High Alk?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So either a bad batch of salt mix, or a kit error. :)

You sure it isn't Red Sea Coral Pro?

 

[cwb_reeftank]

What happens if its a kit error? Also if its a bad batch should I even bother contacting Red Sea because I have seen a lot of bad reviews with their customer service. haha I'm like 99.9999% that it isn't pro haha.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What happens if its a kit error? Also if its a bad batch should I even bother contacting Red Sea because I have seen a lot of bad reviews with their customer service. haha I'm like 99.9999% that it isn't pro haha.

If it is a kit/testing error and alkalinity is really 5.6 dKH, you'd be taking an incorrect action to try to lower it.

Maybe get some tested at the lfs, or make a standard to test.

 

[cwb_reeftank]

how would I go about making a standard?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

how would I go about making a standard?

If you have a scale, here are a couple of options:

The Jim Welsh option:

One approach: Take 15.90g of thoroughly dry sodium carbonate, and dissolve it into 1 liter of pure (RO/DI) water, using a volumetric flask. This gives a 300 meq/L solution. Then, do two 10x serial dilutions (or one 100x) using volumetric glassware to get it down to a 3.0 meq/L solution.

or

Dissolve 1.135 grams of baking soda in exactly 1 gallon of RO/DO to give an alkalinity of 10 dKH

 

[cwb_reeftank]

so to make it a dKH of 10 so I can see if my Hanna checker is reading right?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

so to make it a dKH of 10 so I can see if my Hanna checker is reading right?

I think that should give a pretty close answer. It won't be perfect because it isn't seawater, but the difference should be small. Let's see what it gives. :)

 

[WWIII]

Hanna also sells a standard to check the checker. But it's $20. The diy version should give you an idea if the tester is in error. With red sea blue bucket a dkh of 13, there's something wrong. I used that salt for almost 2 years and it was never above 8 dkh. Something going on, just not sure what? Hopefully the diy standard will help eliminate one possibility.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hanna also sells a standard to check the checker. But it's $20. The diy version should give you an idea if the tester is in error. With red sea blue bucket a dkh of 13, there's something wrong. I used that salt for almost 2 years and it was never above 8 dkh. Something going on, just not sure what? Hopefully the diy standard will help eliminate one possibility.

Is the Hannah an actual alk test check, or just an absorbance check?

 

[cwb_reeftank]

Ok unfortunately I won't be able to test till Saturday [emoji17] but I will on Saturday. It keeps running high for some reason and I don't know why.

 

[WWIII]

Is the Hannah an actual alk test check, or just an absorbance check?

I don't think it's actual alkalinity, I'm not sure exactly what the solution is? I've used it before after I dropped my hanna egg on the tile floor to make sure it was still reading correctly. It has one clear solution of 0 dkh and another that's tinted and supposed to read approximately 5.0 dkh.

 

[WWIII]

Ok unfortunately I won't be able to test till Saturday [emoji17] but I will on Saturday. It keeps running high for some reason and I don't know why.

Very strange indeed! I'm interested to see what is actually going on here

 

[cwb_reeftank]

you and me both

 

[cwb_reeftank]

Well I was unable to do the test today because of the weather, I could not get to the fish store to get water.

 

[cwb_reeftank]

Well I did the test, it came up as 20.0 dKH. so what do I do from here?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You tested what?

 

[cwb_reeftank]

Dissolve 1.135 grams of baking soda in exactly 1 gallon of RO/DO to give an alkalinity of 10 dKH

I tested this

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That suggests you have a test problem, not a high alk on your aquarium problem. Can you describe exactly what happened in this test?

 

[cwb_reeftank]

well I mixed the baking soda into 1 gallon of RO/DI water, then I followed the instructions for the Hanna Checker, 10mL of water to test than put it in the checker, pull it out and put the reagent in, turned it five time, wiped it off (I did that in the beginning as well) and placed it in the checker and it came up to 20. So should I assume that it is doubling the Alk, or should I contact Hanna?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’d contact Hannah and ask them for advice. Did you also mention a Red Sea kit?