Extremely High Alk In Instant Ocean Salt
 

Just bought a bucket of instant ocean salt and made a fresh batch if 1.025ppt saltwater and the alk tested 16dkh!!

Has anyone seen or heard of this?

Thanks

Is it worth a 2nd test just to make sure?

Done it with 3 different test kits...

Could it be anything in part with the spring thaw?

What do you mean by that?

I've never kept track of a measured kh during the different seasons but I do know my own tap water has different characteristics during the spring thaw. Although I'd think this would more apply to freshwater tanks than salt as freshwater aquariums typically don't use RO water.

Was just spitballing.

Roll your bucket ?

IO did have issues a few years ago where alk was very high and killed a bunch of tanks. I would expect though, that they would not let that happen again. Where did you buy the salt? Maybe someone else has a bucket from the same batch they could test?

Ya I was told by the folks at J&L to always roll a new bucket of IO around for a while to mix up any settling while the stuff sits in stock. I would think it's a good idea with any.

happened to me as well - I was guilty of not knowing about the bucket rule. now that I do that, much better :)

I've never rolled a bucket of salt in 12 years, it's always consistent. Settling of salt components isn't going to double the alk reading on new water. If it's 16dKh now, it's going to be ~16 after rolling it.

Wasn't that Kent? I always thought IO was in the clear but maybe not.

I second this idea.. I just cracked open a bucket (but it was bought in December) I'll try to remember to test its Alk tonight and see what I get, I'll post back in here the results.

I can't remember, does IO print batch info or dates on the buckets? I don't recall seeing anything like that.

I bought the salt at the purple seahorse here in kelowna.

I always do that.

Pretty sure it was IO. About 6 or 7 years ago.

I just recently had a bout with a bad bucket of IO...but the problem was the opposite. The alk was really low. I have always used other salts (not IO) that were consistent but with the big tank...the budget has come more into play. I started testing and found my tank alk was really low...then I tested the freshly made water from the last bit of the salt out of that bucket and it was between 4-5. The next bucket I opened went back to the 10-11 that I was expecting from IO. I've been slowing bringing my Alk back up in my tank. Now I always check every new batch and I roll every bucket (have for years).

Wow that's really weird. I don't know what i should do with this salt to lower the alk but I can't really use it anymore. What a waste of money.

Its fine just do smaller waterchanges. It has been discussed here a few times.

But sometimes the additives to the salt seperate, rolling or scooping/stirring the salt always a good idea. It does happen, and there are bad batches out there to. I recall Seachem aquavitro salt and Kent having issues like this in the past. Guess better safe than sorry, roll/mix/stir bucket and test before using!

Good lord, can u imagine the headache of doing H2O changes as usual and then ooh oh!

Sorry, I disagree. Any separation of ingredients IMO is miniscule. Like I said, I've never rolled a bucket (other than one I dropped) and I'm not about to start.
For fun, I'll make a gallon of water off the top of my new bucket, then roll it all over, make another gallon and post the differences in alk and Ca. :)

I'll do that to, I have a fresh bucket of Seachem Reefsalt. Interesting to see what u get, and I get, of course if these buckets are mixed well, it should be buisness as usual. I think its just a precaution, not the norm. You know...an ounce of prevention is worth a heck of alot more!! ;0)

I write it off as superstition rather than precaution. Any bucket of salt that was ever bad was bad right to the bottom :)

Well yes, if we are talking about a bad batch, but if we are talking about a bucket not mixed then rolling it will help to mix it....that's all.

I guess my point is that I don't believe a bucket can be "not mixed". It's added to the buckets from a huge hopper with tons of salt premixed, and the settling that may occur is negligible. Certainly nothing bad will happen from rolling it, other than running over a toe :) I just think people often go through silly rituals for things when they don't have to. Yes, I take a more relaxed approach to all this reef stuff, so if rolling helps one sleep better at night, I'll just leave it alone :)

salt
 

i'm pretty sure that when they mix the chemicals in the manufacturing plant it is all blended before it is dispensed into the buckets.there might be small clumps in the mix that you might roll out to even out the ingredients,but nothing that would cause a major change.i would take the bucket back for a replacement

I would call IO, I have heard of several people getting bad salt and once they provide a sample...replacement salt arrived post haste. I would have done that had I not already used almost all of it up...thus the adage, test every batch.

I give my buckets roll only because it makes it easier to scoop (fluffier)

Had exactly this happen with some dry fertilizer for my freshwater tank. I had to sift and make sure the different elements were all broken up.

However for this salt...I agree that it's mixed long before it hit the bucket

The buckets I buy come with a 5-digit batch sticker on the lid

I had an issue with bags of IO bought x-mas 2011
The alk was about 16 in each of the 6 bags

I use buckets now and I get between 10.5 and 11

And my ca is still around 400 in every bucket

I test each first batch from a new bucket, and have stopped rolling - with no issues

My batch of io tests out at 1000 mag, 350 cal and 14 dhk. I use tap water and the dhk is high around 8 or 9. Do you use tap water or rodi?

I use RO - TDS 0

Last time I tested my RO water, it was all zeros for the Big 3

My Instant Ocean Sea Salt buckets have given me, from newest to oldest;

The 3 batches below were all tested with fresh Elos kits, and my methods were checked against both J&L, and the peeps @ Elos

Batch 12243 Mar 16
10.5 Alk
4-410 Ca
1450 Mag

Batch 12243 Nov 13
11.5
450
1400

Batch 11297 Sept 4
11
490
1300

I have 2 previous buckets that I didn't keep track of, so no matching batches to test results

There were some user errors back here, so the test results were a bit skewed and not accurate

11
460
1400

11
520
1200

RO/DI

My IO consistently tests out at about 375 ppm Ca, 7ish dKh, and I don't test for Mg.

And the brand(s) of your test kits are ?

Elos. Previously Salifert, same results.

I really want to send you some of my salt
We talked about this before in fun, but I'd be interested to see what you get with my salt ...

I'm thinking it's all in the user's technique

Rich should be having another meet soon, I'll come over and you can bring some salt and a kit :)

I would be most interested in doing it :biggrin:

Maybe you could bring your kits too, just for reference ?
Up to you. I know they're not cheap

I had the same issue. Bought my bucket from a local vendor on Boxing day of 2011. Sad to say it killed my tank. Alk was low, Mag and Calc were through the roof, who knows what else was wrong. Took me forever to figure out what wiped out ALL fish and inverts in my tank... I did notice the consistency was different than my previous buckets. Usually it's somewhat coarse, like table salt. This time it was much finer, like baking sugar almost.

I know that a lot of people have success with IO (and I did for 2 years before that too), but I've switched brands now.

I use Elos.