Reef Crystals Bad Batch Earlier This Year (Questions)

[cd77]

I just opened up my second bucket of reef crystals (I ordered six in early January) and have been having some chemistry issues with my tank.

The first bucket (the only one which contained a T-shirt) was fine, but the second (and I presume the other four) look like they may be from the bad batch.

I've read about the bad buckets having low calcium, which I'm also finding.

After a few home tests which had me baffled, I sent a sample to AWT. To no surprise Alk measured at 2.43, Ca at 361 (acceptable I suppose, but low) K at 209 (surprising!).

Here's my question -- did anyone with bad batches also have issues with alkalinity and (if you happened to test or use AWT) possibly potassium? What about magnesium?

Or, was it all just calcium related?

 

[rbursek]

I do not know about the Alk, but Mg was usually around 1100.

 

[mixed_reefer]

Yea the mag is what was throwing me off... Alk was always good. I switched salts.

 

[cd77]

Thanks guys -- I'm at a loss right now. Maybe it's just a bad bucket, or I need to stir it up some.

 

[DurTBear]

I have a bucket that I purchased not too long ago (probably the end of last year) and the Alk is fine (about 4 meq/L). However, my Ca measurements are a little low around 400ppm. Probably not exact since I'm using a kit that uses a titration method. Anyway, I'm just supplementing my water that I make up with a little bit of Calcium.