Red Sea blue bucket testing at 9.4 dkh?

[ReefSlice]

I had been using fritz rpm on my new tank and shooting for 8-8.2 kh, which I had no problem with for the first 9 months of the tank. I opened a new box and after a water change had an alk spike up to 9+, and after testing with a red sea kit I found it had an alk of almost 11! Not wanting to keep my alk that high or cause swings with every water change, I decided to switch to red sea blue bucket for it's stated 8 kh at 35 ppt salinity. However, much to my dismay, I tested my first batch and it came back with an alk of 9.4 on my red sea kit. I began to think my alk reagent had gone bad, so I ordered a hanna alk tester, but when I mixed up a new batch yesterday for my second water change, both the hanna and the red sea kit are reading around 9.4. When I check the batch # it says the alk of this batch is only 7.75 dkh, and calcium and mag both test dead on to what the batch # icp tested at. I'm very confused and trying to slowly bring down alk to at least 8.5 (I'd like it at 8 ideally) by turning off my kalk doser for a few days is definitely causing problems with my few sps frags. Has anyone else had this problem? I had my alk rock solid until all of this and everything was doing great at 8 kh. Now I feel like I've wasted 120$+ on 2 boxes of salt that are not giving me a correct alk.

 

[spsick]

Super weird been using it for 5 years never had one higher than 8.5

 

[chipchipbro]

Well I had the same "issue" but then I checked my RODI water and tested it for alk. Well, my RODI water had around 2.5 Alk in it and that was the issue.

Have you tested your RODI for alk?

 

[ReefSlice]

Well I had the same "issue" but then I checked my RODI water and tested it for alk. Well, my RODI water had around 2.5 Alk in it and that was the issue.

Have you tested your RODI for alk?

Interesting. I did change all my filters on my 6 stage just recently but my alk did suddenly go up with a new box of rpm salt as well. I haven't had power in a week from hurricane Ian but hopefully I'll have it back in another week or so and I can test this! Thanks for the reply. Hoping the majority of my tank survives all this.

 

[ReefSlice]

So I am back up and running and have tested my ro/di water, it is 0 tds and 0 alk from what I can see. Brand new filters in a 7 stage as well. I mixed up 10 gallons for a water change and it is testing close to 10 dkh if not a bit over, tested with red sea (even used 2 sets of reagents for same result), and hanna alk tester. I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out what is happening here, and red sea's customer support ticket doesn't even allow me to send one in (says my batch # is too small?). I feel like I'm doing more harm than good with water changes spiking my alk and messing my dosing up for days. Anyone ever experience this or have any suggestions? My alk was rock solid since I set the tank up in January and now it's bouncing all over and I feel like I've taken a huge step back.

 

[AFHokie]

I have a similar problem with my alkalinity rising in my tank and my salt mixing higher than I want.

For me easiest and cheapest solution was to buy some Muriatic acid from Ace and dose the fresh mix water. 0.123ml/gal will drop you approximately 1 dKH. Gallon bottle was about $10 and will last me forever. Just be sure to add acid to change water, not the tank. Also, give the water time to aerate because the acid will drop pH.

 

[ReefSlice]

I have a similar problem with my alkalinity rising in my tank and my salt mixing higher than I want.

For me easiest and cheapest solution was to buy some Muriatic acid from Ace and dose the fresh mix water. 0.123ml/gal will drop you approximately 1 dKH. Gallon bottle was about $10 and will last me forever. Just be sure to add acid to change water, not the tank. Also, give the water time to aerate because the acid will drop pH.

I think this may be my best option. Just so confused as to why the batch # says the alk shouldn't even be 8 and mine is mixing so high when I haven't heard of anyone having this problem. How long do you let the new water mix after adding the acid before you use it? Ever have any problems letting it mix for that long before using it?

 

[AFHokie]

I think this may be my best option. Just so confused as to why the batch # says the alk shouldn't even be 8 and mine is mixing so high when I haven't heard of anyone having this problem. How long do you let the new water mix after adding the acid before you use it? Ever have any problems letting it mix for that long before using it?

I had a problem like this with my Fritz RPM. First bag I had always mixed at 6dKH despite the batch info saying otherwise. After a few emails back and forth they sent a new bag. That one had proper alkalinity but Ca and Mg were mega low. Again, batch values were normal. I gave up with that bag and didn’t try to fix the issue with Fritz.

After acid I’ve added it as short as a couple hours after BUT that batch I only dropped one dKH or so and tested pH before adding it. Normally I use it the next day and have had it sit as long as a week. I usually mix up a bucket at low alkalinity and do small 1-2 gallon changes every few days to bring my alkalinity down. This is my solution for an unsolved mystery of my Alk constantly rising with zero dosing. I’ve had one bucket sit for a week with no changes to chemistry.

