That does it,...I am changing salts!!!

Mark75 · Oct 13, 2016

I am a life long Reef Crystals user so this is a difficult decision but I can't deal with the high Alk.

Here is my situation and maybe you guys have a better solution, I would rather stick with Reef Crystals.

I want to run my tank at an alkalinity of 9. I know RC mixes up much higher, around 11.5 so my plan was to let my tank drop alk slowly to 9 and then maintain it there. In the last few months my tank has started consuming alk faster than I would like, about 1 dkh ever 2 days so I started adding kalk to my top off water( I am a big fan of kalk and would like to use it until demand over comes it). The combination of using RC for my weekly 10% water change and the addition of kalk to my top off water will not let my alk drop, it is 10.4 as of 5 minutes ago.

I have tried cutting back on how much lime I am adding to my top off water but doesn't seem to make any difference.

I can either stop adding kalk and let my alk drop all week and then bounce back on water change day or use a salt with lower alk,...did I mention I am a big fan of Reef Crystals!?!? [emoji12]

Chris Adams · Oct 13, 2016

I am surprised your RC tests that high mine I was lucky to be 8 range. I purposefully went to Red Sea for higher ALK because I was not happy with the RC levels

Just a thought have you cross checked your ALK with another test kit?
You are seeing 11.5 ALK when you mix up your water at 1.026?
Why not dose alk instead of using the kalk?

PS I use KALK but mainly for the PH benefit. However the other benefits are nice and know why you like it

Chris Adams · Oct 13, 2016

Interesting just found this. Wonder if my kit was off when I tested RC

http://www.thatpetplace.com/salt-mix-guide

reeferfoxx · Oct 13, 2016

Sometimes trying to maintain alkalinity with salt is the wrong way to go about it. Especially if the demand is higher than the amount of water changes. Not really sure what is difficult about it but you could always reduce water changes and dose alk or 2 part in addition to trace elements. Then you would only have to perform water changes when no3 is high.

BlueDevil · Oct 13, 2016

Mark - I've been using HW Marinemix and have been very happy with it. I too was concerned about the high Alk that most other salt mixes mix at which is why I went with HW. I've only made two batches so far and both have tested at 7.6 dkh. The salt mixes very quickly and cleanly.

Just wanted to throw out a brand if you were going to end up switching.

Sabellafella · Oct 13, 2016

Mark75 said:
I am a life long Reef Crystals user so this is a difficult decision but I can't deal with the high Alk.

Here is my situation and maybe you guys have a better solution, I would rather stick with Reef Crystals.

I want to run my tank at an alkalinity of 9. I know RC mixes up much higher, around 11.5 so my plan was to let my tank drop alk slowly to 9 and then maintain it there. In the last few months my tank has started consuming alk faster than I would like, about 1 dkh ever 2 days so I started adding kalk to my top off water( I am a big fan of kalk and would like to use it until demand over comes it). The combination of using RC for my weekly 10% water change and the addition of kalk to my top off water will not let my alk drop, it is 10.4 as of 5 minutes ago.

I have tried cutting back on how much lime I am adding to my top off water but doesn't seem to make any difference.

I can either stop adding kalk and let my alk drop all week and then bounce back on water change day or use a salt with lower alk,...did I mention I am a big fan of Reef Crystals!?!? [emoji12]

With 15% changes weekly, im able to keep mine from 9.2 to 9.6. Rc checks out at 11.5 for me, so a 15% change takes it from 9.2 to 9.6... at the end of the week its back down to 9.2. Only have a bunch of sps frags and just a handfull of sps colonys along with some lps. Also dose 2 part and kalk

greg 45 · Oct 13, 2016

I switched over to Fritz salt mixed up constant every batch
Look at there web sight for more info

Mark75 · Oct 13, 2016

I have 2 part and plan to use it but was hoping to use only kalk until demand exceeded its capabilities.

I guess the question is, is it better for alk to stay at 10 with kalk in top off or not add kalk and let it swing from 10-9 the week between water changes?

Sabellafella · Oct 13, 2016

Mark75 said:
I have 2 part and plan to use it but was hoping to use only kalk until demand exceeded its capabilities.

I guess the question is, is it better for alk to stay at 10 with kalk in top off or not add kalk and let it swing from 10-9 the week between water changes?

Is it fully saturdatedkalk? Use in topoff or dosing?

redfishbluefish · Oct 13, 2016

Similar issue with RC and my simple solution was to switch to plain old Instant Ocean. Worked for me!

Nibejeebies · Oct 13, 2016

I've. Been a fan of Salinity... mostly cause I'm not a fan of mixin, testing mixing some more testing mixing some more testing mixing some more testing that I have was experiencing with reef crystals I like the aqua Vitro salinity because it 1/2 cup 1 gallon is exactly 1.026 specific gravity and as others have stated with like fritz rpm salt it has A batch analysis on the side of the bucket which I've tested once per bucket and it's dead on with every test kit that I've used .

That being said I don't have any experience with calculus or when I needed to start dosing I went straight with the BRS two part system and the cheap. Dosing pump that I got off of one of the sale forms here on refrigerator I'm actually about to upgrade it to the Jabeo dosing pump .

I've not had an issue with high alkalinity so I'm really not sure what benefit month any advice I could come up with would be .

but that's my two cents

Dictated with Siri but not read

Mark75 · Oct 13, 2016

Sabellafella said:
Is it fully saturdatedkalk? Use in topoff or dosing?

Not fully saturated,..2 tsp in 5 gallon of RO/DI. I have lowered it from 4tsp but it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Waters · Oct 13, 2016

I also had the same issue of high ALK using Reef Crystals...ended up bleaching a lot of SPS due to my low nutrient system. I switched to Red Sea Blue which mixes up at 8.2.

Sabellafella · Oct 13, 2016

Mark75 said:
Not fully saturated,..2 tsp in 5 gallon of RO/DI. I have lowered it from 4tsp but it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Oh wow. I know how you feel.... just cant give up kalk haha! But my alk used to run at 9.7 to 10.2 What ive done was test twice daily, let it drop to 9.2, then do water changes to keep it between 9.2 and 9.6. Maybe try that?

Chriscrna · Oct 14, 2016

greg 45 said:
I switched over to Fritz salt mixed up constant every batch
Look at there web sight for more info

Yep. I'm changing to Fritz after I clean out my supply of coral pro. Alk is just WAAAY too high.

Chris Adams · Oct 14, 2016

It is interesting the variations you get.
I have coral pro do 10gl wc on my 38gl weekly. Dose Red Sea Foundation B at 14ml a day run kalk and my alk tested at 8 today and last time I checked.

Jeeper · Oct 15, 2016

My experience has been coral pro mixed at 11 alk @1.026 on the bucket I bought. I had a couple of ancient buckets of reef crystals that I bought off a guy who quit the hobby 5 years ago that mixed perfect. I have 2 boxes of fritz and when my quarter bucket of coral pro is gone I am going to give it a whirl. I dose alk and cal in two tanks with the brs dosers and kalk in my invert qt tank.