Warning! Potential Problem with Kent Salt.

[Matt]

It has been a while since this has been brought up. I'll admit, I've been a lazy reefer lately. For the past few while, our CA and Alk/KH kits have been out of commission, and I"ve been lazy about replacing them. I still tested PH and SG regularly.

Our reefs have been doing poorly lately. Low SPS growth, nuisance algae, general malaise. Nothing drastic, just not thriving. I attributed some of this to an aging MH bulb, and some to the temperature fluctuations through the summer (it got HOT sometimes this summer). I ordered a replacement bulb last week, and some new kits at the same time.

When I went through the whole test regimen, I got some surprising values for CA and Alk! CA over 500 and Alk below 5dKh. That was suprising, but consistent across both tanks, so I tested the water we had mixed this week for the weekend water change. Also low - even lower - dKh around 3.

I had tested this bucket when we opened it, and it was fine. There must have been stratification in the bucket. I hope we caught everything in time. I'm slowly increasing the Alk in the tanks, and will pitch the remaining 1/3 bucket of Kent.

A reminder to myself (and perhaps others) to maintain vigilance!