Aquaforest reef salt getting old ?!

[Arturs Millers]

Ok so I recently got back in hobby again after like 6y break . Started small 20G tank so i did like 20% water change yesterday tested alk today and its around 11.2 . so mixed small cup with fresh salt mix ( 6y old aquaforest reef salt what i had lying around the same salt was used to start the tank . ) and the reading on new mix was 2.0 alk did the test 2 times on the tank and on the mix and the readings was the same . Does that even make sense? What would rise the alk so high in tank and why fresh mix alk is so low ?!

 

[lapin]

Did you double check salinity?

 

[Arturs Millers]

Yes 1.026 on hanna checker in. The tank and the new mix . Did check the alk again and its still the same 11dkh in tank and 2.0 ish the fresh mix . Did do calcium test as well just for giggles calcium in tank is 270 so its completely out of balance going to order new salt bucket now . But what really makes no sense is how fresh mix can be 2dkh and tank after small water change , next day can be 11 . Will test tomorrow also . And the calcium and alk test kits are brand new like 1 week old . Digital hanna for salinity is from years ago but i just calibrated with fresh calibration fluid.

 

[Arturs Millers]

Small update . So i did test water in tank again dkh have increased to 12 im not dosing anything , but i did some research and did find what could cause this . So i started my tank with AF rock (man made ) and found few threads where ppl was saying that their dkh was very high also , and even found one thread where these rocks was add in mature system and in 3h it spiked dkh like from 9 to 11 . So i did order new salt yesterday ( going to ditch the old one ) will be here tomorrow will start doing the water changes and test before and after and every couple of days just to see if dkh still rises if so then the only thing causing it is the rock .

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Small update . So i did test water in tank again dkh have increased to 12 im not dosing anything , but i did some research and did find what could cause this . So i started my tank with AF rock (man made ) and found few threads where ppl was saying that their dkh was very high also , and even found one thread where these rocks was add in mature system and in 3h it spiked dkh like from 9 to 11 . So i did order new salt yesterday ( going to ditch the old one ) will be here tomorrow will start doing the water changes and test before and after and every couple of days just to see if dkh still rises if so then the only thing causing it is the rock .

Yes, the AF rock release of alk appears to be a problem, sometimes very serious. Blind Reefer has very serious problems.

@A_Blind_Reefer blind

You may want to consider lowering the alk in your salt mix, or even the tank itself, with sodium bisulfate or muriatic acid.

Sodium Bisulfate to Reduce Alkalinity in New Salt Water or in Display Tanks

I just want to record these calculations in their own thread to refer back to in other threads. When alkalinity is too high in new salt water or in a display tank, acid can be used to lower the alkalinity. You can easily use muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid), or sodium bifulfate (e.g...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Arturs Millers]

Small update . So i did test water in tank again dkh have increased to 12 im not dosing anything , but i did some research and did find what could cause this . So i started my tank with AF rock (man made ) and found few threads where ppl was saying that their dkh was very high also , and even found one thread where these rocks was add in mature system and in 3h it spiked dkh like from 9 to 11 . So i did order new salt yesterday ( going to ditch the old one ) will be here tomorrow will start doing the water changes and test before and after and every couple of days just to see if dkh still rises if so then the only thing causing it is the rock .

Yes, the AF rock release of alk appears to be a problem, sometimes very serious. Blind Reefer has very serious problems.

@A_Blind_Reefer blind

You may want to consider lowering the alk in your salt mix, or even the tank itself, with sodium bisulfate or muriatic acid.

Sodium Bisulfate to Reduce Alkalinity in New Salt Water or in Display Tanks

I just want to record these calculations in their own thread to refer back to in other threads. When alkalinity is too high in new salt water or in a display tank, acid can be used to lower the alkalinity. You can easily use muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid), or sodium bifulfate (e.g...

www.reef2reef.com

Its a new system with pair of clowns and few members of CUC . Probably will just do few water changes maybe like 2-3 times a week to get everything back where it should be . Because my calcium is very low also 270 only but thats probably because i used some pretty old salt what was lying around ( didn’t know salts could go bad also ) im just very surprised that there is 0 information about things like this on AF website . I would be devastated if it spiked in mature system with big colonies and just wipe it all out simply because of some rock ..

