dkh?

[UDJustin]

I have been testing my dkh recently and it seems to be at seventeen which is really high my ph is 8.2 and everything else checks out fine (clacium at 425) So I was wondering if there was an easy way to lower this besides doing water changes?

[MechanicalEngineer]

Yikes...that's beyond high.  What test kit are you using?  I didn't even know any went up that high.  Are you dosing anything?  Do you know how it got that high.  If you're not doing anything other than water changes, I highly recommend NOT doing water changes with the same salt, b/c that could be your problem (although that's not a problem I'm familiar with in salt mixes.) 

[UDJustin]

no i have been using two little fishys part a and b and i know i think part b or one or the other raises the dkh so i stoped. I used the saifert brand dkh/alk test

[MechanicalEngineer]

I think verper can chime in better here, but some of the Salifert Alk tests were bad.  I'm not sure of the batch numbers, but you may want to check your batch number first. 

Next, try to do several water changes over the next few days.  I'm not sure of how harmful high alkalinity can be, but I know it's not beneficial.

When I had my alkalinity drop, I had to test several times over a period of about two weeks to find out the right amount of alk to dose.  Just because a bottle says you should dose x amount, doesn't mean that's right.  It can vary based on the frequency of your water changes, the amount of corals you have...and even on other chemistry of the water.

[UDJustin]

yeah i know about the dosing its my own fault for letting it get away from me. I would like to know if the test kit is bad though i dont know where i would find out the bad batches though, if someone knows i would appreciate the knowledge. Yeah I guess tommorrow will be a water change day

[MechanicalEngineer]

I'm digging...until then...try this:

1.1 grams of baking soda in 1 gallon of distilled water = 10 dkh

As far as how much a gram of baking soda is in a measurement...don't ask me...you're on your own for that.   

[UDJustin]

but wont the baking soda lower my ph too? I really dont want to mess with my ph maybe my best bet would be to just do water changes?

[MechanicalEngineer]

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear.  You can take 1.1 grams of baking soda in 1 gallon of distilled water and the alkalinity will register as 10 dkh.  It's a way to test if your kit is off.  If your kit reads something else, it's a bad kit or you made that solution incorrectly.

Yes, your best bet is water changes for now.  The "bad" Salifert tests are 1106-C and 1106-F I believe.  If you have those kits, just estimate your "true" reading to be about 2-2.5 dkh lower than what you're getting on the test.