Red Sea Blue Bucket - High alk mixing

[sanzz18]

I switched over from TMP to Red Sea Blue Bucket around the time the whole Turkey facility thing happened and I had used up all my Germany buckets.

Blue bucket mixes extremely well for me, stores well for AWC, and has parameters pretty
Close to where I want to keep them, I thought this was the best choice for me. It has been keeping my tank around 7.6-7.8 dkh which is where I want it to stay. It has been holding there very well which was important because I am about to add more SPS testers, and want stable parameters.

Well I opened up a new batch of salt. Did a 45g water change on my tank (20%), along with my usual daily AWC of 3g. Now my alk on my tank is at 8.6, another small spike. I then tested my alk in my NSW and it was at 9 when it is supposed to mix at 8 at 35ppt. I don’t know if it is just a weird batch.

Do I really need to use muriatic acid now to lower my NSW? Any thoughts?

 

[blaxsun]

You'll probably be fine to just use the higher amounts with water changes (it'll end up being diluted anyway).

 

[sanzz18]

You'll probably be fine to just use the higher amounts with water changes (it'll end up being diluted anyway).

Thats what I though, but my alk is creeping up with the small daily waterchanges. I had to stop dosing the small amounts of 2 part I was dosing as well.

 

[blaxsun]

Thats what I though, but my alk is creeping up with the small daily waterchanges. I had to stop dosing the small amounts of 2 part I was dosing as well.

Yes, you probably need to cut back on your dosing a bit as well to compensate.

 

[sanzz18]

Yes, you probably need to cut back on your dosing a bit as well to compensate.

I had stopped dosing (since I only dose 2.5mls per day) a day or two before the spike to 8.4. So that is no longer contributing.

Has anyone had this problem with red sea salt? Should I lower alk with muriatic acid until I am done with this batch? I never used it before.

 

[Pistondog]

I had stopped dosing (since I only dose 2.5mls per day) a day or two before the spike to 8.4. So that is no longer contributing.

Has anyone had this problem with red sea salt? Should I lower alk with muriatic acid until I am done with this batch? I never used it before.

Bought coral pro by mistake, which has higher alk. Caused the alk to increase due to 1% daily awcs. Just dialed back the alk addition until we are thru this bucket of salt.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

What If you changed your awc to every other day ?

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I use it and no. I keep my alk 8.2-8.5 w kalk top offs and 2 part. Test daily.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

2.5ml 2 part daily and a 3% wc change increased the system around 1 alk in about 10 days ?

 

[sanzz18]

Bought coral pro by mistake, which has higher alk. Caused the alk to increase due to 1% daily awcs. Just dialed back the alk addition until we are thru this bucket of salt.

I literally dug through my trash when I tested my NSW to make sure I bought the right salt the other night lol. The problem is I am not dosing any alk now, the dail

What If you changed your awc to every other day ?

Well I turned it off the last couple days because of it. I just don’t want nutrients to trend up as it is something I have struggled to keep in a good range (plus now I got turf/hair algae).

2.5ml 2 part daily and a 3% wc change increased the system around 1 alk in about 10 days ?

If you look on my screenshot of apex app, the 18th was the last time I measured my alk, I literally did the 45g waterchange that day, then continued my awc. That is when I tested again and it trended up. I originally was dosing around 10-15mls a day when I was using TMP for salt cause of the lower alk level, but then decreased it when I switched to red sea blue because of the higher alk content.

My tank is 180g water volume, I only have gsp, monti cap, and two sticks in there now. So do not have much nutrient uptake besides skimmer, fuge, and gfo reactor. Not enough corals. This just irritates me though because I am trying to keep my levels stable for the next round of testers lol.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

My alk can drop to 7.9 from 8.5 in 24-36hr period. I test daily Hanna. And dose about 30ml esv bionic 2 part. Tank mixed but mostly lps and sps.

 

[sanzz18]

My alk can drop to 7.9 from 8.5 in 24-36hr period. I test daily Hanna. And dose about 30ml esv bionic 2 part. Tank mixed but mostly lps and sps.

Beautiful tank and corals!

Are you saying I am overthinking this too much? Is where my levels are at okay? Even with the little spike? Any suggestions would be great.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Ty. Tanks will have some swing’s throughout the day due to photosynthesis and consumption. As long as they stay within a range and is consistent on a daily basis you should b ok.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I switched over from TMP to Red Sea Blue Bucket around the time the whole Turkey facility thing happened and I had used up all my Germany buckets.

Blue bucket mixes extremely well for me, stores well for AWC, and has parameters pretty
Close to where I want to keep them, I thought this was the best choice for me. It has been keeping my tank around 7.6-7.8 dkh which is where I want it to stay. It has been holding there very well which was important because I am about to add more SPS testers, and want stable parameters.

Well I opened up a new batch of salt. Did a 45g water change on my tank (20%), along with my usual daily AWC of 3g. Now my alk on my tank is at 8.6, another small spike. I then tested my alk in my NSW and it was at 9 when it is supposed to mix at 8 at 35ppt. I don’t know if it is just a weird batch.

Do I really need to use muriatic acid now to lower my NSW? Any thoughts?

I had the same problem with Red Sea Blue bucket I purchased a while back Maybe 9 months ago.

The Alk was around 9.7. I used muriatic acid to drop it back as I run my tank around 7.5.

 

[sanzz18]

I had the same problem with Red Sea Blue bucket I purchased a while back Maybe 9 months ago.

The Alk was around 9.7. I used muriatic acid to drop it back as I run my tank around 7.5.

Awesome. Where/what brand muriatic acid do you use? Also I read to properly oxygenate the water afterwards to get the pH back up again. How do you usually accomplish that? I never use it before.

 

[sanzz18]

I just tested my alk again tonight. Hannah showed 8.7 on the first try, then 8.9 on the second. Once again no daily water changes and no 2-part dosing. I checked it against my salifert which was 8.0 (salifert always seems to be lower). When I last checked my salifert back in October, salifert was 8.3/Hannah 8.8.

I am not sure if my Hannah checker is out of whack. I have no idea how my alk can be trending up with no changes being made to the tank currently. Any thoughts? If it is too off topic, I will post a question in reef chemistry section.

 

[sanzz18]

Reading more posts and stuff, I overlooked something. If my alkalinity increasing like it has was just from water changes, I would have had to do more than 20% water change to do that, it probably would have been closer to a 75-100% water change.

I read that there is a correlation to nitrate consumption. In the last couple months I have had a turf algae explosion on my rocks, I am assuming there is a significant nitrate consumption there. Is this possibly the cause? Is there something I am missing. I will repost this question in a more organized way in the reef chemistry section later.

 

[Arcu2]

I’m having the same issue right now. Hanna showing 8.8 salifert showing 8.6. I opened a spare reagent I had to double check and same reading. I’m getting 8.8 dkh calcium 410 and mag 1275. I contacted Red Sea but they keep saying the salt should be fine and I’m mixing it wrong

 

[gbroadbridge]

I’m having the same issue right now. Hanna showing 8.8 salifert showing 8.6. I opened a spare reagent I had to double check and same reading. I’m getting 8.8 dkh calcium 410 and mag 1275. I contacted Red Sea but they keep saying the salt should be fine and I’m mixing it wrong

Are you sure you are mixing to the correct salinity?

Check your salinity measurement instrument.

 

[Reefahholic]

Seachem acid buffer works better and is safer than acid.