Am i dosing alkalinity right?

[Idoc]

I only have around 10 frags of lps and a toadstool, 4 frags of sps ( recently added) and water change weekly. I tested right after water change and it was 7.5 dkh, also at LFS it was 7.5dkh. What is causing my alk to go down if its not the salt? I will definitely test pre mix salt to see what dkh level at 1.25 salinity. I wanna stay around 8 dkh so it wont go lower than 7.5 dkh.

My Instant Ocean salt mixes up to 9dkh at 1.025-1.026 salinity. Check the alkalinity of a fresh batch of saltwater after mixing for a few hours. Maybe you just have a bad batch of IO.

 

[mooputingtong]

My Instant Ocean salt mixes up to 9dkh at 1.025-1.026 salinity. Check the alkalinity of a fresh batch of saltwater after mixing for a few hours. Maybe you just have a bad batch of IO.

Its my second bucket and its all mixed up together. I will have to test alk with my hanna checker.

 

[mooputingtong]

I think that IO Reef Crystals should be mixing to higher dkh than 7.5 (usually mixed between 8-9 in my experience). You might want to mix up the salt in the bag/box/bucket a little as the Alk component may be more toward the bottom (stratification is common in many salt brands, especially bargain priced salts).

I mixed up my bucket of salt and just fixed the problem with low alk. Alk was acutally seating towards the bottom and even though it wasnt mixed well dkh result came as 14dkh. After doing water change with well mixed salt dkh raised to 7.9 from 7.1. Now i have to find out how much alk is needed for keeping stable dkh no lower than 8 dkh.
Thank you for your solution!

 

[mooputingtong]

My Instant Ocean salt mixes up to 9dkh at 1.025-1.026 salinity. Check the alkalinity of a fresh batch of saltwater after mixing for a few hours. Maybe you just have a bad batch of IO.

It was acutally problem with not well mixed salt in a bucket. i gave it a quick mix and dkh was showing 14dkh and with water change with well mixed salt my dkh went up from 7.1 to 7.9! Thank you!