 

[Arturs Millers]

Small update . So i did test water in tank again dkh have increased to 12 im not dosing anything , but i did some research and did find what could cause this . So i started my tank with AF rock (man made ) and found few threads where ppl was saying that their dkh was very high also , and even found one thread where these rocks was add in mature system and in 3h it spiked dkh like from 9 to 11 . So i did order new salt yesterday ( going to ditch the old one ) will be here tomorrow will start doing the water changes and test before and after and every couple of days just to see if dkh still rises if so then the only thing causing it is the rock .

Yes, the AF rock release of alk appears to be a problem, sometimes very serious. Blind Reefer has very serious problems.

@A_Blind_Reefer blind

You may want to consider lowering the alk in your salt mix, or even the tank itself, with sodium bisulfate or muriatic acid.

Sodium Bisulfate to Reduce Alkalinity in New Salt Water or in Display Tanks

I just want to record these calculations in their own thread to refer back to in other threads. When alkalinity is too high in new salt water or in a display tank, acid can be used to lower the alkalinity. You can easily use muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid), or sodium bifulfate (e.g...

www.reef2reef.com

Its a new system with pair of clowns and few members of CUC . Probably will just do few water changes maybe like 2-3 times a week to get everything back where it should be . Because my calcium is very low also 270 only but thats probably because i used some pretty old salt what was lying around ( didn’t know salts could go bad also ) im just very surprised that there is 0 information about things like this on AF website . I would be devastated if it spiked in mature system with big colonies and just wipe it all out simply because of some rock ..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Its a new system with pair of clowns and few members of CUC . Probably will just do few water changes maybe like 2-3 times a week to get everything back where it should be . Because my calcium is very low also 270 only but thats probably because i used some pretty old salt what was lying around ( didn’t know salts could go bad also ) im just very surprised that there is 0 information about things like this on AF website . I would be devastated if it spiked in mature system with big colonies and just wipe it all out simply because of some rock ..

Is it possible for Alkalinity to rise in a stable system by adding Aquaforest man made rock to sump?

Ok, I know this sounds crazy. I can hear it already, believe me. Almost didn’t even want to post this. I have a fairly mature mixed reef tank that has been stable for a long time. Nothing more than minor swings over years. The refugium section of my sump has been unused and empty for years. On...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

@Randy Holmes-Farley - “Blind Reefer has very serious problems.“ hahaha!

Yes I do….Yes I do.

I still don’t believe @Aquaforest has placed warnings about this on the AF Rock products. Also, not overly impressed with the responses to my questions regarding the propensity to increase Alk very rapidly or how the rocks “stabilize kh and ph”. I digress.

@Arturs Millers My experience was that it took a very long time for my Alk to stabilize after I added the AF Rock to my sump on my mature system. I would expect to be chasing Alk for awhile. I would keep up on the water changes and maintain calcium but be inclined to check into the link that Randy posted on how to lower alkalinity. You may end up either just running a higher Alk for awhile, or maintaining a dosing regimen to keep it where you want it while the AF Rock continues to increase Alk.

Best of luck!

 

[pythpyth]

@Aquaforest could you respond to this? I am about to build a system with AF rock. Literally building with it right now

 

[rtparty]

@Aquaforest could you respond to this? I am about to build a system with AF rock. Literally building with it right now

Might want to cut the losses now and not deal with it. What is AF going to say that will change anything? Their rock increases alkalinity substantially and you will fight with it from day one

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I'm with @rtparty on this. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't touch this stuff. There are other options out there. Otherwise, I would just wait it out and let it do it's thing befoe adding life to a tank. That could be quite some time, like months.

 

[pythpyth]

I'm with @rtparty on this. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't touch this stuff. There are other options out there. Otherwise, I would just wait it out and let it do it's thing befoe adding life to a tank. That could be quite some time, like months.

Yea makes me mad man.. wasting 90 euros, like a 100 dollars. Why bring such a **** product on the market.. I had it all in nice bits. And just put like 500gr of rock in 1.5 liters of water. And KH went to 17 in a hour lol.. You always get to know this stuff to late :( Or I could`ve send it all back to the LFS.