Extremely High Alk In Instant Ocean Salt

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

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

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

[mseepman]

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).

[Aquaticguy11]

Originally Posted by mseepman

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.

[jostafew]

Originally Posted by mseepman

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).

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.

[daniella3d]

low alkalinity that could be caused by a water change would not wipe out your tank and kill your fish. Something else must have killed a fish, which created ammonia and then created a chain reaction and killed more fish, and corals.

If your alkalinity is 8 and you do a 20% water change with a salt that is 5kh, that will not affect your KH in your tank significantly.

I had my kh at 5 before I started dosing at some point and that did not kill anything in my tank.

Originally Posted by jostafew

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.