High levels found in freshly mixed Tropic Marin salt water

Eric55

New member
I've been battling high levels of KH/Alk, Magnesium and Calcium. I took some good advice and tested, simultaneously, water currently in my tank and some freshly mixed salt water I made 2 days ago.

I've been using Salifert kits and Tropic Marin salt (not the reef formula).

Here are the side by side results:

KH/Alk (freshly mixed 13.4) (from tank 12.2)

Magnesium (freshly mixed 1,545) (from tank 1,650)

Calcium (freshly mixed 530) (from tank 535)

Phosphate (freshly mixed 8.0) (from tank 8.0)

Salinity 35 ppt / sg = 1.026

Should I switch to a different salt for lower levels? Has anyone else observed similar levels from this salt?
 
Hi Randy,

I'd like to begin by first thanking you for your help. This is one of the most important forums at Reefcentral.com.

To test salinity, I am using a Digi-Lab TSS/Digital Handheld Tester.

I took your advice, and decided to re-calibrate the tester. It was really off. Once I calibrated it, my tank water was coming in at a salinity of 39 (instead of a preferred 35).

I'll start reducing it slowly. I'll bet my other readings (calcium, magnesium, KH/Alk) will be a bit more in line when I am done.

Thank you again for helping!

Sincerely,
Eric
 
Sorry ment to put this here.I use Tropic Marin myself and i to am thinking of changing i find my calcium is high 500.
 
I am using TM Pro and I just mixed up a batch at 1.026. I am using Salifert test kits.

ALK - 5.95 dkh
MG - 1020 PPM
CAL - 500 PPM

This is the last bucket I am using, I am switching to Reef Crystals.
 
Salts

Salts

I was doing some research on salts a few weeks ago. I ran a test for 5 days with three brands of salts 1.) Instant Ocean 2.)Tropic Marin 3.) Reef Crystals. I do have to apologize I do not have the exact figures anymore but. I wanted to know which brand was the best. Two of these were some of the most talked about #1 and #2. I had also read that a lot of people local and nation wide have been having a problem with TM and the calcium level being very unstable fluctuating between 640 and 480. Also there mag was high too. So what I did was I purchased small amounts at different times and different locations and mixed with Ro/Di water from my filters guys water system (which rocks) and tested them at the same temp with pretty much the same batch of water. Well needless to say that tropic marin was not far from Instant Ocean. I have switched to Reef crystals this one seems to be the best and especially for the price. For a 160 gallon bucket local it cost me 45.00. Not a bad price considering TM was 5 more dollars on the bucket for less inconsistant product. IMO I would not use either 1 or 2. I also tried to find out who had used reef crystals here and others have recently switched too. So far so good.
I hope that this helps you with your decision. I am not a doctor or a marine scientist so do not hold me to this info. This is just the way I worked out my issue on how to figure out which salt would work best for my application.
 
I just switched from Tropic Marin to Reef Crystals. I think I'll be more impressed with it from what I've read.
 
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