Hey guys!
This is a completely shocking find that I just discovered a couple minutes ago. But before I dive in, lets get a little background info. I have a 40gal Breeder mixed reef. I have semi-struggled with some difficult SPS but managed to keep a rather flourishing system. This 40 has been up since mid July 2016 after most of what is in it transferred from my 20gal long that I had running for 2 years prior to the upgrade.
So I've been fairly focused on keeping my parameters stable..as everyone does when they have SPS in their tank. with a 10gal water change weekly.
Temp controlled with a ReefKeeper @ 77-78F
Salinity @ 35ppt
Red Sea Test Kits:
Calc @ 460
Alk @ 10-11dKh
Here is where I became "lazy" so to speak. After a while I stopped checking my Mag levels because I never had to dose Mag all to often and definitely haven't dosed Mag since I upgraded. But a couple of days ago I decided to measure my Mag be the last time I checked about 2 or 3 months ago it was sitting kinda high at 1400. THIS TIME IT WAS AT 1600!!! I was like WTF?!! HOW??? I never dose Mag. So I've been looking into these Hanna Checkers and wanting to get them. So I went to the fish store today to buy their Calc and Alk checker but they don't make a Mag checker. I talk to the guys at the store about why they might think my Mag is so high or if my test kit is bad. Talks to me about the chemical relationship of the 3 major elements. So to make sure I'm titrating correctly with Red Sea's kit, I now try out the new checkers I just bought. I've always been getting a Calc reading of 440ish after a day or 2 of dosing calc using the Red Sea kit. This Hanna Checker Read a 579!! AGAIN WTF!?! I must have done this wrong. So I redo the test, 580....ok ok, lets compare ALK. Checker said 9.7...Red Sea kit 9.7 (or 0.69ml of titrant used). I must have been incorrectly measuring calc this whole time! I guess as Im titrating I stop too early so I get a lower reading than what the water parameter is! I feel sooo Stupid! So I'm assuming my Mag is so high because my Calc is ungodly high! Corals are still good though which is an interesting find.
Needless to say I will be closely monitoring the calc as it naturally subsides by uptake from the corals so that it is a slowly and steady decline. I'll be using both the remaining amount of my Red Sea kit and the Hanna Checker.
There you have it folks, either I'm stupid and can't titrate Calc correctly or maybe my calc kit is bad idk. I've been using these kits for 3 years..
This is a completely shocking find that I just discovered a couple minutes ago. But before I dive in, lets get a little background info. I have a 40gal Breeder mixed reef. I have semi-struggled with some difficult SPS but managed to keep a rather flourishing system. This 40 has been up since mid July 2016 after most of what is in it transferred from my 20gal long that I had running for 2 years prior to the upgrade.
So I've been fairly focused on keeping my parameters stable..as everyone does when they have SPS in their tank. with a 10gal water change weekly.
Temp controlled with a ReefKeeper @ 77-78F
Salinity @ 35ppt
Red Sea Test Kits:
Calc @ 460
Alk @ 10-11dKh
Here is where I became "lazy" so to speak. After a while I stopped checking my Mag levels because I never had to dose Mag all to often and definitely haven't dosed Mag since I upgraded. But a couple of days ago I decided to measure my Mag be the last time I checked about 2 or 3 months ago it was sitting kinda high at 1400. THIS TIME IT WAS AT 1600!!! I was like WTF?!! HOW??? I never dose Mag. So I've been looking into these Hanna Checkers and wanting to get them. So I went to the fish store today to buy their Calc and Alk checker but they don't make a Mag checker. I talk to the guys at the store about why they might think my Mag is so high or if my test kit is bad. Talks to me about the chemical relationship of the 3 major elements. So to make sure I'm titrating correctly with Red Sea's kit, I now try out the new checkers I just bought. I've always been getting a Calc reading of 440ish after a day or 2 of dosing calc using the Red Sea kit. This Hanna Checker Read a 579!! AGAIN WTF!?! I must have done this wrong. So I redo the test, 580....ok ok, lets compare ALK. Checker said 9.7...Red Sea kit 9.7 (or 0.69ml of titrant used). I must have been incorrectly measuring calc this whole time! I guess as Im titrating I stop too early so I get a lower reading than what the water parameter is! I feel sooo Stupid! So I'm assuming my Mag is so high because my Calc is ungodly high! Corals are still good though which is an interesting find.
Needless to say I will be closely monitoring the calc as it naturally subsides by uptake from the corals so that it is a slowly and steady decline. I'll be using both the remaining amount of my Red Sea kit and the Hanna Checker.
There you have it folks, either I'm stupid and can't titrate Calc correctly or maybe my calc kit is bad idk. I've been using these kits for 3 years..
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