Salt Mix for Lower Alk?

[HuskerBioProf]

I think some of my struggles with color paleness and a bit of bleaching might be due to my high Alk. I am using IO Reef Crystals salt, which I am testing at ~10-11 dKH (although this is with the Marine Care Red Sea Kit for Alkalinity... Hanna Checker in transit). I thought I would just give in and try to keep it stable at 11 dKH. I am only dosing Kalk in my ATO. However, today I had a spike up to 12.5 dKH and I lost a lot of polyp extension on one of my milleporas in less than 12 hours.

I think I would like to switch to a salt that is closer to 8 dKH and try to keep my Alk stable at that. A few weeks ago before I dosed Kalk my Alk dropped to 8.5 and I had an overnight explosion of growth on a couple of corals.

What do people use for a salt mix that run a lower Alk? Thanks!

 

[rovster]

I add muriatic acid to water (not in tank!) to knock the alk down. Look it up!

 

[swk]

I add muriatic acid to water (not in tank!) to knock the alk down. Look it up!

I use plain old IO and use the same the stuff to match my alk in the tank.

 

[chi_reef]

Red Sea Aquarium Salt Mix have a 7.8 to 8.2 dKH. See link.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/red-sea-aquarium-salt-mix-175-gallon.html

I use this myself.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/korallen-zucht-reefer-s-best-premium-coral-reef-salt.html

 

[2dawghouse]

Aquaforest reef salt, and probiotic reef salt. Best salt I've ever used. Mixes clear within minutes and ready to add. Mixes very close to nsw and comes with a card detailing that batch levels of CA, Alk, MG, keep etc levels within the salt.

 

[DamonG]

I use the red sea regular(blue bucket) also, and have had great results with it.. Color is awesome, and it's very stable.. Always mixes to nsw dkh, and easy to mix.. Trace elements are pretty consistent also..

I also used hw reefer for a little while. And it was good also,I just noticed a difference in my coral growth with it, so I switched back to the red sea.. I think it may have been the system was used to semi synthetic versus fully synthetic salt.

Another option that I haven't used in years is salinity. Very popular and easy to find.. From what I remember, it is very nsw also in it's levels. And I know that is very consistent, as a buddy of mine uses it..

Even regular io is lower in dkh from what I remember. The only thing with it, is the magnesium levels are low(once again, from what I remember, but it has been a few years). But besides that, I want to say,I read that for calcium reactor sps systems, it's a good option because it's very cheap, and of course, the reactor supplies ample magnesium as long as you mix it in the reactor..

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[Potatohead]

Regular Red Sea and Aquaforest Reef... Both are great.

 

[Potatohead]

Sorry double post

 

[HuskerBioProf]

I think I am going to look into switching to regular Red Sea. It seems to have lower Alk (just above NSW, which is what I want) without giving up calcium, mag, trace elements. Is letting the corals naturally deplete Alk the best way to slowly lower it? Or should I just reduce the amount of Kalk I am dosing slowly until it is nothing?

 

[Deahttub]

Ive used salinity sea salt...its pretty neutral at 7dkhish...

 

[max6297]

I also add Muriatic acid to my salt mix to bring down the alk.

The acid lowers the PH so i run an air stone in the mix to aerate it and bring the PH back up. I have been doing this for years. You can look it up or PM me to get the directions.

 

[DamonG]

I think I am going to look into switching to regular Red Sea. It seems to have lower Alk (just above NSW, which is what I want) without giving up calcium, mag, trace elements. Is letting the corals naturally deplete Alk the best way to slowly lower it? Or should I just reduce the amount of Kalk I am dosing slowly until it is nothing?

depending on your alk consumption, it is the best way, simply because it's the slowest and most natural.. That is how I have always done it. And when I did use kalk, I slowly lowered the amount.. Kalk is a nice addition, and the coral love it.. Even in small quantities.. I would lower it, to where it basically is barely going in and doesn't up the ph and alk at all per the dose(whether dripping or in ato), and then let the levels drop naturally.. While at the same time, doing water changes with the red sea regular.. Small ones, gradually.. Like 10% max a week.. That way, you will be able to observe the changes that take place as you slowly transition..

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[HuskerBioProf]

So I was using the non pro version of the Red Sea (the Red Sea Marine Care kit) for the Alk -- I only recently realized it was different from the pro. My Alk, based on that kit, dropped from 12.5 dKH to 11 dKH after diluting my ATO water with fresh RODI (to reduce the Kalk). However, I just got my Hanna checker today, which told me dKH of 13.4 in two separate tests. It makes me wonder what I was at before.

I dumped my ATO water and replaced it with Kalk-free RODI. I am going to let things drop gradually until Friday when the Red Sea salt bucket I ordered comes in. I have a few Acros that look about the same, but the Milleporas have significantly retracted their polyps and my green slimer looks pretty sickly. Fortunately, the Milles were from Battlecorals and they were super shaggy to start with.

 

[BIGCYCS805]

Aquaforest reef salt, and probiotic reef salt. Best salt I've ever used. Mixes clear within minutes and ready to add. Mixes very close to nsw and comes with a card detailing that batch levels of CA, Alk, MG, keep etc levels within the salt.

+1 ^^^^^ i use the reef salt

 

[Jim Z.]

I use Red Sea Coral Pro salt and unfortunately, it will jack up the alk from 7 to 8.8. I usually do water changes when the alk is at a level where I would need to add a supplement to bump it back up. You can let the alk level drop slowly on its own and it may take between 2 or 3 days to get down close to a preferred level................Jim

 

[eg8r210]

I think I am going to look into switching to regular Red Sea. It seems to have lower Alk (just above NSW, which is what I want) without giving up calcium, mag, trace elements. Is letting the corals naturally deplete Alk the best way to slowly lower it? Or should I just reduce the amount of Kalk I am dosing slowly until it is nothing?

Did your Alk spike a few days after the water change? If so then maybe your kalk mixture is too strong. I like to let the alk drop on its own but check it every day to make sure it isn't dropping more than about 1dkh per day otherwise you will need to buffer it a little to slow it down.

My vote is for AF salt.

 

[HuskerBioProf]

The Alk spiked immediately after the water change, but I think my Kalk mixture was also a bit too strong. Although I was holding right at 11 dKH for several days until I did a large water change to clear our some algae I brushed off the rocks. I think it will be safer to get my salt mixed up at around 8.5 dKH and then try to keep my Alk stable at that by fine-tuning my Kalk concentration. I think this time I will just add a little bit of Kalk at a time until I no longer see a drop from day to day.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Myka]

I'm using Aquaforest too. Previously, I used H2Ocean and lowered the alkalinity with muriatic acid.