Proof that Oceanic Salt is BAD!!!!

[patsan]

No, it won't hurt anything, but what that indicates is that the alkalinity is low. Specifically the magnesium level. You need to probably dose some magnesium (and get a test kit) to compensate.

Thanks...I'll do that today.

 

[jay24k]

For a 10% water change nah. I does baking soda to raise it up. Works really easy for me and cheaper. My calcium on my oceanic reads around 480 which is perfect. I have a hard time keeping it 400 and above so this has helped me keep it steady. I think it is 2 teaspoons of baking soda will raise alk by 1 in 50 gallons or something like that.

 

[ebacon]

With all this talk about salt i have to ask if anyone has any exceptionally good, bad, ugly, neutral experiences with CORALIFE SALT I usually buy it in the 150 gal bucket as my LFS sells that for 25 bucks.

 

[gatohoser]

I've used it once. Wasnt anything amazing or anything horrible but when i switched salts my sps colored up a bit more. Could have just been the water change and time but it was like a 2 day noticable change.

 

[sssquake]

I just switched to Coralife from Oceanic and I like it. Algaes have been receding and browning out since I switched. Alk is at 8 consistantly, high Ca 450+, great T-shirt also. Drawback is that it takes longer to dissolve than Oceanic. But I will take that any day over scrubbing HA...;-)

 

[jgln]

sorry, you can't rule out airborne contamination so unfortunately this episode proves nothing about the salt. However, on the plus side, penicillin was discovered when bread mold unintentionally contaminated a petri dish in a similar manner, so who knows, you might have the next boon to mankind growing in your mixing bucket!

I believe beer was discoverd the same way. Airbore mold. Try drinking it!

Seriously though, even a plain bucket of water will turn green in time. But I guess if he has a routine and didn't have the problem until the change it could very well be the salt mix.

 

[arconom]

I'm so happy that I didn't have to buy Salt this year for my driveway. In NY its been snowing alot. The Ice is insane. I have alot of Oceanic salt leftover. So I have been using it with great results on my driveway.

I thank Oceanic for giving me a safe passage to my car.

 

[Fursphere]

I've got about 350 gallons of Oceanic Salt in my system. Its been running, for, uh, 3 months now?

I'm not having these problems.

 

[ohioreef]

I've got about 350 gallons of Oceanic Salt in my system. Its been running, for, uh, 3 months now?

I'm not having these problems.

Did you start your system on Oceanic or did you switch it over from another salt?

 

[Fursphere]

Started mostly. I used about 30 gallons of IO salt mix to finish it up.

 

[ohioreef]

From the posts I've read, it appears that the issues seem to happen more in tanks that are being switched over to Oceanic from some other salt, seems to usually be IO. Makes one wonder if there isn't some funky chemical interaction going on between the 2 salts?!?

 

[alrha]

but wouldnt the same problem arise then for those who have switched from Oceanic back to IO? seems like the complaints are from those who switched TO the Oceanic salt and not really from those that switched AWAY from Oceanic.

 

[wmam]

Well from what I have seen here most are saying that when they switch back to some other salt, mainly IO, that the problems seem to start going away. I myself sent a e-mail to the O customer service site and I got a confirmation that they indeed got my e-mail but I have yet to recieve an answer. I sent it 01/26/2005. Maybe they will reply soon.

 

[grimlock3000]

Good thing I found this thread and a few like it. I was planning to pickup a bucket of Oceanic, after all of the negative feedback, I went out and got a small box of Tropic Marin Pro Reef (previously using normal T/M and IO). If that works OK, I will get a bucket of the Pro Reef. It is more expensive than Oceanic, however you never hear about a bad batch of T/M...

I really think the problem with Oceanic is quality control from batch to batch. I have never seen so many people have BAD experiences with salt compared to Oceanic

 

[gqjeff]

IO 13 yrs to oceanic for the last few month.. I will not go back to IO.. Nothing wrong at all with this salt...

 

[Paul79936]

Does anyone know how to find a batch number on the blue jugs?

I have an unused 90 gallon container and I a little leary about using it.

I have enough experience with one jug to know that it is bad, but I don't want to spend the money to buy all of those tests, so I bought three 16 oz water bottles and filled them with two tablespoons each of the known bad salt, the unused Oceanic and a partly used bag of IO. I decided that I might as well post the results so I also filled another bottle with RO/DI water and no salt, for those who want a control.

No particular preparation of the bottles, just the same utensils and handling used on each.

I shook each one up took the caps off and drilled two small holes in each and replaced them. Then I put them in a window that gets plenty of indirect light.

I will toss or use the remaining 90 gallon jug as soon as I see a meaningful result, but I will leave them in the window until the one I know is bad (at least) looks nasty and I will post a picture of the results, for anyone interested.

 

[tecoral]

Batch numbers on mine are stamped on the lid.

Is your mixed water sal. going to be adjusted to the same as we use for our tanks? Also Id kinda wonder if no circulation and low oxygen might skew the results you would normally see in your tank. Just an observation.

 

[Rickeejb]

IO 13 yrs to oceanic for the last few month.. I will not go back to IO.. Nothing wrong at all with this salt...

That all depends on your expectation from the salt you use.
1. the calcium level is way too high, which tends to keep your alkalinity low,
yes you can overcome this by constantly buffering your tank
2. with the calcium levels that high, you have to keep your magnesium constantly on high side. needing magnesium levels 3 times the calcium level, the salt does not meet those levels on its own.
3. whether the need it or not or how they use it is debatable, but Oceanic has absolutely no strontium, or at least any amount that allows the tank water to show a minimal level on a salifert test.
4. Idodine, iodate the same is true here as well with the strontium results.

I used the stuff at first 50/50 with Instant Ocean, the last six months exclusively, till three weeks ago.
I will use up what I have on hand as 20% of my future salt mixes with another salt, then I am done with the stuff.

 

[FishFamily]

I used Instant Ocean and last spring my tank was doing great except that I had a bryopsis problem. I started doing water changes with oceanic at the beginning of summer and then switched back to water chages with instant ocean this december because my tank has degraded ever since. Now that I'm changing water with instant ocean, I've noticed that the cyanobacteria has been reduced substaintially and that there is a small patch of bryopsis starting to grow again. I though about it and realized that during the last 6mths I have had almost no bryopsis in my tank. I have no idea why it stopped growing during that time, but I do know that the only change was the switch to Oceanic. Maybe I should mix oceanic and instant ocean to eliminate cyano and bryopsis....lol...if it were only that easy.

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

I used Instant Ocean and last spring my tank was doing great except that I had a bryopsis problem. I started doing water changes with oceanic at the beginning of summer and then switched back to water chages with instant ocean this december because my tank has degraded ever since. Now that I'm changing water with instant ocean, I've noticed that the cyanobacteria has been reduced substaintially and that there is a small patch of bryopsis starting to grow again. I though about it and realized that during the last 6mths I have had almost no bryopsis in my tank. I have no idea why it stopped growing during that time, but I do know that the only change was the switch to Oceanic. Maybe I should mix oceanic and instant ocean to eliminate cyano and bryopsis....lol...if it were only that easy.

or grow them both



Now I'm convinced IO is bad, er no wait Oceanic is bad uh, no they both suck...wait!!!! they're both great...SHEEEESH!!!
This thread, if anything, should show what a collective "chickens with their heads cut off" we all are. It deserves a sticky rating.