Bad batch of Instant Ocean? Alkalinity through the ROOF!!!

[dragon_slayer]

i'm just wondering if setteling of the mix in the buckets is really that common???? does anyone mix/stir their buckets prior to use?

i have used IO in the 200gallon buckets for years and never have i stired the salt up. i have had buckets that took quite a while to use up and have never had problems............guess i'm just lucky.

kc

 

[spham]

Just to give you an example of what happend to me. I use a 29 gal for my mixing tank. Visatherm heater and MJ1200 power head, which both check out fine. I cleaned the 29 with tap, just like always, let dry. Add ro, heater, and mj1200. Add salt, three days later this is what you see after draining the mixing tank.

Thomas

Got me a new bucket of IO salt today. Was cleaning up the old IO mix (pouring it out). When I took out the ph, freaking **** was cover up with thease white stuff. Look inside my mixing drum and its was cover with the same thing.

Fill the drum 1/4 with tap water and pour in 1g of vinger. Place my ph in the drum and plug the ph in. The ph wouldn't start so I unplug it and took it apart. Inside the ph was cover with alot of thease white stuff. Clean it as best as I could then put it in the drum again. Now it works. Do any of you guys/gals know what this stuff is? Will vinger be able to get it off the ph and plastic drum?

 

[NewMariner]

wow:eek1: looks like i'm going to change salts.

I think its a little pre-mature to go out and say your going to change salts....People have been using IO since they started keeping marine fish in aquariums...It has an awesome track record......I for one use IO and love it...and have never had a problem...If I had this problem, I wouldnt use that batch...I would go buy another bucket........

I might use it and saturate it with good IO....that way I still get my money out of it...

 

[flyj3]

Thats what I'm doing.

 

[NewMariner]

Got me a new bucket of IO salt today. Was cleaning up the old IO mix (pouring it out). When I took out the ph, freaking $hit was cover up with thease white stuff. Look inside my mixing drum and its was cover with the same thing.

Fill the drum 1/4 with tap water and pour in 1g of vinger. Place my ph in the drum and plug the ph in. The ph wouldn't start so I unplug it and took it apart. Inside the ph was cover with alot of thease white stuff. Clean it as best as I could then put it in the drum again. Now it works. Do any of you guys/gals know what this stuff is? Will vinger be able to get it off the ph and plastic drum?

Im curious are these the old buckets of IO or the new buckets? The new ones are shorter and wider then the older ones.........

 

[spham]

Thats what I'm doing.

Let me know how it turn out? Wouldn't want to throw away a $40 of IO. Oppsss, I mean $32 (use 5 cups).

 

[spham]

Im curious are these the old buckets of IO or the new buckets? The new ones are shorter and wider then the older ones.........

Can you post a pic of the new bucket. I'm thinking I have the old one cause its (bucket) still looks the sam to me.

 

[NewMariner]

Can you post a pic of the new bucket. I'm thinking I have the old one cause its (bucket) still looks the sam to me.

Sure...heres a pic......the old bucket is on the left...the new bucket on the right...

 

[Megalodon]

The buckets I'm talking about have the "Improved! Even Faster Dissolving" thing on them. Here's a pic of my bucket with my crapy webcam. Does that mean I have the old IO salt?

 

[NewMariner]

The new buckets also have the "Improved! Even Faster Dissolving" on it.....You got the old bucket Megalodon....

 

[Megalodon]

So did Aquarium Systems change their formula as a result of their sea urchin larvae studies at the exact same time as they changed their bucket? When did they come out with this new bucket? Does the fact that I have the older style of bucket signify that I have the older salt formula?

:fish2: :fish2: :fish1: :fish2: :fish2:

 

[NewMariner]

I dunno.....I picked up that new bucket at Petsmart in about May.........I still see alot of LFS who still have the old buckets.....I guess due to them sitting on them for so long....It would be interesting to find out if everyones problems come from the old buckets or the new ones though....at least it narrows it down, and maybe could pinpoint the problem with Aquarium Systems as they would know for sure when they started using the new buckets....

 

[Megalodon]

For sure. A lot of people could rest easier knowing they have the new formula of salt if it's proven that only the old formula of salt is the problem. It would also tell us that the worst isn't to come because the last remaining buckets of an out-dated salt are almost gone from the scene.

But what are the chances Aquarium Systems changed their salt formula with the newly-designed buckets? I don't know. But these new buckets obviously are at least not from the same batch.

J&Ls did say this was the last of a truck-load they got a while back.

