mixing salt manufacturers

[wineo]

I'm sure this has been addressed a couple hundred times but the search engine isn't coming up for me. I have a bucket of Coralife given to me from a friend as he no longer is in the hobby.

I usually use IO but have been out of the hobby for two years and now getting back into it. Will it hurt anything if I start with this bucket of Coralife and then migrate back over to IO after that has been used up??

Thanks for your help

 

[artful-dodger]

Don't know about those two specifically, but I did the same thing when I started back up a couple of years ago. I used IO to cure rock and get things started and then switched to Tropic Marin. No problem with the tank...

FWIW, I did find that the two did not work well together in my mixing vat at the same time. I got very cloudy water and a lot of precipitate. No scientific study--one trial--but I would recommend that you completely finish off one salt mix (even if it isn't a full batch), rinse your mixing tank and then mix the next batch with just the new salt.

 

[Horace]

Actually some folks are mixing IO and Oceanic PURPOSEFULLY to get more NSW type levels. However, generally unless the two were picked because they compliment eachother, I wouldnt advise it. IO and Oceanic work well togeather because IO is low in calcium and Mag and High in Alk, while Oceanic is High in Ca, High in Mag, and normal in Alk. The result is a a salt that closely resembles NSW levels of the key elements.

 

[Horace]

Oh...and if you are planning on switching salts its advised to do it very slowly. Do not do a big water change on your tank with a new salt. While sometimes you may be ok, lots of folks have reported major coral loss from doing this pending the salts involved.

 

[Billybeau1]

I regularly switch back and forth from Coralife to IO. No problems on this end. When you switch to IO you will have to suppliment calcium and mag as IO is low in these areas. I am currently on Coralife.

 

[wineo]

Thank you everyone for your help, I very much appreciate it!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree that there should be no problem mixing salts like that. The only issue people ever had that I know of were with Crystal Seas switching to IO, and the reasons for it were never clear.