High Alk?

cwb_reeftank · Jan 14, 2018

Ok and no I have the red sea salt but not the test kit.

cwb_reeftank · Jan 14, 2018

I just emailed customer service and I will post what they say as soon as I get a response.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 14, 2018

OK, thanks.

cwb_reeftank · Jan 19, 2018

Well I have emailed them twice with no response. I am thinking about getting their calibration and two different test kits(salifert and AF) I did a test on the tank today and it was 12.9, I then tested it with an API test and it came up at 12

cwb_reeftank · Jan 28, 2018

I got my test kits in the mail on Friday and I'm hopefully going to be able to test my tank tomorrow to see what they read compared to my checker.

cwb_reeftank · Feb 4, 2018

I have emailed Hanna and its been awhile with no reply still. I did get the Aquaforest test and I got a reading of 11.5 and Salifert and it came out at 12.5 I did a 15 gallon water change today but I did not have time to test it but I am testing it tomorrow.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 5, 2018

So just to clarify, the alk you are measuring is in the tank? The alk in your salt mix is what?

Rock for the tank was what again?

cwb_reeftank · Feb 5, 2018

The alk I am measuring is in my tank and I did not test my mix yesterday but the blue bucket of red sea salt said it had an ICP test done on the salt and it was reading at 8 I think and the rock I have in my tank is live rock I don't know what kind of live rock it is but I know I have had it for 10 years this May.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 5, 2018

cwb_reeftank said:
The alk I am measuring is in my tank and I did not test my mix yesterday but the blue bucket of red sea salt said it had an ICP test done on the salt and it was reading at 8 I think and the rock I have in my tank is live rock I don't know what kind of live rock it is but I know I have had it for 10 years this May.

If you are talking about the brand in general, yes it has lower alkalinity. If you are talking about the specific bucket you have, that is worth testing.

Aside from artificial rock dissolving, top off water, salt mix and additives you are using (including nitrate), I don't think there are any substantial ways for alk to be rising.

cwb_reeftank · Feb 5, 2018

Well the bucket had a sticker on it saying it had a ICP test done on it for that bucket of salt. So what do you think could be causing it to be high, my nitrates have been at 0 for about 3 years now. I would like to do a ICP test on my tank water though to see what it comes back with.

cwb_reeftank · Feb 5, 2018

today the Hanna checker was 14 and the salifert was 7.4

dazoc · Feb 5, 2018

contact this guy at Hanna.
[email protected]
Not his area, but did a kick butt job at getting someone in contact with me the next day. Went out of his way to make sure I was a customer that had issues resolved.

cwb_reeftank · Feb 5, 2018

thank you I just emailed him

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 6, 2018

cwb_reeftank said:
Well the bucket had a sticker on it saying it had a ICP test done on it for that bucket of salt. So what do you think could be causing it to be high, my nitrates have been at 0 for about 3 years now. I would like to do a ICP test on my tank water though to see what it comes back with.

OK, I'm sure it wasn't that bucket, but it might have been that large "batch" of salt mix. But ICP doesn't detect alkalinity anyway and isn't likely going to be useful to see why alk is rising.

The manufacturer may have done an alk test on that batch of salt, but I would test it myself. Most manufacturers probably do as a quality control check, but I am not aware of what many of them actually do.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 6, 2018

cwb_reeftank said:
today the Hanna checker was 14 and the salifert was 7.4

Ah, that would be a problem.

cwb_reeftank · Feb 6, 2018

Yes it is haha and I emailed that guy and got an email back, he said he would transfer me to someone to help me. I will update with what happens

cwb_reeftank · Feb 8, 2018

Well I got an email back and they are going to send me new reagents to try.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 8, 2018

So that's the likely "source' although it may still be test error.

cwb_reeftank · Feb 11, 2018

well I haven't received my reagent which I figured but I tested my RODI water and it had an dKH of 12.6 then when I added salt it was 20.0 once I added it to my tank it went down to 15. so is it possible that there is something for my RODI water. I don't know if the RODI water is suppose to not have a dKH.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 11, 2018

cwb_reeftank said:
well I haven't received my reagent which I figured but I tested my RODI water and it had an dKH of 12.6 then when I added salt it was 20.0 once I added it to my tank it went down to 15. so is it possible that there is something for my RODI water. I don't know if the RODI water is suppose to not have a dKH.

It will have 0 dKH if the tds is anything close to 0 ppm.

Are you monitoring tds?