Can brand of salt affect PH?

[jgsensor]

I am having a little trouble with high PH readings after switching to Oceanic salt from Instant Ocean. My normal PH readings are right around 8.2, but lately they are anywhere from 8.45 to 8.57 after switching to Oceanic. Can the salt brand affect PH that much. My other readings are:
Calc - 450
Alk - 9.6
Mag - 1430
Salt - 1.024
temp 79
N03 - 0
No4 - 0

I have added some buffer since these test and it seems to lower the PH level for a little bit, but it just goes back up. I have down a couple water changes and the house is opened up most of the day so C02 should not be a problem. I don't run a cal reactor or dose kalk, they only change to the tank lately is the brand of salt. I plan to switch back to IO when I get more salt, but for now I have to deal with the problem at hand. I have tested the PH with a meter and a salifert test kit, but I plan on recalibrated my PH meter tonight and retesting the PH and other levels again.

Any ideas or suggestions?

[Billybeau1]

I doubt the salt mix is causing what you are seeing.

When is the last time you cleaned and calibrated your pH probe ? They tend to read high when they get dirty.

[jgsensor]

Thanks, I had calibrated the probe about 3-4 weeks ago, but I took your advice. Cleaned the probe and recalibrated and all is good to go. Turns out the probe was around .5 high, so I am good now sitting at 8.06.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Billybeau1]

:thumbsup: