Mixing salt brands

[FuEl]

Hi guys, I have been using Coralife salt for quite some time...recently changed to tropic marin...been changing about 1 coralife bucket full using tropic marin once a week for about a month already...so far no problem....

Just did a 50% waterchange 2 days ago using Tropic Marin (about 4 coralife bucket full) to settle some chemical imbalance..Now my mushrooms and zoanthids are still shrunken.

Anyone forsees any problem?

[aStRoBo|]

i uses redse@ one.. i used coralife b4..but dissolve rate is more slower than redse@..

[FuEl]

I've given up on red sea...mix it with water and you can feel the heat liberated.

Tropic marin not that bad...dissolve speed very fast

[KingFish]

I started off with KENT to Tropic Marine to Coralife salt.

There's be an initial stage where the the corals will struggle to cope with the change in chemistry composition of the water.

If switch is made on a progressive and incremental basis, I do not forsee any problem. You may have rampant Coralline algae growth on the glass if the conditions are right.

[FuEl]

Ok...thanks..so I guess my mushies n zoanthids are still closed because of the overdose of reef builder tat time...

weird..they started to open...then when i left the house i dosed a few drops of phyto .came home and all closed again...smelt the phyto and it stank so much more than dt...so just threw it away...guess it had gotten bad..

[KingFish]

Mushrooms and Zoos are tough as nails, so I wouldn't be too concerned about them.

I hope for your sake you are aware that overdose of Reef Builder may cause a precipitation of Calcium from your water.

If you're using DT, you'll need to shale the bottle at least once a week to prevent the sedimentation and starving of the phyto.

[aStRoBo|]

Why Redse@ no good? tat time i uses coralife then the salt took so long to dissolve.. redse@ took me only few mins to dissolve.. my tank temp is at 26degrees celcius. Only using fan.. dunnoe wad heat u mean..

[arcanehacker]

is there like a place where there is a comparison between brands of sea salt?

I heard Kent is good but i doesn't dissolve well.. there's always particles at the bottom..

before that, I've used a dual formula seasalt. the one that includes a small bottle (forgot the brand). It disolves so much faster and very little residue..

[FuEl]

Hmmm..that time whether I have overdosed or not I am not too sure..cause that time tried to increase my kH to around 10..added about half of the 250gram bottle over a period of 2 weeks...in the end of it all..measure my kH and it was still around 7.4..my tank is around 200 litres..Calcium levels were a lil high..around 480-500ppm..magnesium was around 1300ppm..

Then one day i forgot to drip my reef builder...poured in about 2 teaspoons mixed with water direct into my sump (thinking that it was water i left overnight)..then my protein skimmer started foaming alot...and then zoanthids n mushies were the first to start shrinking..until now they havent fully recovered...

I'm tired of bothering with my kH already..changed 50% with tropic marin 2 days ago and today the kH is still around 7.4

Decided to leave it as that...tired of trying to fix something so headache......

[KingFish]

I doubt you'll find any independent review of the different salt mixes. You'll be surprised to know that some of the different brandnames get the salt from the same factory.

IMO, dissolution rate of the salt is also negligible since its a prudent practice to allow freshly mixed salt to settle, or stir with a powerhead overnight for the water chemistry, pH etc tp stabilise.

[arcanehacker]

I doubt you'll find any independent review of the different salt mixes. You'll be surprised to know that some of the different brandnames get the salt from the same factory.

IMO, dissolution rate of the salt is also negligible since its a prudent practice to allow freshly mixed salt to settle, or stir with a powerhead overnight for the water chemistry, pH etc tp stabilise.

but you'll be suprised that after letting the salt to settle, some brands do not or have very neglegible settlements. And some brands also have tons of them..

[KingFish]

Think you mentioned somewhere that 'If it ain't broken, don't fix it', I don't think it can be anymore applicable.

My tank conditions are about the same as yours, CoraLife salt are known to have low dKH but since my corals are fine, I left it as it is.

Since your water volume is moderately small, I'd try not to change the water chemistry too drastically. The mushrooms and Zoos should recover in time.

[KingFish]

but you'll be suprised that after letting the salt to settle, some brands do not or have very neglegible settlements. And some brands also have tons of them..

I add salt to water, not the other way around. If you do otherwise, the sediment you see are actually precipitation.

In any case, I hardly find the sediment a concern.

Just don't pour it in the tank if it bothers you.

[arcanehacker]

I add salt to water, not the other way around. If you do otherwise, the sediment you see are actually precipitation.

In any case, I hardly find the sediment a concern.

Just don't pour it in the tank if it bothers you.

of course you add salt to water.. you mean some people do it the other way? ..

try kent seasalt and you'll know why I'm complaining..

[FuEl]

Think you mentioned somewhere that 'If it ain't broken, don't fix it', I don't think it can be anymore applicable.

It's still applicable...I only said it after I experienced this problem.....meant to tell ppl dun be as itchy hand as me.....

Hey Rumor...you don't have a crush on me do you? How you manage to remember all the things i said? ahaha..just joking.

[KingFish]

Excellent.

Now can we see if anyone else have comments about results from using different saltmixes?

No Fuel, its selective memory, some of whose comments are treated with casual disregard while some others are recognised.

[FuEl]

Oh..so should that be a compliment?