IO Salt causing unusably hard water

[FishRhard]

So since I've branched out from freshwater to saltwater I have been having trouble with alkalinity. After testing my fresh salt mix I realized my dKH was 15, and my dGH was unmeasurably high. I literally couldn't fit any more drops of the dGH solution into the test tube to continue testing. I stopped at 120 dGH. I checked the raw distilled water before testing and both dKH and dGH were zero as they should be. All tests were done using api test tube methods.

I had to use a general hardness test instead of testing individually for calcium and magnesium because I don't have them yet. Expensive hobby, but I thought the GH test would at least shed a little light on the subject.

 

[outssider]

I.O. doesn't mix that high (not even close) so the problem can only be two things.

1...the test is wrong, either you did it wrong or the test itself is faulty.

2...you got a bad batch of salt or didn't mix it well before using it.

 

[FishRhard]

problem solved: salt mix needed to be mixed a bit longer before taking readings. Readings are normal now. Thanks all for the help.

 

[Buzz1329]

I could be mistaken, but I think a GH test is kinda meaningless in salt water tank. Alkalinity's the test you should be focusing on.

Mike