Instant Ocean Synthetic Salts & Algae Outbreaks: My Conclusion

[user 2204]

I can say that everyone who mentioned the Kent Tech M stuff for teh bryosis is correct. I was battling that stuff for a couple of months and finally started dosing Tech M and the bryosis has been gone for at least 6 months now.

FWIW Marineland is owned by a much larger comany as a whole. It is funny seeing a company that makes pesticides also make saltwater mix. Of course they also make batteries and appliances too.
Spectrum Brands | Providing Quality and Value to Consumers Worldwide.

 

[barrierreefcf]

Yeah...don't quote me on this as I'm not 100% sure of the facts, but I think it has less to do with Marineland and more to do with the fact that I/O is now produced somewhere different since Aquarium Systems was purchased.

 

[07FocusST]

Well the source of my information has been revealed!!!! I will be switching over to Brightwell Aquatics Neo Marine when I come up on the 14th-15th of May. Also looking at BWA Katalyst.

 

[Boomer]

I agree with Don and Todd pretty much. To often it is the case to blame x, y or z without really looking at the whole issue. I used IO for 30 years and allot of those years never even tested for P and never had any GHA or Byro and Nitrates where 10 ppm NO3-N or 30 ppm NO3- I only had a little Cyano. It is always a combo of many things. If one is even measuring zero N or P means nothing at times as many life forms, to include algae, can remove them as fast as they enter the water column. IORC can be a different issue has it has vitamins which can fuel algae out breaks much easier. Racing off to change salts can actually make things worse or at times better as many have seen but this is not the salt, but you shifting the environmental chemistry. One of the worst issues in this hobby is somebody not leaving the dam tank alone. The issue 99 % of the time is the guy in the mirror. One of my best friends, Sanjay, has 5 tanks in his house. Two of them have almost zero WC and no filtration at all and no GHA and he uses IO. Meaning, you need to let a tank run its course and to continue not playing with it. To this day we have never figured out why two tanks that seem to be the same, where one has allot of unwanted algae and other does not. At one time one trick works and at other times it does not. Same with the Kent-Tech issue for Byro, it does not always work. At the PSU 500 gal reef tank there was the oddest thing going on. There is the main Hall 500 gal tank and the back room and both use the same water. The Hall tank had zero Byro but the back room tank was loaded with Byro. I asked was there a difference in water flow/current in the two tanks and the answer was yes. The current in the back tank was increased and the Bryo stared to disappear and is now gone.

 

[Boomer]

No source of information has been reveled. IO is made at the same places it has always been made. You are all looking for an excuse when it is the user not the salt. The only thing IO has done to their salt is improve the ion levels about 2 years ago and is why IO now has more Ca++ than before and why IORC is less Ca++. There has also been a shift in the ALk so it is more balanced. By the way there are more Reef Tanks of the Month using IO or RC than all the other salts combined.

 

[user 2204]

Excellent info Boomer. Couldn't agree more when you say Leave the tank alone. That is what I do with my tanks and things look great.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[Krish]

Mojo once talked about the "Moron Cycle" which he said I was guilty of!

 

[the6goat6man6]

Mojo once talked about the "Moron Cycle" which he said I was guilty of!

Elaborate please, what is this?

 

[Krish]

Elaborate please, what is this?

Haha!! Here's what Mojo wrote about it...

A Mature tank is not really an age thing, its a tank that has gone through its cycles. The original nitrogen cycle, its algael cycle, bacterial cycle and what I call the moron cycle . The moron cycle is when we constantly screw around with our tank, tweeking a new skimmer, or calcium reactor or the plumbig set up that doesnt quite work right and so on and so on. Once you get through the biological cycles and get your tank where you are not constantly screwing around with it you cn go for what ever you desire (based on your set up)

Also, a thread I started on it a long time ago.


http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/moron-cycle-13264/

 

[Boomer]

Me like that term for Mojo