 

[missy1101]

I posted in the CS thread not to long ago. A summary of that thread was that I had been using CS salt for 3 yrs. Started my tank on it. I did not realize that I had a problem till I started SPS. It was a downward spiral from there. Well 2 weeks ago I did a 104g(135 total volume) wc (all at once). since then my alk dropped from 7.4meq/l to 5.60meq/l. My SPS have started to encrust and grow rapidly. I had a small piece of digitata that was around 2cm in size maybe. had it for several months and it never grew. In 2 weeks it has grown to over 1.5". My water is clear and everything is much happier. I had done huge wc before using crystal seas and still never had these results. I am very sorry for the losses that you guys have experienced but I gotta say I have never seen my tank look happier then since I switched to IO.

JMO

 

[Megalodon]

No surprises...

No surprises...

I am very sorry for the losses that you guys have experienced but I got too say I have never seen my tank look happier then since I switched to IO.

Well I know. I haven't seen my tank inhabitants so relieved since I threw in almost all new IO using tap water. The thing of the matter is sometimes it's disaster.

The jury is still out on whether or not using IO at this point in time is any more risky than using any other brand. I seriously don't know the answer to that, or if we ever will find out. If this problem fizzles out, then obviously this issue no longer plagues hobbyists.

I wouldn't be surprised if this level of risk is attached to every brand of salt. Lets face it, we all know every brand has it's risk, and every brand works practically all of the time. When that philosophy fails, it's important to probe the reasons why.

:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

 

[spham]

Im curious are these the old buckets of IO or the new buckets? The new ones are shorter and wider then the older ones.........

Thanks for the pic. The bad IO mix I have is from the old style bucket. Just bought me another bucket of IO this Saturday afternoon. It is also the old style bucket. Will mix up a new batch of sw on Sunday morning with the new IO. Will post the dKH and ca one hour after mix and at night. Want to give it time to mix. Will post again after mix is 24hrs. If something don't seem right, will test again at 48hrs.

 

[AcroSteve]

Let me know how it turn out? Wouldn't want to throw away a $40 of IO. Oppsss, I mean $32 (use 5 cups).

I don't now about you, but I would take $40 and cut it up and burn it before I would put ANY amount of salt that I knew was bad in my tank. IMHO

The risk is too great. Just throw it out.

 

[MiddletonMark]

Sorry, what would you have me do differently? Think about this from my perspective. I understand there are many people who are complacently loyal to IO, but I'm not going to keep my mouth shut. I am exercising all fairness when doing so too.

As said before, if I mix up salt and it looks weird in any way ... I test it before adding. IMO, anything that seems weird [whether supplement, food, salt, etc] that looks `wrong' in some fashion I will check out to the best of my ability before adding - and if I decide to add do it in a VERY small quantity.

Food spoils, supplements and salt go bad. I don't mean to sound combative, but I've always heard that one should mix up a salt for a few days before in a tank and aerate. If after two days, the new saltwater is cloudy, I think at least now we should all have alarm bells going off in our head. Maybe even before hearing this.

I'm may be being `complacently loyal to IO' ... but then again I'm not raising urchin larvae in my tanks and that I trust my practices as I've learned them [always mix salt for a few days prior to adding, only do 10% water changes, if anything looks weird test it or toss it]. I, and most everyone here, spent a heck of a lot of money on our rock/livestock, never mind equipment. A $40 bucket is nothing compared to my livestock or my yearly calcium/alkalinity bill [or power bill monthly, for that matter].

Anyway, I'm just going to read from now on. Thanks for sharing your experiences, one more lesson in `if it looks weird, don't treat it as normal'. Good luck with getting your complaints resolved, I hope that Aq.Sys. comes thru for you.

And as for `new' vs. `old' style buckets, I got 2 old-style buckets in August from the Petsmart freeship deal - both are working/testing fine [well, standard low on Calcium IO mix ... but easy to fix].

 

[SPC]

Thanks for the time and effort in doing this test Randy, and thanks to those who sent him a sample.

I think the silver lining here is that this potential problem could be worse. Imagine if the problem was with something we could not see or easily test for. At least with this situation, observation of the mixed water can be our guide to a problem with the salt mix.
Steve

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sure, happy to do it.

Yes, I agree, the cloudiness is easy to see, at least until it settles. Then it looks like a ton of white gunk on the bottom. A little gunk is normal, but this much is way out of line.

It does make you worry about things that you may not notice with other batches of IO, or other manufacturers. Then again, folks that have worked in manufacturing industries won't be surprised by bad batches of anything, especially something as inexpensive (and hence with as minimal quality assurance procedures) as artificial seawater.