Kent Marine Reef Salt - Please help me

[jiminy_crime]

I have been back in this hobby for about 3 years now and for whatever reason, I never made a practice of testing brand new salt freshly mixed.

So in the last month I have been trying to battle and get rid of GHA and have eliminated it by vacuuming sandbed and doing water changes each week. I have lowered my nitrates to 5ppm and phosphates to .02.

But...here is my problem. I have noticed I have struggled to keep my all consistent since beginning my water changes so I decided to test a fresh batch of salt at 1.025 on a refractometer. The salt I have been using is Kent Marine Reef Salt. I measured the dKh using a Hanna checker the converts to dKh.

My first measurement came out at 16dKh.

I dumped it thinking I messed up so I did it again. I got a measurement of 16.2 dKh a second time.

Rather than just assume the salt was jacked, I threw away the reagents as I had been using reagent that was several months old...wasn't expired though.

Ordered 4 bottles of the reagent and just tested a new batch of mixed salt at 1.025 again it tested at 14.7 dKh. I tested again and it tested at 14.7 with a new test.

So my question is this. Do I assume the newly purchased salt that I have is bad? I went and calibrated my refractometer and it is spot on.

I'm freaking out because I have been melting any monti, digis or any SPS I have tried to put in my tank and hadn't in previous tanks. My dKh of my main tank is at 8.5 dKh currently.

Looking for advice


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[bertoni]

My guess is that the batch of salt is bad or has settled badly during shipment. You could try mixing up the dry salt and then making a new test sample of saltwater to see what's happening. If the level is still high, I'd ditch the salt.

 

[jiminy_crime]

Thanks for responding Bertoni. If the salt is bad would you use it as an opportunity to switch salts? And if so, is there one you would recommend? I am wanting to keep my dKh around 8 as I want to move from a softie tank to a SPS dominant tank and I would like my salt to match what I maintain my tank at.


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[Phixman]

I have Instant ocean reef crystals,
used Salifer for all 3 tests.

430 ppm- Calc
10.9 dkh- Alk
1095 ppm- Mag

I feel that Mag is too low and this would be a problem since I'm wanting to keep Mag around 1350-1450 and there would be a spike every water change, I'm thinking of trying red sea pro salt, I've heard they have some nice levels.

 

[homer1475]

I use plain old IO just because it's cheap and matches my display pretty well.

I test every batch and match it's parameter to my display. Without grabbing my log book I can't tell you exact numbers, but I know I add very little muratic acid to bring the ALK down(roughly 9 to 10 DKH down to 8.5), and a slight bit of MAG to bring that up to 1350. CA always tests out well between 400 and 420.

I match my display so it doesn't throw my dosing schedule off.

 

[reefgeezer]

I used Kent forever because it dissolved so quickly. Alk always mixed at like 12 dKh. Once I decided to run lower alk I switched a lower alk salt. I use Fritz RPM now. It mixes to around 8.5 dKH at 35ppt and is about the same price as Reef Crystals. Calcium & Magnesium mix high initially but seem to settle to 450 & 1400 after a few hours.

 

[timnem70]

I use plain old IO just because it's cheap and matches my display pretty well.

I test every batch and match it's parameter to my display. Without grabbing my log book I can't tell you exact numbers, but I know I add very little muratic acid to bring the ALK down(roughly 9 to 10 DKH down to 8.5), and a slight bit of MAG to bring that up to 1350. CA always tests out well between 400 and 420.

I match my display so it doesn't throw my dosing schedule off.

This.. Reef crystals are high in every ion. Just use regular IO to get back down to earth.
Fritz, red sea coral pro, kent pro all have elevated levels.

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[rickyb]

I will recommend testing your display and new salt with another brand test kit just to assure is neither. If in fact the salt is too high, contact Kent, I'm sure they'll make it right.
I used Kent for a while until it stopped been available from my supplier, I now use Fritz Pro.


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[bertoni]

I agree that Kent is very likely to send you another batch. A lot of tanks have run very well on Instant Ocean, if you're interested in a change.

 

[BeachBumm]

I agree that Kent is very likely to send you another batch. A lot of tanks have run very well on Instant Ocean, if you're interested in a change.

Love IO , never had an issue as of yet ! I run a reef but only use IO , The Reef Crystals to me is overpriced for the additional supplements it contains. I can raise them myself cheaper or very cheaply .

 

[ROlympia]

I tried Kent and stopped because the kh was so high. I started using Tropic Marin Pro-Reef because it's one of the few I found with a kh that I could raise to my desired level vs. lowering it with muriatic acid. I also used IO and IO Reef prior to that. The kh is too high on them too but not as bad as Kent. I like the TM but it is expensive.

 

[alton]

I have been using Kent Salt for a long time, a friend sent me a link to this because some how I missed it. Being concerned I checked my tank at lunch and it read 8 DKH. This morning I did a 12 gallon water change on a 65 gallon tank (excluding LR, sand, corals 40 gallons?) like I do every week. I have to mix up a 12 gallon batch tonight and will check it.

 

[bertoni]

Your batch probably is fine. I wouldn't worry all that much. Most or all of the various salt products seem to have problems from time to time.

 

[alton]

Fresh batch 8 DKH

 

[bertoni]

That sounds like a normal batch of salt. Use and enjoy.