Stuff on surface in NSW Bin?

[rtparty]

@rtparty i decided to get a box of the TM pro. Had some other stuff I’m ordering from brs with their sales so I figured why not try it out.

I guess what I would like to figure out now is- because it’s not going to match my alkalinity, can I raise that in the mixing bin with some sodium bicarbonate or soda ash? It seems like I have the answer for the Fritz blue bucket. But I’d like hope that TM pro salt is a bit more stable since that’s what a lot of tests seem to suggest and I may be able to raise the alk in the mixing bucket but now it looks like I’m on an adventure to find out. Haha.

I guess another question is would it be better to adjust my two part dosing in the reef tank to accommodate for the lower alk? It’s not ideal but I can adjust for it on my apex with the brs dosing pumps…

You can raise the alkalinity slightly if you really want with sodium bicarbonate

If you’re doing like 1% daily water changes, the alkalinity difference is so minimal you can just dose a little extra if needed

 

[daikaijureefer]

@rtparty i decided to get a box of the TM pro. Had some other stuff I’m ordering from brs with their sales so I figured why not try it out.

I guess what I would like to figure out now is- because it’s not going to match my alkalinity, can I raise that in the mixing bin with some sodium bicarbonate or soda ash? It seems like I have the answer for the Fritz blue bucket. But I’d like hope that TM pro salt is a bit more stable since that’s what a lot of tests seem to suggest and I may be able to raise the alk in the mixing bucket but now it looks like I’m on an adventure to find out. Haha.

I guess another question is would it be better to adjust my two part dosing in the reef tank to accommodate for the lower alk? It’s not ideal but I can adjust for it on my apex with the brs dosing pumps…

You can raise the alkalinity slightly if you really want with sodium bicarbonate

If you’re doing like 1% daily water changes, the alkalinity difference is so minimal you can just dose a little extra if needed

I haven’t made it through the whole salt thread yet but I watched a couple of your reef dudes interviews and I think I got the gist.

I really should have researched the Fritz salt a bit more. It’s my fault for setting my expectations on a salt that seems to be best used within 24 hours. It came highly recommended from my LFS because it’s what they use but I don’t think they understood I was setting up an AWC system. Haha. Oh well. Lesson learned.

I’ve been a reef crystals user since forever ago. I used to have a much larger system and it made sense to use the cheaper salt then. But now that I’m in a smaller system, the cost of the salt doesn’t matter that much to me.

Now that I feel a bit more informed, I’m looking for the TM pro to offer enough stability in my auto water change setup.

It would be great if it remains stable after adjusting the alk up, but I may need to reserve my expectations until I test it.

 

[daikaijureefer]

Anyone know of an online calculator for predicting the offset using NSW with a lower dKh during a water change?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Yep!

This was 9.0 last night.

So TM pro….? I’m so mad at this blue bucket salt right now.

Alk dropped from 9 to 7.3 which is 1.7dkh

If use that water for a 10% water change it will drop your tank by 0.17dkh which is meaningless and probably unmeasurable.

If you really want to adjust it just use baking soda.

 

[daikaijureefer]

Yep!

This was 9.0 last night.

So TM pro….? I’m so mad at this blue bucket salt right now.

Alk dropped from 9 to 7.3 which is 1.7dkh

If use that water for a 10% water change it will drop your tank by 0.17dkh which is meaningless and probably unmeasurablre.

Ah yes… I forgot that I can just move a decimal point. thanks

 

[slingfox]

From the picture and what you described, it is unlikely this is a bacterial bloom. I assume this is the anti-caking additive salt manufacturers use. This more typically results in a brown residue on the walls of the mixing container but can also precipitate like this. I get some amount of this in my mixing bin where I use Nyos Pure (a much smaller amount of precipitate thigh). I usually just skim off those particulates with a cup and chuck it out. Probably little to no issue using as is.