Local fish store wants me to target 8KH but

[Doctorgori]

Anyway, assuming Calcium and Mag stay within tolerances, you could just let that alkalinty naturally deplete to whatever level you want then just dose maintenance it from there

The salt I use is red sea blue bucket. It is suppose to be at 8 KH . Is there a way to lower my Alkalinity then? Like a bottle that lowers my Alkalinity to 8?

maybe I’m on the ignore list

 

[dr_vinnie_boombatz]

I just checked there is no Batch number on my bag of salt. It is legit left empty

Are you using the commercial bags? I would reach out to Red Sea and ask. Not sure if it's possible to get counterfeit salt.

RS website states:

*MyBatch™ service is available only for salts produced as of January 2015
**MyBatch™ is available only for 7kg, 22kg buckets and 22kg & 25kg bags
***The batch number is a 10 digit number and can be found on the outside of the product (see example hereunder)

 

[Rappa]

Without being to rough, this is some of the worst advise I've heard from an LFS on an alk strategy

I'm thinking you maybe misinterpreted their advise somehow... It can be easy to do when trying to absorb so much information initially. Unless you maybe talked to an employee and not an owner. Good help is hard to find these days!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The salt I use is red sea blue bucket. It is suppose to be at 8 KH . Is there a way to lower my Alkalinity then? Like a bottle that lowers my Alkalinity to 8?

Yes, there are ways to lower alk, but waiting for it to drop on its own is often easiest.

 

[Solo McReefer]

Without being to rough, this is some of the worst advise I've heard from an LFS on an alk strategy

I doubt they told him to titrate his dKh by decreasing his PPT

That's most likely the OPs interpretation of "You should target 8 dKh for your tank water" or "We like to run our tanks at 8"

No one has asked him what water he uses for mixing. The excess dKh can be coming from his RODI water thats not really RODI. Assuming the error is coming from the salt mix

All of the TDS in my tap water is calcium carbonate, by looking at my shower glass

 

[rtparty]

I didn't even use my refractometer to measure the level I did it using the bulk reef supply calculator at 35 and 30. That was my result then I checked the refractometer it was correctly at those level too. I am wondering if my salt mix does have issues cause my calcium is at 550 as well at 35ppt when it should be at 430

Your refractometer is wrong. Calcium is also about 20% too high.

How are you making new saltwater? Are you scooping or weighing the salt before adding it to the water?

 

[KrisReef]

Bags can settle in transit. I have seen a blue bag that had mag flakes visible on top. The person mixing was making small batches of water instead of mixing the whole bag at once, which can be problematic if the ingredients are separating

 

[Pontuskor]

thank you for all the replies I checked my water and it had KH so I changed the water but now I need more salt to mix to get to 35 salinity but the KH Mag and Cal is exactly as the red sea bucket states. I used the Bulk Reef Supply Salt Mix Calculator but that is off for my water I need like double that to hit 35 salinity. Is there something wrong with my water now that I am not getting the right mix with the calculator or is the calculator off?>

 

[Jekyl]

How are you testing and have you had your results double checked?

As far as mixing results I've always found the instructions pretty close. I also make sure to calibrate my refractometer with calibration liquid before every use. I've seen too many posts where using RODI gives bad results.

 

[Pontuskor]

maybe I’m on the ignore list

couldnt keep up with all the messages sorry. Just saw that today. I fixed it with some new water but ya the salt needed to mix is different which i am worrying would cause another problem now XD

 

[Pontuskor]

How are you testing and have you had your results double checked?

As far as mixing results I've always found the instructions pretty close. I also make sure to calibrate my refractometer with calibration liquid before every use. I've seen too many posts where using RODI gives bad results.

I used two hydrometer one that Dr_vinnee recommended and my original one. I found that both give me the same reading

 

[Pontuskor]

At least the good thing now is that everything is same with the red sea blue bucket levels. Just that I need to use 0.575 lbs of salt compared to the 0.34 lbs that the calculator gave me for 1.05 gallon of water

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There is no salt mix that needs twice as much as any other to reach a particular salinity. If that is what you meant, I think you are doing something wrong or reading something wrong.

 

[Pontuskor]

There is no salt mix that needs twice as much as any other to reach a particular salinity. If that is what you meant, I think you are doing something wrong or reading something wrong.

If i dont use this then the salinity is very off if i use the old water the KH is higher since the water add KH and Cal. Right now all the reading are exactly what the red sea blue bucket says just that more mix was needed

 

[Uncle99]

I’m lost.
If your salinity is off, everything is off.

Salinty to 35ppt first, then test.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I used two hydrometer one that Dr_vinnee recommended and my original one. I found that both give me the same reading

I found early on that hydrometers are not that accurate. I got a refractometer and it did the trick.

 

[Pontuskor]

I’m lost.
If your salinity is off, everything is off.

Salinty to 35ppt first, then test.

its at 35ppt already but it uses almost double the salt

 

[Pontuskor]

I found early on that hydrometers are not that accurate. I got a refractometer and it did the trick.

the salt level matches everything at 35ppt just that it use double the salt needed to get to that 35 ppt

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If i dont use this then the salinity is very off if i use the old water the KH is higher since the water add KH and Cal. Right now all the reading are exactly what the red sea blue bucket says just that more mix was needed

It's fine to add more salt to boost the salinity, if that is the goal.

I'm just clarifying that is is simply not possible for ANY salt mix to deviate from the norm by the 2x you mentioned in terms of how much is needed to attain any salinity.

 

[Pontuskor]

It's fine to add more salt to boost the salinity, if that is the goal.

I'm just clarifying that is is simply not possible for ANY salt mix to deviate from the norm by the 2x you mentioned in terms of how much is needed to attain any salinity.

I checked the salt today with a hanna salinity tester that is new. It got 32ppt. So even when I used more salt the PPT is lower than the 35 ppt