Reef Salt

[osprey440]

I have a 16g nano reef tank. Recently my KH has been dropping a lot, what I think is due to the growth of coralline algae. My calcium on the other hand is out of control, above 520 ppm. I have been dosing my tank with Kent Pro Buffer in the meantime and it is around 7-8 dKH but still drops daily.
I used to do water changes with the Kent marine reef salt but noticed that it has a high amount of calcium, between 550-570 ppm at SG of 1.025, and is intended more for SPS tanks. I tested the KH in the Kent marine salt mix and it was at 5. So, I switched to Coralife marine salt that is supposed to be at 390-400ppm on calcium but after mixing it for a day the calcium level was above 520ppm and the KH was at 5.
What should I do next? I am thinking of buying the Red Sea coral pro salt and hoping that works.
I don't have a magnesium test kit and have never tested it and my pH is at 8.0.

 

[bubblegurl]

How do your corals look? Are they growing, dying, colorful? I have the same issue. I was using seachem salinity salt, have lost a lot of corals in my 180. Dkh consistently at 6, mag at 1250 and ca at 460. Water changes every 2 weeks. I don't have any sps, all lps and softies. I bought a doser and have been dosing alk and mag and not seeing any significant changes. I also have a 55 gl tank using the same salt and not losing corals, seeing good growth, same parameters. I've recently switched to reef crystals and have only done 1 water change on the 55 and what a difference it's made, corals are brighter and fuller. I'm doing a water change on the 180 tonight and hoping to see the same results.
If your corals look good, I would maybe try a different salt and see what happens or I would leave it and just keep up with regular water changes.

 

[osprey440]

All my corals look great.

This is a photo from a few weeks ago but not much has changed.
Here is a photo of my new blueberry gorgonian. I got it really cheap because it had algae on it.

 

[bubblegurl]

Nice tank! I'm still trying to figure out what's going on with my 180 but it's only been running since March, the 55 is 1 1/2 years old and stable so I'm not worried about it.
Try a different salt and weekly wc, should be enough. Manual dosing on a small tank isn't too expensive when buying pre made stuff. See what happens over the next few weeks. Also, what test kits are you using? I'm switching mine to elos, will compare results.
I haven't added anything to the 180 in months now, just lost one of my fave corals so a bit gun shy at the moment.

 

[osprey440]

I am purchasing the red sea coral pro salt today. I will do weekly water changes with that and keep you updated. The test kit I use is the API master reef test kit. I think it works pretty well ... I haven't tested it against anything else. Does anyone else use the API reef test kit?

 

[osprey440]

Got my red sea coral pro salt finally. I tested the KH only but it was at 11 dKH at a specific gravity of 1.025. A big improvement over the 5 dKH from the other two brands I used.

 

[red tiger]

I have been using Reef Crystals from the get-go and have never had dKh problems, usually my dKh is around 10-11 and calcium about 420-450 and Mag @ 1300's

 

[btldreef]

I absolutely swear by AquaVitro Salinity. You can search this site and find many people who have tried it really like it.

 

[manners]

+1 on aquavitro, I switched to it a few months ago and have noticed a huge improvement in color, growth, and stability in parameters.