Proof that Oceanic Salt is BAD!!!!

FishFamily said:
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.
Click to expand...

Hypothesis:
Algae or Cyano = High Nutrients no matter salt.
Cyano consumes nutrients = Bryopsis die
:(
 
tecoral said:
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.
Click to expand...

I wasn't shooting for a specific salinity, just an equal volume of salt. After working it out in my head, I think it will come out to 1.042.

The point is to have equivalent conditions for each salt so that I can compare them to each other, not to show a specific effect on a tank.

I am not really trying to predict what they would do in a tank, and the effect I am looking for is not very subtle. My mixing bucket looks something like the garbage can at the beginning of the thread when I use this jug of Oceanic , but not when I use IO.
 
Here is one who knows about Fritz. One of the LFS I visit uses it in their system. I've been considering switching to it. It is certainly a brand you don't hear much about.
 
BiGOrange said:
I'm not sure why most die hard reefers don't know about Fritz, but they have the best salt made that is available commercially in the U.S.
Click to expand...
Can you prove that? What are the parameters of a freshly mixed batch?
 
From what it reads like it sounds pretty good but, I will stick with Reef crystals for now....thanks for the info on this salt.....
 
Lefty said:
Also, it is very likely that any plastic container will release enough phosphates to feed all kinds of slime - so it may not be the water or the salt.
Click to expand...
It's also well known that the process for making and mixing batches can leach large amounts of plasticizers, and leave them soluble in the salt batch. This is what appears to have happened.
 
Maybe its a Quality issue due to the overwhelming popularity increase in the last 6 months that now they might cut a corner here or there to beable to keep up with the demand ?

Also I wonder if the people using ROWA/Phosban or some other phosphate remover have noticed a decline in the life of their media while using or since switching to Oceanic? Maybe those that are using the phosphate removers are the ones not having problems?

Maybe if everyone who has had problems can list the tank in details and maybe we can find common factors ?

Lots of maybe's huh. :)

Oh well I am using my previous salt mix which isn't IO ,until this deal blows over and people stop having problems. I do like the hi calcium and magnesium. But phosphates and low strotium suck.
 
If the issue starts at the mix tank I doubt is the tank conditions, For what is worth I have:

Tank 225 gal with total system water of 255 gal accouting for rock live sand and sumps.
Mostly large SPS colonies and a couple of LPS w/ some zooanthids, RS Xenia and GSP. Three medium to large Clams.
Total Rock in Main and Refugium 385 pounds
DSB in Main and refugium
Refugium is 55gal with 6" DSB oolitic on Chaetomorpha
Skimmer processing 1200 gal / hour ETSS 1000 on an Iwaki RLT 70
1200 watts of MH (3x400 10K Ushio) 384 watts PC Actinics (4x96 Watts)
Refugium 2x250 watt AB MH on reverse cycle
1/4 HP chiller
40 Watt UV unit
2 pound activated Carbon replaced every thre weeks
500 grams Purigen replaced every two months
500 grams Phosban in reactor replaced once a month
Calcium Reactor Double Chamber on ARM media
Kalk reactor on TLF Kalk at night
Dose Kent's Strontium/Molybdenum 1.5 ml/day
Ozone feeding 50 mg/hr trough skimmer
No mechanical filtration
Feed two pinches of F-1 flake and one pinch of F-2 plus 1/4 sheet Nori with Kent Garlic and Vitachem once a day
Water flow trough main 1600 gph plus 600 of in tank circulation with two pairs of alternating powerheads for a total in tank of 2200 gph


Typical Parameters
Salinity 1.025 sg
PH range 8.25 AM to 8.35 PM
Temp 78.6 to 79.5 F
Ammonia Not Detectable
Nitrite Not detectable
Nitrate Not detectable
Phosphate Not detectable
Silicate Not detectable
Calcium 410 to 430 ppm
Alkalinity 175 to 190 ppm (3.4 to 3.8 meq/lt)
Magnesium 1250 to 1300 ppm
 
I have been using Oceanic salt since it came out last year. I keep three reef tanks and the one thing I have noticed is red slime (cyanobacteria) outbreaks in all three tanks. I am not saying that the Oceanic salt is the problem but it does coordinate with the timing of the use of the salt. I had been using kent or IO exclusively before that with no problems. Unfortunately I have used some rock in these tanks that came from a tank with cyano so that could be the source but my main tank runs clean enough that with no algea or cyano problems previously so I have to wonder. I am going to change back to another brand of salt and see what happens and I will let you know.
 
Paul79936 said:
I wasn't shooting for a specific salinity, just an equal volume of salt. After working it out in my head, I think it will come out to 1.042.

The point is to have equivalent conditions for each salt so that I can compare them to each other, not to show a specific effect on a tank.

I am not really trying to predict what they would do in a tank, and the effect I am looking for is not very subtle. My mixing bucket looks something like the garbage can at the beginning of the thread when I use this jug of Oceanic , but not when I use IO.
Click to expand...

I got ya. Definanitly interested to see what you come up with.

I still havent had any issues at all but Im starting a new bucket tonight. Ill be convinced with a problem in quality control if there are any differences. But for now it seems like fine salt. I also had cyano probs but they have gone with smaller feedings so I know it wasnt the salt.
 
i think its the ro system cause i a=have been using oceanic salt for 1 year now and never had no problems and a lot of my budies use it with no problem 90% of the stores in my area use it to with no problems
 
I too have had an outbreak of algae since switching to this salt though I have no idea if it is due to the salt. My Calcium is very high and my alk is low so I think that might be the problem. Of course the calcium is so high and the alk is so low because of this salt... SO maybe it is the salt after all....???? Though had I been testing properly I might have caught the low alk and there might not be a problem after all.... SO maybe it isn't the salt....

WHAT TO DO....
 
Just opened up another bucket, water tested at.........

sal-1.025
temp - 80*
Ca - 460
alk - 4.46dkh
PO4 - 0
Si - 0
Mag - 1260

all in all good numbers, alk is low but fixable. I dont see anthing that would cause algea problems with this salt. At least the buckets Ive used.
 
I was one of the biggest supporters of Oceanic salt. I have used it since it first came out. Unfortunately it did produce the smear algae that has plagued my tank. I finally went back to Kent salt as an experiment and the brown crap is gone (two water changes) My routine did not change and my water changes were the same as with the Oceanic salt. I wish I could support the Oceanic salt but after going through seven, 200 gallon buckets of mix, I believe it had more than a fair chance.
 
I was warned when I tried Oceanic, but I said, oh but they are raving about it on RC. Lesson learned, never try anything that is new, wait 12 months.
 
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