Am I doing something wrong?

[Dw79]

So I switched about 2 months ago to Fritz salt from Redsea Coral Pro. I couldn't justify the extra cost and water perameters seemed to be in exceptable levels from one to the other. Obviously there was some difference in numbers, but I do a small 10 percent water change a week that should be a slow enough change that should have been ok. I very quickly lost some coral and am now dealing with low Mag (1200) and low Alk (6) . I follow the instructions to mix and am at a loss! Am I dealing with a bad batch, or is it somehow precipitating out? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Suohhen]

Are you dosing at all? Alk can depleate quickly and should be kept as stable as possible.

 

[Dw79]

Are you dosing at all? Alk can depleate quickly and should be kept as stable as possible.

Dosing starts with water change tomorrow to get back in check. Was never needed before, but clearly things are off so will start happening. Just seemed like a big swing in water chemistry for something that should have been a slow changea

 

[Suohhen]

I've had alk stay stable on tanks in the past and then start moving quickly for no apparent reason. Coralline is a big user of alk, cal and mag, some types of coralline are over 1% mag while everything varies but sps is generally much much lower. Also there are various types of bacteria and macroalgae that use alk.

 

[blasterman]

Check the alk on some fresh salt mix by itself. Do this before making other assumptions.

 

[Dw79]

Check the alk on some fresh salt mix by itself. Do this before making other assumptions.

Will test this first thing. Thank you and heres hoping I don't have to go back to more expensive salt!!!

 

[burningmime]

So I switched about 2 months ago to Fritz salt from Redsea Coral Pro. I couldn't justify the extra cost and water perameters seemed to be in exceptable levels from one to the other. Obviously there was some difference in numbers, but I do a small 10 percent water change a week that should be a slow enough change that should have been ok. I very quickly lost some coral and am now dealing with low Mag (1200) and low Alk (6) . I follow the instructions to mix and am at a loss! Am I dealing with a bad batch, or is it somehow precipitating out? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

My first impression is that this has nothing to do with the salt. Once corals grow they start consuming Mag and Alk. If your corals are bigger, they're gonna need more stuff, and at some point water changes won't keep up. Which is a good sign . But it means you're gonna have to start dosing.