Idoc
Getting lazier and lazier with upkeep!
Your Instant Ocean salt should be mixing up to 9dkh at a 1.025 or 1.026 salinity with calcium at 400ppm.
Coraline question
- Thread starter boboyo
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boboyo
Active Member
Hmmm that’s weird... there’s either something eating away the alkalinity or my salt is bad. Some parts are kind of clumpy so maybe that’s what makes it no good. I thought it was normal for salt to catch humidity and don’t see how it could affect calcium and alk but I’m no scientist
You mentioned clumpy sand. Clumpy sand in a new tank that is also dropping alkalinity abnormally is a major indication of abiotic precipitation. If that's the case, over time, that will go away. There are things you can do in the interim, but it's complicated, and the specific approach depends on several factors and I don't want to hijack this thread, so I won't go into that here 
But your salinity is also low (if your salinity is accurate--what are you using to test your salinity, and did you calibrate the instrument first?), and low salinity will always result in low calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium, which are not healthy conditions for reef tanks.
Like others have mentioned, 20% rate change every 3 days is perhaps excessive. Consider 10-20% once a week at first. Once your tank ages to perhaps a year or two old, you'll find you can go much longer in between water changes. And like others have mentioned, growing Coraline will take time. Lots and lots of time. But when it does, you will wish it hadn't
But your salinity is also low (if your salinity is accurate--what are you using to test your salinity, and did you calibrate the instrument first?), and low salinity will always result in low calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium, which are not healthy conditions for reef tanks. Like others have mentioned, 20% rate change every 3 days is perhaps excessive. Consider 10-20% once a week at first. Once your tank ages to perhaps a year or two old, you'll find you can go much longer in between water changes. And like others have mentioned, growing Coraline will take time. Lots and lots of time. But when it does, you will wish it hadn't
boboyo
Active Member
I said clumpy salt lolYou mentioned clumpy sand. Clumpy sand in a new tank that is also dropping alkalinity abnormally is a major indication of abiotic precipitation. If that's the case, over time, that will go away. There are things you can do in the interim, but it's complicated, and the specific approach depends on several factors and I don't want to hijack this thread, so I won't go into that here
Like others have mentioned, 20% rate change every 3 days is perhaps excessive. Consider 10-20% once a week at first. Once your tank ages to perhaps a year or two old, you'll find you can go much longer in between water changes. And like others have mentioned, growing Coraline will take time. Lots and lots of time. But when it does, you will wish it hadn't
for wcs, I do it often so I can get the trates down
I have a refractometer for testing which I calibrate before every use.
salt is now 1.024, it was only lower yesterday because I did a massive topoff that’s higher than usual
Oh sorry, AS YOU WERE, ignore me, I am clearly drunk
boboyo
Active Member
All good, I’m very curious where you were going with the biotic precipitation so I’m already looking it up. I love to learn stuff so thanks for pointing me into that direction!Oh sorry, AS YOU WERE, ignore me, I am clearly drunk
HA! Guilty.Carbon dosing?
Yeah, new tanks I've started with dry rock tend to have LOTS of abiotic precipitation for several months. I'm not sure why, though I have untested opinions I won't subject you toAll good, I’m very curious where you were going with the biotic precipitation so I’m already looking it up. I love to learn stuff so thanks for pointing me into that direction!
... but for me, abiotic precipitation usually goes away at about months 4-7, under normal water parameters, for my last 3 tanks at least.
good thing about all the above is you're testing, asking questions, receiving feedback, testing again... i think you're off to a good start with the approach. patience and research are key to success in the hobby and it seems like you've started off on the right path so far.
best thing i've learned is to try your best to understand, control, and adjust 1 variable at a time. too much at once causes other problems, which cascade into more issues.
one step at a time = success!
good luck
best thing i've learned is to try your best to understand, control, and adjust 1 variable at a time. too much at once causes other problems, which cascade into more issues.
one step at a time = success!
good luck
boboyo
Active Member
If anyone’s wondering, I had an old (but not expired) salifert test kit that I got with my tank and it matches the Hanna reading.
i also tested calcium which is 275ppm.
I can match the 1.025 salinity tomorrow and update it
i also tested calcium which is 275ppm.
I can match the 1.025 salinity tomorrow and update it
Sometimes salt mix is not mixed very well at the factory. It's possible the majority of the Alkalinity component could be at the bottom of the bucket/bag. I'd try to stir up the salt container and then mix up some water to see if that helps improve the dKH reading.
namfuak
Active Member
Do you have a magnesium test?
All parameters seem so low for such a new tank, especially doing a 20% every 3 days. I believe someone else mentioned it; test a new batch of saltwater for Alk, Ca, and Mg and see what it reads. With everything reading so low, there could be some settling and you have mentioned clumping. How big is the salt bucket?
I believe I have seen Randy mention bad testing, bad batches, settled bucket contents, and precipitation on mixing. Testing newly made saltwater is really going to help ID what's going on here.
All parameters seem so low for such a new tank, especially doing a 20% every 3 days. I believe someone else mentioned it; test a new batch of saltwater for Alk, Ca, and Mg and see what it reads. With everything reading so low, there could be some settling and you have mentioned clumping. How big is the salt bucket?
I believe I have seen Randy mention bad testing, bad batches, settled bucket contents, and precipitation on mixing. Testing newly made saltwater is really going to help ID what's going on here.
boboyo
Active Member
I do have a mg test that came with my tank but its expired so I never bothered testing it. I will buy one at the LFS tomorrow - it's my favourite place to go on saturdays especially with nothing being open because of the stupid lockdowns and police state / curfew bs going on where I live.
I'm towards the bottom of my bucket of salt (ill have to open a new bag tomorrow for my next wc) : the salt I use comes in bags and is a little hard since I assume its old so I kinda break it down into powder form by "walking on it" with my knees before opening the bag (a bag is good for 50 gallons) and then put it in an airtight bucket once it's open. You guys really do have a good point, I'll update the freshly mixed saltwater parameters on here, maybe that was the problem all along...
The salt isnt rock solid, only some parts of the last bag were a little solid but easily broken down into powder. I'd say a good 80% of the bag is in powder form. Im opening my 3rd bag out of 4 tomorrow so that means I'm already halfway through my crappy salt (which did save me a ton of money considering the amount of wc I do lol). The guy that sold me my tank pretty much gave me a whole box of Instant Ocean which he uses in his 250g DT and huge sps/lps frag tank so it cant be as bad as I think it is...
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