Adjusting IO salt

[homer1475]

Ace brand muriatic acid from my local ace.

Transchem Muriatic Acid 1 gal Liquid - Ace Hardware

Professional Strength 31.45% HCL (Muriatic Acid), excellent for pH reduction in swimming pools or to clean and etch masonry surfaces, excellent for pH reduction in all commercial and residential pools.Find the ACID MURIATIC GAL at Ace.

www.acehardware.com

 

[X-37B]

Seems a lot cheaper than the Seachem, is it basically then the thing? Lowers ph so needs a good aeration before use?

Yes it lowers ph and thats why you run an air stone until the ph comes up after adding it.

 

[CK00020]

+1 on the sodium bisulfate

 

[Jeeperz]

Ok, what am I doing wrong here. I use IO regular and Reef crystals and get nowhere near that dkh. Mixed 50/50 to 1.026 I get around 8-8.5 ALK 400-450 Cal and 1300-1400 mag. ALK istested with either a Hanna or red Sea kit which read about the same, others are red Sea. Tests are in date. What am I doing wrong to get such low alk? I'd use just regular io if I could get 9alk and 400cal.

What is your mixing strategy?

I heat water to 60-70, unplug heaters, plug in pump, slowly mix in 1/2 cup at a time over 30 seconds until I get to my water volume. Once it's clear I heat to 78 and test salinity with a tropic Marin high precision hydrometer (glass weighted tube)

 

[Reef.]

Ok, what am I doing wrong here. I use IO regular and Reef crystals and get nowhere near that dkh. Mixed 50/50 to 1.026 I get around 8-8.5 ALK 400-450 Cal and 1300-1400 mag. ALK istested with either a Hanna or red Sea kit which read about the same, others are red Sea. Tests are in date. What am I doing wrong to get such low alk? I'd use just regular io if I could get 9alk and 400cal.

What is your mixing strategy?

I heat water to 60-70, unplug heaters, plug in pump, slowly mix in 1/2 cup at a time over 30 seconds until I get to my water volume. Once it's clear I heat to 78 and test salinity with a tropic Marin high precision hydrometer (glass weighted tube)

Two things to check that come straight to mind, that your temp probe is correct as that can make a fairly significant difference on salinity if it’s off and also check which hydrometer you have, I believe TM do two hydrometers with different scales on them, I believe there is a German one which uses a different scale. Also could be testing error with your alk test kit. More than likely it’s your salinity though.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I adjust all 3 in my IO (Alk down, Cal up (if needed), Mag up. If I had to adjust every WC I’d go crazy and just buy a more expensive salt like RSBB. I mix up 40g at a time which lasts me 4x WC. I find a bit of variance between each batch so I just custom adjust. Once a month is easy enough.

 

[flyfisher2]

Yep, buy it by the bag as well. My UPS guy hates me.

 

[Jeeperz]

Two things to check that come straight to mind, that your temp probe is correct as that can make a fairly significant difference on salinity if it’s off and also check which hydrometer you have, I believe TM do two hydrometers with different scales on them, I believe there is a German one which uses a different scale. Also could be testing error with your alk test kit. More than likely it’s your salinity though.

I haven't cross checked temp but I use the same thermometer on my tank and they run the same temp. The hydrometer is the us version as it's temp is *f not *c.

It could be testing error but the Hanna reads pretty consistent batch to batch on its reagents and what I get from the salt. Same with red Sea. Normally I use the red Sea as it's way faster for alk.

I do end up with a ton of flaky white stuff that settles on the bottom, I assume that's where the alk is going but not sure what to do to prevent it.

 

[aggrofish]

I’ve used IO forever and have buckets from petco on repeat order. TBH I don’t even test it anymore. Calcium is low in the 380-400 range, but I only change 10 percent during a water change so it’s not really enough to swing parameters. If I’m doing a big change I’ll dose calcium. I don’t test MG because mine is always high in the tank and DKH is 9-9.5.

 

[GARRIGA]

I’m moving to IO planning on using seachem acid buffer to drop the kh, what does everyone else use?

I use the same. Just aerate to gas the CO2

 

[Jeeperz]

So maybe I'm mixing too long and the alk is dropping out? Just mixed up a fresh batch of 50/50 io regular/reef crystals and I'm at 9.8 dkh. Normally by the time it's heated or the next day it's down to 8.5-8. temp is between 76-77 on two different thermometer. Still seems low compared to everyone else though. 9.8 is high, I try to keep around 8. What's the best way to drop it?

 

[Reef.]

So maybe I'm mixing too long and the alk is dropping out? Just mixed up a fresh batch of 50/50 io regular/reef crystals and I'm at 9.8 dkh. Normally by the time it's heated or the next day it's down to 8.5-8. temp is between 76-77 on two different thermometer. Still seems low compared to everyone else though. 9.8 is high, I try to keep around 8. What's the best way to drop it?

your mixing could not be helping, you don’t say how long you mix for? I don’t heat mine, only at room temp, and also keep it covered whilst mixing, you could try adding the salt a little faster, 30secs for every 1/2 a cup sounds very slow, not sure that would have much of an effect tho but either way it does sound you are being overly slow with the mixing.

What colour is the scale on your? I believe the German one is green, not blue.one measures density the other relative density. so the German one you are looking for a lower value.

 

[Yodeling]

Been using IO exclusively since 2003 and never had issues with consistency. I use continuous water changes now, which makes any difference in parameters irrelevant as long as it’s consistent.

 

[Jeeperz]

your mixing could not be helping, you don’t say how long you mix for? I don’t heat mine, only at room temp, and also keep it covered whilst mixing, you could try adding the salt a little faster, 30secs for every 1/2 a cup sounds very slow, not sure that would have much of an effect tho but either way it does sound you are being overly slow with the mixing.

What colour is the scale on your? I believe the German one is green, not blue.one measures density the other relative density. so the German one you are looking for a lower value.

It's the blue scale. I mix anywhere from a couple hours to overnight. Even a week. If I don't get to it that day I unplug the big pump and just leave the small powerhead in the bottom to keep water movement. The alk only drops maybe 1 dkh to 7 ish if I use it the following weekend.

I only heat to 60-70, then the heaters are unplugged, then salt added. My garage is cold in the winter, just above freezing

I will try dumping salt in faster next batch. I was doing it slowly so it dissolves and doesn't just clump in the bottom but I never tried just dumping it in.

 

[CK00020]

For those of you using sodium bisulfate or Muratic acid, How long is everyone aerating to raise ph?

 

[Miami Reef]

For those of you using sodium bisulfate or Muratic acid, How long is everyone aerating to raise ph?

I have the same question.

 

[X-37B]

For those of you using sodium bisulfate or Muratic acid, How long is everyone aerating to raise ph?

I monitor with a ph meter. It takes a few hours depending on amount added.

 

[Midrats]

I've never seen anything less than 10dkh with 24 hour mixed IO. >30 year user, multiple test kits.

 

[Miami Reef]

Hi guys.

So I mixed a new batch of salt: 11.2dkh.

I added 19ml of muriatic acid and brought the alk down to 6.8-7dkh

My PH shot down to 6.5 so now I will wait until the ph rises. I’m heavily aerating.

 

[Miami Reef]

Hey guys. I adding muriatic acid and my calcium (Red Sea) is saying my ca is over 500ppm. Does muriatic acid make calcium test kits not work? My test kit was working fine yesterday, my calcium showed 400ppm in my reef tank.

I used a new batch of salt, did I get a faulty batch? This is so strange.