Alkalinity increasing with Red Sea Coral Pro salt

Acalin

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Hello all,

Recently I switched from Instant Ocean salt to Red Sea Coral Pro salt.
Reason is becuase I started adding corals to the tank (so far I have a zoas frag, a GSP a tiny xenia that I thought it died and it started to appear in a hole in a rock and a 3-head acan - so not much for consumption, I would say).

Anyway, before switching, my Alk was pretty constant, and was keeping it around 9.5 dkH.
For DT I have a RedSea 250 (so about 65 gal including the sump). When I do water changes, I usually do a 5 gal bucket for water change.

As soon as I started with the Red Sea salt, the alkalinity jumped to 10.3 -10.4 dkH. That's quite a steep change and (my mistake) only later I looked on the bucket and saw that it is indicating those higher level for alkalinity.

My question is, what are my options if I want to keep the Alk closer to 9.5? Do I just not mix this salt anymore? I thought that if it's jus a 5 gallon bucket for water change, it won't raise the Alk that much.
I am happy that althought it was quite a jump in Alk, my inverts and corals are ok. Can't say the acans are the happiest.

Any suggestions are welcome and thank you in advance for your help!
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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If you do not dose alkalinity and alkalinity is too high, selecting a very high alk salt mix (like Red Sea Coral Pro) for water changes doesn't seem optimal and the easiest step is to use a lower alk salt mix.
 

Jekyl

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I used the coral pro for a long time. Once the tank matures and alkalinity starts getting consumed it becomes a non issue. Even with that salt I had to dose alkalinity a few times a week.
 
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Acalin

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If you do not dose alkalinity and alkalinity is too high, selecting a very high alk salt mix (like Red Sea Coral Pro) for water changes doesn't seem optimal and the easiest step is to use a lower alk salt mix.
Rookie mistake! Good thing the salt doesn't expire.
I was dosing a little bit Alk, and had no issue keeping it steady up until I started with the Red Sea Coral Pro.
Probably I should have investigated a bit more before, but I saw Red Sea and Coral Pro and I figured "hey, that should be better than my Instant Ocean".
Looks like it will be better in a while, once I start having more corals, not just 4 frags.

Thank you!
 

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