Thank you Salifert for almost ruining my tank

aharrow · Mar 8, 2010

Quick story, test kits are two months old. I have always used salifert, supposedly best in the business. well about a year ago they had trouble with the alk tests so I used another brand for a while on just the alk. Just went back to salifert couple months ago. I always have kept my alk at 8 dkh. It's been testing that for basically every week for the past 8 months.

Well my level started rising so I cut off my calcium reactor for a few days to let it naturally drop down slowly which it did. well I noticed some of my chalices losing color. Only a few, all others looked great. but I hadn't been noticing much growth the past two months where in the past, crazy growth. So I decided to test the reference solution that comes with the kit. Supposed to be 7.3 and it came back as 9.2. Tested it three times and all 9.0-9.2. So I had no idea what my levels were.

went to the LFS and their Elos kit and seachem both came in around 6 dkh. So what the heck? Now I have no idea what my freaking water really is.

What is the affect of having low alk on corals, especially chalices? I have a ton of them and frankly a lot of freakin money in corals, just to see a test kit crash my tank. I am so ****** right now.

Oh and my mag test kit was giving me a reading of 1580 on five straight tests. Took some water to my buddies house and it came back 1180, LFS, 1200. So my mag has been low as well.

Thank you salifert I have just thrown all your products in the trash after just purchasing them in the past two months.

So what affects does low alk have on chalices? thanks

subielover · Mar 9, 2010

Most times low alk leads to bleaching, or chalice recession. Raise it 1dkh per day until you get to your desired levels. Before playing with alk or ca. make sure your Mg. is above 1300.

firsttime · Mar 9, 2010

I am in the same boat as you are. I got an elos test kit yesterday and compared my salifert test kit with it.

Calcium came out to be the same.
Alk came out to be 2.5 dkh in Elos and 3.3 in saliftert. So now I am unsure what to do.

Things are going well so far in the tank so I plan on keeping the dosing the way it is to make sure no alk swing happens meanwhile I need to find a way to ensure the true alk.

RBursek · Mar 9, 2010

Firsttime,
if you Alk is that low in a DKH scale you better do something now!!!! It should be 7-11DKH.
Aharrow,
I disagree, it is our resposability to watch and see what are tanks look like, I always get new kits before the otherones run out and cross check them them, plus knowing how much my tank uses in Mg Ca and Alk dosing. I think you should be upset with yourself for being inattentive. JMO

firsttime · Mar 9, 2010

Opps may be I got the units wrong.

Its 2.5 on the scale of 4 - Elost Test
and
3.3 on the scale of 4 - Salifert Test.

RBursek · Mar 9, 2010

Aharrow,
I came accross insensative, I am sorry for what has happened to your tank, I guess we can not be dilligent enough in all areas of this hobby.
firsttime,
that is why I like Alk kit that read in ppm or Dkh, it seems they have a wider scale to read the result in.

dnov99 · Mar 9, 2010

Andrew, sorry to hear about this, you defintely want to slowly bring your DKH back up to the 8 or 9 level. Usually any damage that occurs to chalices from low alk is immediate, such as tissue recession. They are very hardy so hopefully you will be ok.

I use the Lamotte test kit for DKH, and have been very happy with them. They are a more expensive but well worth it IMO, when you factor in all the $$$ we spend on corals. PA carries these kits.

aharrow · Mar 9, 2010

RBursek,
I didn't take your comments the wrong way. I speak my mind so I understand. I realize you don't know anything about my background. so it is easy to think this is a rookie mistake. I have been keeping reef tanks for over 5 years and I am fanatical about my numbers. I keep a spreadsheet every week. Most people use the eye test, nothing dying, so all must be good. I have 30 chalices and many pieces of montis and acros, so I understand the amount of money I have sitting in that frag tank. That is precisely why I test so often. My tank is in my office and I work from home so I probably spend more time looking at it than most people.

My analogy is this, if you go to the doctor and he runs blood tests and they come back negative you cross off your list possible problems based on those tests. what if they weren't that accurate and your cholesterol test was negative but in reality it was through the roof. I am assuming you might want to know that. Same with my tank. If I see some recession on one of my corals I try and rule out possiblities and if my test kits aren't accurate that could cause me to make decisions based on bad information.

and besides we pay $20+ each kit and it ticks me off that they can't get it right.

Thanks end of rant please resume discussion

RBursek · Mar 9, 2010

aharrow,
thank you for not flaming me, in my first post I should have said what was in my second post first. I did not realize your extensive back ground, but too many times in typing that is not all included, nor is verbal connotation and facial expression and body language. That is a lost thing with email and texting. I just had to add the word texting to my spell check!!!

lazyreefer · Mar 9, 2010

What about API for Alk testing ??

Any pros/cons....I like its simplicity and I don't feel the need to measure between the numbers.....I'm lazy....right around 8 or 9 dkh seems okay to me as long as it stays in that range. My corals seem to be doing well and I'm dosing BRS 3-part. Otherwise I use Salifert for everything else....except copper one time which was API also I think. Oh, and I got a Tetra kit that I used to triple check my Nitrates.

RBursek · Mar 10, 2010

I have found Alk test kits are about the simplist as form to use and reagents so I do belive with a 7-11 range 9 is perfect. Why add 3 part, isnt that Mg?