Tropic Marin Pro Salt - Alk 5.4dKH

[readc]

So, fresh made salt water made with Tropic Marin Pro salt, which was ordered by my LFS in December 2013 is showing an alk of 5.4dKH....For the last 2 weeks i have been slowly trying to raise the alk in my tank and now I am about 6.0dKH, going slowly. Will doing a water change with this new salt water bring me back down? I need to do a WC, so what's the best plan of action here. I will continue to dose to bring the alk up, but I will need to plan on getting a better salt soon.

[Uncle Luke]

Wow I'm surprised it's that low! What test kit are you using?

[Cozmo4]

So, fresh made salt water made with Tropic Marin Pro salt, which was ordered by my LFS in December 2013 is showing an alk of 5.4dKH....For the last 2 weeks i have been slowly trying to raise the alk in my tank and now I am about 6.0dKH, going slowly. Will doing a water change with this new salt water bring me back down? I need to do a WC, so what's the best plan of action here. I will continue to dose to bring the alk up, but I will need to plan on getting a better salt soon.

What SG level are you mixing to? Less than 1.026 will give you lower alk, calcium, etc. I believe that the labeled levels are at an assumed 1.026.

[ska d]

When you mix up your next batch of water, shake and mix up the salt before adding to water. Things settle and can make your make up water inconsistent. As for raising your alk, go get a box of arm and hammer baking soda and look up Randy's recipe in how to bake it, to turn it into soda ash. Cheap and easy way to raise your alk.

[readc]

Wow I'm surprised it's that low! What test kit are you using?

Salifert read 5.4, API read between 5 and 6...started noticing the change of color at 5 on the API, full color change at 6.

[readc]

What SG level are you mixing to? Less than 1.026 will give you lower alk, calcium, etc. I believe that the labeled levels are at an assumed 1.026.

The salinity is actually a little high on this batch, about 1.028...I will lower it before I put it into the tank, but the fact that the alk is that low at a higher salinity than 1.026 is extremely surprising and frustrating. I have only used TMP in this tank since the beginning and never had coralline algae growth. All of my acros grow agonizingly slow. Colors are great, PE is great.

[readc]

When you mix up your next batch of water, shake and mix up the salt before adding to water. Things settle and can make your make up water inconsistent. As for raising your alk, go get a box of arm and hammer baking soda and look up Randy's recipe in how to bake it, to turn it into soda ash. Cheap and easy way to raise your alk.

Already rolled the bucket around before making this batch. I have been doing my homework :D

I am using a buffer right now that i have for free, alkalin8.3...seems to be doing the job, but i am sorta not helping the cause of raising the alk if the salt is really this low...

[marty9876]

I stopped using TM because of the very low (to me) kh readings. This issue is all over the forum in TM threads. It works for some, doesn't work for others is the gist of it all. Great salt just couldn't use it for me.

[readc]

I stopped using TM because of the very low (to me) kh readings. This issue is all over the forum in TM threads. It works for some, doesn't work for others is the gist of it all. Great salt just couldn't use it for me.

Yeah I just read a long thread on here about it...

I am not really sure what to do honestly. Calcium and Mag are great, but alk is low. I was working on buffering up my tank and then was going to add Kalk to my top off water. Now that I realize the salt is the cause of my low alk, I dont know what to do....should i continue buffering up to the alk I want and then use kalk and keep using this salt, or should i just change salts?? ughh

[CJBuckeyes]

I'd been using TMP for about a year, and had noticed a few weeks ago that my corals look worse after my weekly 30% water change. My frogspawn would close for a few days. I found that the alkalinity was off the charts low, less than 1.5 meq/L (4.2 dkh). I ordered two new 32 gallon boxes, and both were also off the charts low. I decided to switch to Instant ocean, I never had a problem with inconsistency in the past and it's always available locally when needed.

[syrinx]

Look up on the website of the manufacturer. I know at one time the tropic marin reef formula was lower in Ca and Kh because it was intended for "pro" use with Ca reactors and whatnot. It was the opposite of reef crystals where the salt had higher Ca and Kh. Questions about chemistry are best addressed in the reef chemistry forum, where the experts tend to hang.

[Vinh_]

Has anyone had this problem with the bio-actif mix?

[Eric45]

Used TM pro for years and always got low alk and calc readings. Switched over to Reef Chrystals and love it. Dissolves almost immediately, is much clearer than TM, and may have contributed to my BTA producing bubble tips! It started right after I changed both salt and MH's for LED's.

[droog]

I just ordered this salt - used a full box and got Alk of 5.4 (Hanna Checker). I mixed 50/50 with RSCP to get usable numbers.

-droog