Bad Salt?

peiloy3196

peiloy3196

New member
So for the last two weeks I have had STN issues and cannot figure it out. Parameters currently are:
SG: 1.026
Alk: 8
Cal: 450
Mag: 1400
Nitrates: 1 ppm
Phosphates: 0

The STN has been tips, base and middle of the coral which I have never seen before as it usually is at the base or tip. It started slowing in the last couple of days but this morning picked up again. That is when I realized I did a 7 Gal water change last night. This is a 250Gal tank. This morning got me thinking that it may be the salt as I mixed up a new 100 Gallon batch in my storage tank two weeks ago when this all started. I never do huge changes. I have done maybe four 10 gallon changes since mixing spaced three days apart as I had a couple anthias going through TTM in a 10 gal and use water from my reef tank for TTM, replacing the reef tank water with water from my new salt water storage. The salt is Reef Crystals 200G Box. I did notice one of the bags had clumping but that has never been a problem for me in the past.

So is it possible that the salt could do this? If it is the salt what should I do from here? Since the STN started I changed my carbon (Premium ROX) with fresh Carbon which did not help. Should I run some Cuprisorb or do more water changes with a different box of salt?
 
Use H2Ocean reef pro salt. Its the one i use and its awesome. Amazing color and growth from it. The red sea one is great too. Good luck

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Could be the salt, but personally I would check everything with a magnet to make sure it's not leeching crap in the water.
 
I went through all equipment with magnets and found no issues. I have put a bag of Cuprisorb into my carbon reactor. I also cleaned out my 100Gal storage container to start making fresh saltwater. What amazed me was the incredible amount of brown crud that came out of the container when cleaning it. I know this is cause by the Reef Crystals but didnt realize that it would be that much. Once my new batch is made I will start doing water changes.
 
Yeah definitely clean out that brown crud from your mixing tank.

I know price wise IO is nice, but it's the worst salt I've ever used. Biggest swings in consistency, nastiest brown crud.. I just can't use it. It's the salt equivolent of feeding my kids nothing but chicken nuggets and wondering why they're sickly
 
What is your source of water? TDS?

I've never seen any difference with the differing salt brands, and while clumping might be an issue this seems pretty dramatic for such a small water change.
 
My Source of water hasn't changed and is from my local water provider. I use a BRS RODI unit. My TDS is always 0. As soon as it goes to 1 I replace DI resin.
 
Yes salt van do it. I had what looked like alk burn. But it took me going through a whole box and everything else before I tried a new box and fixed it in a week.
 
Not to bring this up more but I have had to throw out over 100 gallons of salt water from a bad batch of reef crystals this past week. Current fatalilties include 2 SPS and 6 acan colonies. I too went through my tank and tested everything. My calc was a bit high from the salt mixing high (talking 430-440). I stopped my auto water change witht his salt and things seemingly instantly stabilized.
 
In all I lost four whole sps colonies and others took bad hits. Since I switched RC boxes everything stabilized. So as this hobby goes onto the next problem..... I now have the mother of Bryopsis outbreaks. My reef now looks like a planted aquarium! Raising mag didn't help. Really considering rebooting at this point.
 
I have successfully battled bryopsis a couple times with peroxide. Either dipping rocks or making a peroxide paste to use during water changes. Clears it right up...
 
I considered it but all rocks 150 lbs worth are covered. Sand is covered and also the parts of sps that reversed are growing it. So taking out the rock isn't really an option. I thought of the peroxide talk paste but can't figure out how to do it without drastically affecting alkalinity. What do you suggest?
 
I did it during water changes. Baking soda and peroxide. I never noticed alk swings or such in doing so but I did portions of the tank at once and not the entire thing. I also does peroxide to the tank to the tune of 3ml per 10 gal daily on days I did not do water changes.
 
peiloy3196 said:
Since I switched RC boxes everything stabilized.
Click to expand...


What did the old box test out as? Can you pinpoint the issue with the old box? I'm not doubting what happened, but it would be beneficial to others if there was definitive proof that the salt was indeed bad and what could be tested to avoid others experiencing the same fate.

Perhaps you should contact IO directly with your complaint?

Instant Ocean
Spectrum Brands
3001 Commerce St.
Blacksburg, VA 24060-6671
Phone:1-800-822-1100,
 
spkennyva said:
What did the old box test out as? Can you pinpoint the issue with the old box? I'm not doubting what happened, but it would be beneficial to others if there was definitive proof that the salt was indeed bad and what could be tested to avoid others experiencing the same fate.

Perhaps you should contact IO directly with your complaint?

Instant Ocean
Spectrum Brands
3001 Commerce St.
Blacksburg, VA 24060-6671
Phone:1-800-822-1100,
Click to expand...

I know with my bucket that it only tested slightly higher in calcium then I would want for the tank. I am not positive that there was not a contaminant in it though of some sort which caused my issues. I have switched salt to my last box of HW Marinemix pro reefer for now that I normally use for water changes and not my AWC system since it doesnt like to sit over periods of time.

I have more reef crystals coming as I am not overly concerned but that one box did cost me well over $500 in corals. Thankfully I switched it off before I lost a lot more
 
spkennyva said:
What did the old box test out as? Can you pinpoint the issue with the old box? I'm not doubting what happened, but it would be beneficial to others if there was definitive proof that the salt was indeed bad and what could be tested to avoid others experiencing the same fate.

Perhaps you should contact IO directly with your complaint?

Instant Ocean
Spectrum Brands
3001 Commerce St.
Blacksburg, VA 24060-6671
Phone:1-800-822-1100,
Click to expand...

I dont have definitive proof as the usuals Alk, Cal and Mag tested within RC's spec at the time. The only thing I know for certain is that my problems started with a new box and ended after water changes with a different box. I could not find any other issues (heavy metals, stray current, equipment etc.). So I cannot say for certain that it was the salt, but I do suspect it.
 
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