Changing salts

[trillyen]

Ok i was at pets smart today and noticed that coralife salt mix has a 390-430 cal concentration and even like a 1250 to 1300 mag count, so needless to say ill be changing salts this next water change in a couple weeks.

im gonna mix the rest of the salt i have left with the coral life that should be ok correct???

 

[Skimmy]

coralife salt might as well be table salt...horrible!!
also never consider;
red sea
oceanic


almost everyone in this industry used instant ocean for a reason, STABILITY!!!! something coralife salt knows nothing about...

if you want to experiment with a better salt, look at tropic marin

 

[trillyen]

Really sorry to hear that i was looking for a answer for my low cal

ill have to look into the tropic marin stuff!!!!

love the bottom of the page signature thingy dude, Damn!!!!

 

[NaH2O]

trillyen - what does your current salt mix test at? You can increase the calcium in your make-up water with supplements, rather than switching salts if you don't need to. All salts have their issues, so don't think you can buy a salt and it will be the best thing out there. You aren't looking for a quick fix to your calcium issue are you? (a joke about the quick fix ich cure lolol).

 

[HarleyDude]

There has been some research on which salt is best, blah, blah. The documented test results from Eric Borneman's study should be released soon, but it has been so long since he did the study I am not sure how much it will hold up anymore. I, along with most of reefing community, use IO. In my opinion it has the best reputation for consistancy. However, I have encountered a flaky batch. It happens with all of them, but from an additive perspective IO seems to be the best as to not have too high of parameters on any one component. I am also a believer that unless there is a very good reason, you should not switch salts. Having one parameter off would not warrant this, in my mind. If you could narrow down a cyano problem because of a salt, that might do it.

 

[Ellisz]

I have used IO, Oceanic now use Red Sea Coral Pro. I have never had a problem with any of them. I thought Oceanic might have been feeding some hair algae but turned out to be a RO/DI issue.

Red Sea(Reg and Pro) is used by a lot of locals here. I was thinking that Borneman initial tests made Red Sea look the best?

Don't know anything about Coralife though ...

 

[joker577]

I switched to oceanic a couple weeks back..haven't had a problem since! infact i noticed almost no more cyano or hair algae or diatom...could be because i started using RO but hey... keeps my levels in good check so I have no problems. Reef crystals to me seemed to have very low calc concentration

 

[Jan]

coralife salt might as well be table salt...horrible!!
also never consider;
red sea
oceanic

Mark, why don't you like Red Sea? I just bought a brand new bucket of Red Sea Pro ReefSalt. I've mixed some up, but haven't used it. Is there a problem with it? Will at ReefMystique said it was "the best," and it's more expensive at his store than Reef Crystals, even.

 

[trillyen]

trillyen - what does your current salt mix test at? You can increase the calcium in your make-up water with supplements, rather than switching salts if you don't need to. All salts have their issues, so don't think you can buy a salt and it will be the best thing out there. You aren't looking for a quick fix to your calcium issue are you? (a joke about the quick fix ich cure lolol).

lol i knew what you ment by a quick fix, believe me i wont soon for get my ick issue
my instant ocean tests at like 200 ppm, and my API test says my cal is now at a whopping 240 ppm in my reef tank!!!

i give up im just gonna add calcium when i feel like it, and i aint testing no more, my sps or stlyaphora seems to be doing good and growing so we will just see how it does til i can get a salifert test kit.

I think i may still try the coral life salt though seeing as IT DOES THE JOB CORRECT, as long as you guys dont tell me it kills stuff im gonna try my luck at it casue everyones expierence in this hobby has alot of differences, but with my luck im sure ill soon be posting a" Starting all over again thread" soon

thanks and dont think i dont value your opinion ive just had it up to here with my cal and my api tests and i need a way out and the new salt is my light at the end of the tunnel for now thanks!!!

 

[trillyen]

I dont know what to do for now, ill probably be using the rest of my IO before i buy any thing else any way

im just really getting pissed at my cal levels making absolutley no since at all, and there being nothing i can do about it

The sps is stacked on my live rock wall my calcium level had a great fall all the kent cal, and all the kent Marine couldnt seem to get my cal levels together again

Im about to pour the rest of the bottle of kent marine in the tank now

I really dont even wanna discuss my cal levels any more, nothing against you guys though!!!!

 

[joker577]

If what you dosed now only brought it up 40 then why don't you...quadruple what your dosing which would bring it up to 400

 

[DonW]

I dont know what to do for now, ill probably be using the rest of my IO before i buy any thing else any way

im just really getting pissed at my cal levels making absolutley no since at all, and there being nothing i can do about it

The sps is stacked on my live rock wall my calcium level had a great fall all the kent cal, and all the kent Marine couldnt seem to get my cal levels together again

Im about to pour the rest of the bottle of kent marine in the tank now

I really dont even wanna discuss my cal levels any more, nothing against you guys though!!!!

Its not the salt.

