Redsea Reef Foundation B (Alk) Crystallizing

[The.Seabeast]

Hi all, I recently bought a 500ml bottle of RedSea Foundation B Alkalinity from the LFS. Inside the bottle there are clear crystallized pellets at the bottom. Would the liquid still be good to use if I strained out the crystals, or would the concentration be off?

 

[DanyL]

The concentration will be off.
It likely happens due to temperature fluctuations.

I would try to shake the bottle and see if it dissolves back or not.

 

[The.Seabeast]

Shaking it was the first thing I tried. Unfortunately they aren’t dissolving back into the liquid.

 

[DanyL]

I don’t know what salts they’re using but it could also be super saturated - which means you’ll have to heat the liquid to get it back into solution.

Randy or someone more knowledgeable in chemistry could probably answer this question better than me.

You can also try and figure out how big this change in concentration really is.
From another question regarding Red Sea’s Alk I know 1ml == 0.1dKH in 100 liters.
That means that 0.1ml in 1 Liter should increase Alk by 1.0dKH.

Take 1 Liter of saltwater from your tank, test Alk, dose 0.1ml and then retest and compare.

From here you can derive the current concentration of the bottle and recalculate your dosing amounts.
But you’ll need to remember to recalculate the difference again when you get your next bottle.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Warming is what I would first try, and extra water would be second.

 

[Julbra]

Warming is what I would first try, and extra water would be second.

Yes thanks! I bathed the whole bottle with hot water from the tap for 20 minutes and all the crystals dissolved back into solution.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes thanks! I bathed the whole bottle with hot water from the tap for 20 minutes and all the crystals dissolved back into solution.

Glad to hear it worked.

Happy Reefing.