Switching Salt Brands

[Whale4Ver1.1]

How is this done without causeing major sterss on my SPS and other corals? I was thinking that when I do my weekley water change start using the new salt brand and over the course of a few weeks I will slowly acclimate all my critters to the new brand or is there any other ways to do this? Ive tried using the famed search button but untill I cough up the 30 beans it no workey for me

 

[upstatedave]

that is how I changed salt brands...I had 30 gals made up with the old.and after a 15 gal change used the new salt to remix back to 30 gals....I just kept doing that for each water change...as far as I could see there were no bad effects...hope that helps

 

[Ken668]

While we are on the subject, what is currently the best deal for quality salt? The local place that I used to buy mine from went from $50 to $70 per bucket. Thats a huge jump in my mind. Is it better to get it somewhere online and pay the shipping? Or can Tony get us good price breaks on salt? Have other places/brands recently jumped in price also?

- Ken

 

[xian]

What brand of salt do you want?

 

[TA]

IO Brand
160 gal bucket
$35
Petsmart with printed Web price.
Can actually do it with whichever brand they carry.

 

[Ken668]

Man, that's a great deal. It makes my $50/150gal bucket pale in comparison. For those who use IO, are you pretty happy with the results?

 

[TA]

Unfortunately, besides IO, I've only seen Coralife salt at Petsmart.

What salt do you use?

There was a very recent article comparing different salts...have you seen it?

I use IO...I have no real issues. But who am I to say. :hmm3:

I think its 'bout time ESPI jumps in promoting his favorite brand! :lol:

 

[Whale4Ver1.1]

I am currently using IO have been happy so far so im not sure if i wanna mess with somthing that aint broke. I do notice since adding allot more SPS it seems like im dosing B-Ionic nightly to keep my Calcium and Alk up so I was hoping a salt change would possibly help keep these up just a thought

 

[FishFINatic]

IMO, changing brands probably wont help much with your calcium and alkalinity. IO is a decent brand with sufficient levels of magnesium to support desired alk/cal levels. Consider switching to dry supplements, instead of the more costly 2 part liquids. If the issue is also the inconvenience of nightly additions, consider dripping Kalk or the more expensive calcium reactor. Look at the bright side, your sps must be doing well if they are using up all that calcium!

 

[Whale4Ver1.1]

when dripping kalk how are alk levels kept up? I would love a calcium reactor but seeing as how i am in the process of buying a house theres not a ton of money set aside for toys at the moment

 

[xian]

FWIW Dan uses IO. Check out his tank...and so does the Atlanta Aquarium

 

[Lakeside518]

We rescently switched from IO to Reef Crystals. Added with our normal water changes. No probs. Dose B-Ionic. Have never tried Kalk.

 

[Matthew C]

Yeah I am getting incredible growth with Reef Crystals and B-Ionic but I am doseing the B-inonic in massive quantities daily. Although I can't keep my calcium and alk where I would like it. Its kind of unstable, but my sps growth is the best ever. Any ideas why my levels are so instable.

 

[Dave ESPI]

Thanks TA, my ears were burnning........


www.aquacraft.net

BIOSEA


ps: your reef will Thankyou.

 

[jaze36]

Where do you find this stuff?

 

[jaze36]

Sorry, didn't see the order page.

On a side note don't you think some of the info could be skewed on this site? It's the company's home page, there only selling that product so they want to make their's look the best and everything else not as good.

 

[Dave ESPI]

there was a seperate independent one done and was posted here on Reefcentral on the main front page of the website a few months back.

I believe there was a thread in here also tha I posted " VINDICATION " to in such as I have been a strong suporter of both Tropic Marin and Biosea for years as both them did quite well in the study.

It really is that good of a salt... just need more people to take a leap of faith and try it for a while

 

[DanConnor]

I dunno, I read that wacky page and I just think "nutjob"

They are hardly objective, since they are selling the products they claim are best.

That S-15 report is 10 years old, I'm sure all the salt makers have changed their forumulation in that time. IO works perfectly for me, and I'd need some better evidence than that page supplies to change.

 

[Ken668]

Here is another more recent article by Ron Schimeck that I think was done in 2002. It also states that the biosea is better than IO, but I think that it shows the marinemix bioASSAY is even better than that!

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/rs/feature/index.php

 

[TA]

Heres the article you want to check out.

Part I

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/11/aafeature1

Part II

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/12/aafeature1