .01, but I really don't think it's needed. Like I said this is just my opinion.

 

[Wilhelm]

Thanks for the offer and the information. Using another test kit I got similar results, carbonate on the high end. My fish all seem healthy and move about in a healthy manner. I will refrain from adding Purple Tech until after a partial water change. I usually do 20 gallons a month but missed the last one. This could explain the high reading as well but I never saw such a spike in carbonate on the occasion of a prior delayed partial change.

Again, thanks for the assist.

 

[Mattl22]

I shoot for a dkh of 8 many here shoot for 10 I have had problems with my sps rtn when my alk is above 10 Also when I mix new water I don't have too add anything to bring alk up

I'm guessing u have been dosing 2 part and not testing often enough what I would do Is over next few days/weeks do some water changes and let ur alk / cal get to ur desired level when ur levels r good test every day too see how much ur system is using once u know that u can calculate ur daily dosage!! Lots of threads on the topic just use search function