 

[ssdawood]

I could be wrong. Totally possible

But freshly mix saltwater has high alkalinity . It takes some time to settle down maybe.
Did you let it stand for 3 or 4hrs or asap test?
Or
Maybe other way around. Fresh has low alkalinity. As pH stabilizes alkalinity goes up.
Not a Chemist, just trying to help.

 

[AFHokie]

I could be wrong. Totally possible

But freshly mix saltwater has high alkalinity . It takes some time to settle down maybe.
Did you let it stand for 3 or 4hrs or asap test?
Or
Maybe other way around. Fresh has low alkalinity. As pH stabilizes alkalinity goes up.
Not a Chemist, just trying to help.

Can’t speak for OP’s case but in mine there was no difference whether I tested 2 hours or 2 days after mixing.

 

[ssdawood]

Ok so that's that

Unless your doing large quantity water change
10 or 20 percent water change won't be affected by 2 point alkalinity change right.
So why worry. I have come to peace that for 50 or 80 bucks we won't have consistency in salt. At that price it might be hard.

But who knows like I said I am still learning.

 

[ssdawood]

I had been using fritz rpm on my new tank and shooting for 8-8.2 kh, which I had no problem with for the first 9 months of the tank. I opened a new box and after a water change had an alk spike up to 9+, and after testing with a red sea kit I found it had an alk of almost 11! Not wanting to keep my alk that high or cause swings with every water change, I decided to switch to red sea blue bucket for it's stated 8 kh at 35 ppt salinity. However, much to my dismay, I tested my first batch and it came back with an alk of 9.4 on my red sea kit. I began to think my alk reagent had gone bad, so I ordered a hanna alk tester, but when I mixed up a new batch yesterday for my second water change, both the hanna and the red sea kit are reading around 9.4. When I check the batch # it says the alk of this batch is only 7.75 dkh, and calcium and mag both test dead on to what the batch # icp tested at. I'm very confused and trying to slowly bring down alk to at least 8.5 (I'd like it at 8 ideally) by turning off my kalk doser for a few days is definitely causing problems with my few sps frags. Has anyone else had this problem? I had my alk rock solid until all of this and everything was doing great at 8 kh. Now I feel like I've wasted 120$+ on 2 boxes of salt that are not giving me a correct alk.

Hey buddy have you checked your refractometer or your digital meter or calibrated it.
Your 35ppt might be 37ppt.
Trying to help.

 

[SamMule]

^^what he said^^

 

[ReefSlice]

Ok so that's that

Unless your doing large quantity water change
10 or 20 percent water change won't be affected by 2 point alkalinity change right.
So why worry. I have come to peace that for 50 or 80 bucks we won't have consistency in salt. At that price it might be hard.

But who knows like I said I am still learning.

I was just doing small water changes but after going through hurricane ian 2 weeks ago and just getting power back I desperately needed to do a large water change. And unsurprisingly the constant bouncing of alk from water changes and letting it fall killed my tanks consumption, only making the problem worse. It's just a bit disappointing that I can't get consistency from bucket to bucket. Makes me wonder how vendors running frag systems maintain any of their parameters without constantly doctoring them and adjusting dosing multiple times a day!
I have calibrated my refractometer (every time I view a new sample) as well as sent off icps to confirm that my salinity was not a factor, and it isn't. I am investing in a digital refractometer sometime soon however just for peace of mind.
Seems that acid buffering my alk may be the way to go until I rule everything else out. My kh is up to 10.6 at the moment and I need to slowly bring it back down to 8ish.
Also, as stated above it is the same kh 4-6 hours after mixing as it is just after mixing, as well as raising my tanks alk long term.

 

[ssdawood]

Bud it's not as bad. Look around you. Lot of people have successful tanks with every brand of salt. No salt is bad.
Sometimes they have bad batch that has happened.
The point is to do small amount of water changes in 10 to 20 percent range so not to shock the system.
Keep the system stable don't change numbers.

Keep alk, cal, mag, Salinity and temp stable in tank.
Sometimes half point fluctuations is allowed
During hurricane season try to save life of your tank. So it's do or die.

Don't fret keep stuff stable in tank. In your display not your bins.

I have a 76 gallon frag tank and I do 15 gallon a week.
No worries alk stays good. Sometimes kits are bad. Sometimes salt is deviating.
Look at your corals how they look.

If I have yo do a large water change I try to split it. No reason to shock the system.