Seachem AquaVitro Balance - Lies (The Bottle Says will not Affect Alkalinity) but it Raises Alkalini

[that Reef Guy]

Seachem AquaVitro Balance - Lies (The Bottle Says will not Affect Alkalinity) but it does indeed Raise Alkalinity.

It did Raise the PH by 0.1 as stated on the Bottle.

But it also did Raised the Alkalinity too (The Bottle States that it will Not affect Alkalinity).

My Alkalinity went from 8.3 to 8.6 (a Jump of 0.3).

Which is not bad in comparison to Seachem's Powder PH Buffer which raised my Alkalinity from 8 to 8.9 (a Jump of 1.9).

 

[that Reef Guy]

The Bottle says does not affect Alkalinity or Cacium.


It obviously affects Alkalinity (But not by much).


But I did not check Calcium.


Do you think this product could raise or lower Calcium too?


I should have checked that as well but my main concern was Alkalinity so I didn't test Calcium.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I shook it up real good but when I added it a million large flakes were floating around the tank.


It looked like I dosed some Coral Food.


Is that normal?


Or did I get a Bad Bottle of it?

 

[that Reef Guy]

So I will not be using this Product to Raise the PH.

But when my Alkalinity is Low I will Dose it Raising both the PH and Alkalinity.

Kind of Silly I guess.

I am using a product not for what it does but for what it isn't supposed to do.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It is unfortunate that even after I pointed out to them that it does raise alkalinity, they seem to not understand how hydroxide behaves in a reef tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I shook it up real good but when I added it a million large flakes were floating around the tank.


It looked like I dosed some Coral Food.


Is that normal?


Or did I get a Bad Bottle of it?

As with other high pH additives, you can get a temporary precipitate of magnesium hydroxide on adding it to seawater. If that is what you saw, it should redissolve as it mixes in.

 

[that Reef Guy]

It is unfortunate that even after I pointed out to them that it does raise alkalinity, they seem to not understand how hydroxide behaves in a reef tank.

You do not even need to know how it works.

All you have to do it Test, Dose, Then Test again to see that it Raises the Alkalinity.

What exactly did they say to you when you told them it raised the Alkalinity?

 

[that Reef Guy]

As with other high pH additives, you can get a temporary precipitate of magnesium hydroxide on adding it to seawater. If that is what you saw, it should redissolve as it mixes in.

It did dissolve in a couple minutes.

I was just really worried about the safety of the Corals since I used the Seachem Powdered PH Buffer in the Past and it Never Did that.

Have you heard from others about the floating precipitation or is it just me or did I get a bad batch?

When I measure it out is looks clear.

It is not until it actually goes into the tank that you notice the floaties.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You do not even need to know how it works.

All you have to do it Test, Dose, Then Test again to see that it Raises the Alkalinity.

What exactly did they say to you when you told them it raised the Alkalinity?

We are not supposed to post private emails online at Reef2Reef, but they tried to insist it didn't increase carbonate alkalinity.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It did dissolve in a couple minutes.

I was just really worried about the safety of the Corals since I used the Seachem Powdered PH Buffer in the Past and it Never Did that.

Have you heard from others about the floating precipitation or is it just me or did I get a bad batch?

When I measure it out is looks clear.

It is not until it actually goes into the tank that you notice the floaties.

Right. Magnesium in the tank water combines with hydroxide in the additive to precipitate magnesium hydroxide, which will redissolve in seawater if the pH is normal.

 

[hart24601]

We are not supposed to post private emails online at Reef2Reef, but they tried to insist it didn't increase carbonate alkalinity.

No kidding, they still insisted it doesn't increase alkalinity? So they either have no chemist on staff or marketing deliberately mislabels the products. Yikes, I like some of seachem's other products like the ammonia badge, but that really makes me not trust them.

 

[glb]

I tried this stuff too and my alk went up two points.

 

[that Reef Guy]

We are not supposed to post private emails online at Reef2Reef, but they tried to insist it didn't increase carbonate alkalinity.

So did they claim that they tested it after dosing and that they found that the Alkalinity level was exactly the same as it was before they dosed it?

 

[that Reef Guy]

Right. Magnesium in the tank water combines with hydroxide in the additive to precipitate magnesium hydroxide, which will redissolve in seawater if the pH is normal.

So does that lower the Magnesium?

 

[that Reef Guy]

I tried this stuff too and my alk went up two points.

2 Points?

Like from 8.0 to 8.2

or do you mean like 8.0 to 10.0

Because when I tested it it went up 0.3

 

[glb]

2 Points?

Like from 8.0 to 8.2

or do you mean like 8.0 to 10.0

Because when I tested it it went up 0.3

No I mean from 8.4-10.4. In a nano. I think I may have dosed too much but it's not supposed to raise Alk right??? Ugh.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So does that lower the Magnesium?

No, because it redissolves in the water. Two part additives do this as well when added. I discuss it here:

What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

from it:

Figure 3. The transient cloud of magnesium hydroxide that forms when high pH additives are added. In this case, the alkalinity portion of B-ionic was added to a fairly still portion of one of my reef aquaria.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So did they claim that they tested it after dosing and that they found that the Alkalinity level was exactly the same as it was before they dosed it?

They did not describe actual testing.

 

[that Reef Guy]

No I mean from 8.4-10.4. In a nano. I think I may have dosed too much but it's not supposed to raise Alk right??? Ugh.

Wow.

That is a Huge Jump.

I just Dosed the Recommended Amount (7 ml in my 20 Gallon Tank).

Can you please Dose the Recommended Amount and Post your Results so we can have an equal comparison between your findings and my findings?

Did you notice a ton of "Strange Floaties" when you put it into your tank like I did?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, hydroxide raises the pH of a typical reef aquarium by about 0.6 to 0.7 pH units for each 0.5 meq/L (1.4 dKH) of alkalinity that it adds.

The exact value of the pH rise will depend on the starting pH and the starting alkalinity (with a bigger rise for lower starting pH and lower starting alkalinity).