Don

 

[trillyen]

Found out tonight that my ph is kinda high so im thinking that may be causing my cal to evaporate so i added a ph buffer POWDER (mixed it with ro di water til it was disolved).

ill see what my ph is in the morning.

My ph shouldnt swing depending on time cause my refuge lights come on about 2 hours before my actinics go off for the moonlighting cycle

i hope that i found my problem

It feels right to me

I added about 3 tsp to my tank of about 100 gl. volume

It was kent marine super buffer!!!!

Bttryfly gurl reccommended them for me!!!

thanks guys cross the old fingers for me!!

my ph was 8.8 or maybe higher

the cal i was adding wouldnt of raised my ph would it have???

I think my ph was high to begin with< my cal is like 260, and i was dosing with kent calcium liquid concentrated!!!!

 

[burning2nd]

you have a pritty new tank right?

just my shot on this.

switch to Tropic marine Pro reef (be done with that)

dont buffer until you know you need it.

you have a RODI? ( www.thefilterguys.biz )


I would think that you really should have to buffer anything yet... pending as if i remember your tank just got together right?

give it some time and see what its gonna do. The kent liquid cal wont hurt...

if you want to raise your Ca that stuff will do that trick but add it, wait a few hours, then test.

 

[DonW]

Found out tonight that my ph is kinda high so im thinking that may be causing my cal to evaporate so i added a ph buffer POWDER (mixed it with ro di water til it was disolved).

ill see what my ph is in the morning.

My ph shouldnt swing depending on time cause my refuge lights come on about 2 hours before my actinics go off for the moonlighting cycle

i hope that i found my problem

It feels right to me

I added about 3 tsp to my tank of about 100 gl. volume

It was kent marine super buffer!!!!

Bttryfly gurl reccommended them for me!!!

thanks guys cross the old fingers for me!!

my ph was 8.8 or maybe higher

the cal i was adding wouldnt of raised my ph would it have???

I think my ph was high to begin with< my cal is like 260, and i was dosing with kent calcium liquid concentrated!!!!

Not to put you down but none of that makes any sense. Dosing Kent super buffer is just going to bump up your ph and shoot up your alk. You need to just stop doing all together and start doing water changes. If your ca is still low then its a testing issue.

Don

 

[james734]

If your ca is still low then its a testing issue.

Don

Agree, Get a better quality test kit or take some water to the LFS store for them to test. I think I know where you go, so I'm sure you get them to test the water for you. What are you using to test your PH it seems like a testing error also. That's pretty high up there and I would be more concerned with it right now than my CA levels. What's your ALK level at? If I'm not mistaken if you ALK is high it makes it hard to get the CA levels to come up. It's a balance thing and I think things are way out of balance in your tank. Do some large water changes and let things be for a while. I don't think it's the salt.

So take some water to the LFS for testing and post the number up here.

 

[trillyen]

Ok ill take some water to my local fish store and let them test it for me

my alk is like 10 or 11 dkh

i havent had a prob with it yet, plus the buffer i added last night was suspose to adjust my alk levels alot anyway

Where do you think i get my water tested????LOL!!

ILL have pa test it for me today but im not sure if they do that or not yet!!!!

 

[james734]

Ok ill take some water to my local fish store and let them test it for me

my alk is like 10 or 11 dkh

i havent had a prob with it yet, plus the buffer i added last night was suspose to adjust my alk levels alot anyway

Where do you think i get my water tested????LOL!!

ILL have pa test it for me today but im not sure if they do that or not yet!!!!

Yep, that's what I thought...

I'm really questioning the testing, tester or test kit. Something is not right here.

 

[NaH2O]

Well, since I know you bought yourself a Salifert Ca test kit, I'll wait to hear your results . Don't forget to test your newly made salt mix prior to your water change. I'd like to know what it is testing at.

 

[trillyen]

you guys are the shhhh,

The results are in, and the salifert ph tests say that my ph is like some where around like 8.0 and 8.4 i think it looks like it may be at like 8.2

uncle bills said my ph was around like 7.8 but that may have been because my sample water was in my hot car for about a hour or 3 and may have fell a lil

The salifert test kit for cal said i was some where around like 370 to 400, may be 410, im happy with that and i hope thats accurate

i thought that my ph was low last night so i added about 3 teaspoons of ph super buffer to some ro/di water last night and mixed it in, and this morning it looked like my sps didnt bud out as much as it usually does but some of it was out it just wasnt as extended

My xenias look fine though

thanks guys i havent tested my alk yet though so ill test it tomorrow!!!

thanks guys im really comfortable with these test results

I dont think im gonna test anymore til i get a bigger cal demanding animal or animals

Nah20 knows what my next corals will be!!!!

Glad i didnt get my frags today, but its nice to know now that i could have...

Thank you guys, and gals!!!!

At pa they dont wanna make any money, they just loovvvvvee to sell um< ha ha ha ha,

LOvE YAw!!!