Reef crystals KH?

[Kimberely]

I had been using Fritz RPM but I was having a bit of trouble keeping the alk above 7dkh, and calcium and mag were always a tiny bit low (not enough to hurt anything at 380 and 1360). So I switched to Reef Crystals. I moved my 29 gallon nano into another room yesterday and changed about 70% of the water using the reef crystals. I just tested and my tank is now 11.5dkh. Is that normal for reef crystals and is that too high? Salinity is 1.026 and all other parameters test great. Calcium is up to 400 and mag at 1400. Just concerned that jumping the KH so drastically. My toadstool didn't extend it's polyps fully today but that could also be due to my handling it yesterday while moving the tank.

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

Yeah, that salt tends to have a rather high DKH. 20% water changes usually bring my 75 gallon up 1-2 DKH, so I have to watch it.

 

[Kimberely]

Yeah, that salt tends to have a rather high DKH. 20% water changes usually bring my 75 gallon up 1-2 DKH, so I have to watch it.

Thanks. I should have tested before I changed the water. Brain fart on my part. Hopefully it doesn't have too much of a negative effect and I'll be more careful with it from now on.

 

[rkpetersen]

IO Reef Crystals and RS Coral Pro typically run around 12 dKH.
They can definitely be used to help alkalinity higher, but you need to do frequent small water changes rather than large ones, to avoid a big sudden swing.

 

[Kimberely]

IO Reef Crystals and RS Coral Pro typically run around 12 dKH.
They can definitely be used to help alkalinity higher, but you need to do frequent small water changes rather than large ones, to avoid a big sudden swing.

I don't normally do such big water changes. Normally I change 5 gallons per week in my nano. I only did it because I moved the tank and already had 18 gallons of RODI made up and not enough empty tubs to hold all the water from draining the tank to move it. I didn't expect it to be so drastically higher. It was stupidity on my part.

 

[Kimberely]

But everything seems ok. My toadstool is open today and my anemones and various mushrooms never flinched.

 

[Silver14SS]

Here's a link that lists several of the popular brands:

Aquarium Salt Mix Guide

Learn how to properly mix saltwater with various brands of aquarium salt from the experts at That Fish Place - That Pet Place & thatpetplace.com.

www.thatpetplace.com

 

[Kimberely]

Here's a link that lists several of the popular brands:

Aquarium Salt Mix Guide

Learn how to properly mix saltwater with various brands of aquarium salt from the experts at That Fish Place - That Pet Place & thatpetplace.com.

www.thatpetplace.com

Thanks! Wish I had seen that beforehand. Lol

 

[Sabellafella]

I use about 3 boxes of reef Crystal every 2 months, usually will get a few boxes at a time stemming from the same batch number. I think it's fair to say, alk is usually 11-11.5
I've had boxes up to 12, also had boxes that were 10.5