Alkalinity

[Kraig]

So I’m new to all of this and trying to figure things out. I’m cycling a small 10 gallon tank right now for a qt. I decided to test ph and alk the other day and both were low. Like maybe 7-7.3 ph and around 2-3 dkh. That doesn’t make any sense to me. I decided to mix up a gallon of fresh saltwater just to see how it tested. I’m using tropic Marin pro reef salt and rodi water from a new system. I’m testing with the Red Sea alk/ph test kit. The fresh saltwater tested good for ph, around 8.3ish but the alk was still vert low at about 4 dkh. I’d like to get some options on why the is would be. Is my alk test kit possibly bad (I’m going to pick up a different kit tomorrow if I can to see what it says).
Salinity is good at 1.026. Not sure if something from the ro/di could cause that? Surely a batch of salt wouldn’t be super low alk? Website says around 7dkh.
Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[mdb_talon]

What you describe sounds like bad test(either the test or user error). Because both dkh and ph were so low i would lean to thinking the salinity test is way off.

 

[Kraig]

What you describe sounds like bad test(either the test or user error). Because both dkh and ph were so low i would lean to thinking the salinity test is way off.

I calibrated the refractometer with 35 solution. Maybe it is off but I calibrated, tested water from tank and freshly mixed saltwater, following directions of 1/2 cup for a gallon of water, all measured carefully, and all 35%. I’ll be curious as to what a new test kit shows tomorrow.

 

[Kraig]

What you describe sounds like bad test(either the test or user error). Because both dkh and ph were so low i would lean to thinking the salinity test is way off.

Also, ph was pretty close to what it was supposed to be with the new water. I had a lid on the small tank and probably wasn’t getting good gas exchange, which I would think could explain the low ph in the tank. But alk being so low even with new water is what is suprising to me.