KH is 16 in new saltwater mix?
 

I have heated and aerated my saltwater mixture for 48 hours and tested the KH and it is at 16. My tank is about 11.5. I am using instant ocean salt and my water is being filtered with a tap water filter that I got for aquariums from J & L. Is it likely the filter is increasing my KH? I rolled the salt bucket around before getting the salt out. Is there something I can use to decrease the KH before adding it to my tank so I don't have to do a new mix?

Leanne

I got a box of io at christmas, same deal. 15.4 alk, I have just been doing smaller waterchanges, and dosing less alk as a result.

Glad to know it's not just me. I was going to do a 20% water change but just did under 10% instead. Kind of a pain.
Leanne

I had the same problem with IO reef crystals I was up around 17 so smaller water changes more often so the kh could come down on its own. Mines still high around 11 or 12 usually

So far all my bucket of Reef Crystal have been consistant at 10 kh for salinity of 1.025. I have been using Reef Crystal for a year now and it is pretty much consistant after 4 buckets.

With a tank dkh at 11 and your IO water at 16, doing a 20% water change will bump your dkh up to 12, only a single degree. I regularly raised my dkh by a degree in a single dose in a heavily loaded sps/lps tank without concern and have had my dkh up at 15 without observing negative impact on any critters. I would not be concerned with doing a full 20% water change. As for cutting your dkh down, liquid phosphate destroyers such as Brad's (Tailored Aquatics) primarily react with phosphate and once depleted, start to pull your dkh down. If I recall correctly, with no phosphate in my tank, one dose of Brad's stuff pulled my dkh down about 1 degree, but again, I don't see the need to do this in your situation.

Thanks for all the replys. And the math lesson Dan. It's good to know that if it gets higher than 12 hopefully nothing too major will happen with the tank. It's just kind of funny since everyone says to do water changes to get the alkalinity down, but in my case up!

Leanne

Yep. Just measured my new batch of IO. It was 16dkh

Well glad I switched to reef crystals but I have. Ever had a problem with IO

So is this a bad batch of IO salt or what? Or is IO salt always at 16 for the KH?

Leanne

Well hard to say. Source water could be at play to I think. But I have had 2 buckets and a bag both reading high 15-17dkh. It's tough to say.

Sorry. I have not measured alk in my mixes for over 6yrs now. I did have some with higher alk between 01 and 05 or around then sometime. Never had a problem with it any time since.

I did a 3g water change on my 20g sps tank yesterday with that 16 dkh mix and not a problem.

16?! Whaaat? We have not used IO in years, when we did we were seeing 10 and 13 with IO RC. What are you guys testing with? We use hanna and salifert.

Other salts we used/use

SeaChem Reef Salt 10 (we love this salt)
DD H2 ocean 10


Ray

IO is the reason I switched to seachem. Always had high KH with IO

That would be Salifert Ray. My mix included correct amount of magnesium added and a small calcium boost. Same mix I have been using for yrs. except for a brief try of Seachem Marine salt.

Ah cool, Salifert are very accurate..so yeah, that is a lot of ALK!

Well, most aquarists have to add an alk. supplement. I still use Seachems. So I would guess a slightly higher alk. in ones new salt mix would only assist that during a water change.

The only problem I have ever had was back 10yrs ago when had my 225g and on well water. Used an ro filter but not DI resin, which reduces the alkalinity in hard well water. It interacted with the salt mix and spiked my alk. Took me ages to figure out what the heck was going on.

DOH !!!.

Tap w/ prime and mine is sitting steady at 13 atm... I kinda figured it was a bit high, but thought I was just doing something wrong.

ninja edit: With IO

I made up a mix of IO I bought on boxing day, 16DKH. I've been trying to bring mine down, and had my calcium reactor off, test my water at 14ish, do a water change, the next day test at still 14. It was getting frustrating wondering how my tank wasn't bringing it down. Well, after this thread tested a new IO mix, now I know why. Thanks for posting, now I know why i have alk burn on a lot of SPS. My calcium is still high with the DKH, so it seems that the 2 are still balanced in the IO mix, just way too high.

Also, API test kit showed 7DKH the whole time. Took some water into OC and he tested higher, so bought a new salifert test kit that showed 14-16 in my tank. API test right beside it showed 7.

I have to stop "saving" money on my tank, it's getting expensive.

Glad that I posted the high Dkh too as I thought that maybe I was doing something wrong or thought maybe my filter wasn't working right. I am going to call Instant Ocean tomorrow and see what they say since so many people are having issues with the high alkalinity. I'll keep you posted.

Leanne

Mix it up
 

Hi,

I have heard of other people mentioning mixing the buckets or bags before use because the mineral salts settle according to their weights. Think of vibrating the salt bucket for 4 or 5 days straight. All the heavy chemicals settle to the bottom while the lighter ones remain near the top. Then when you scoop out a few cupfuls from the top your not getting the right mixture of chemicals. Unless you are using the whole bag or bucket at once you should be mixing it by rolling and tumbling the bucket or bag first. Then take what you need out of it. I will roll the bucket around on its side and flip the bucket end over end for 5 minutes before I use any of it.

Cheers,
Tim

Hi Tim, I did roll the bucket around but maybe not as much as I should. I will try rolling the bucket a lot more and see if it does make a difference. Thanks for the input. It would be interesting to see if all these other people that answered rolled their buckets or not.

Leanne