Tank FINALLY recovering after bad salt....

[Sushi raiser]

I figured I'd share my experience in hopes that it will help someone.....
My tank... 90 gallon. SPS, clam and Zoa reef tank
x2 Hydra HD lights.
x2 koralia 1500 powerheads
I use Ocean's Blend Part 1 & 2
Two Little Fishes Iodine, Strontium, Sea Elements and Amino Acids

So.... about 2.5 months ago, I got in my third bucket of Aquaforest Probiotic Reef Salt (have used for months prior with no issues).
I continued doing normal maintenance as I have done for years (10 Gallon H2O change per week) with my RO unit.
After a few weeks I began noticing the Zoas weren't opening as much. The clams didn't look as happy.My Acros weren't opening as much... all in all everything looked sad.
I tested everything
pH... 7.5
Nitrates... over 50
Calcium.... 400
Alk.... off the charts. Literally wouldn't change colors after adding 2 syringes
of Red Sea Pro test.
Phosphates.... 1
I did a big water change (70 gallon) once every other week for a month.
Tank started dying.
Lost an entire Zoa Rock plus more Zoa colonies, lost a clam. Lost an Acan Lord and 1 fish.

Retested, and retested more water changes. Different LFS testing and RO water.

I tested my RO.... was fine. nothing in it... no ammonia, nitrite or phosphate.

Finally.... after losing a ton of coral and another fish and at my whits end.... I decided to test the salt...

I mixed 2, 5 gallon buckets to an SG of 1.025 based on a calibrated refracto.
One of Aquaforest Probiotic Reef Salt (what I switched to) and compared it to Red Sea Coral Pro Salt (what I switched from about 7 months ago)... and used my Red Sea Pro Test Kit and confirmed by an LFS testing....
The results were concerning to say the least.

The AquaForest Probiotic:
Calcium... 380
Magnesium.... over 1600
Nitrate.... around 20 (RO was 0 before adding salt)
NITRITE....0.005
Ammonia....0
Alk.... off the charts.. over 14
the bad one.. PH..... below 7.6

Red Sea...
Calcium... 430
Mag.... 1500
Nitrate....0
Nitrite.....0
Ammonia.... 0
Alk..... 10
PH.... 8.4

Has anyone else every had an issue like this?

 

[mcgyvr]

Yes.. it happens.. Not that often but it certainly can happen..

Seeing water params like that the first step should have been to test your freshly mixed saltwater.. Your tank water parameters can't get like that except for what you are adding to it..
Glad you got it sorted out though..

 

[golferbud101691]

I went through almost exactly what you did almost a year ago. Not nearly as bad though only because I was testing alk every day. My bad batch was reef crystals. Mag was 1600+. Alk was unreadable. 2 syringes wouldn't turn it. Nitrates were 30..fueled my algae problem. Sps frags bleached one day randomly and I saw alk increasing dramatically..quick response for me only because I was lucky

 

[tzylak]

Wow, thank you both for posting since I'd never come up with that concept.
. . Another piece of the puzzle to keep track of . . .

 

[Stevenrickard]

Sorry for your lose, This is exactly one of the reasons why I test SG, ALK, CAL, and MG every time after making a fresh batch... Then do what's needed to get it as close to my current tank parameters as possible... Reef Crystals is usually a bit low on the ALK side i've always noticed... CAL and MAG are typically spot on.

 

[Twoface14]

I went through almost exactly what you did almost a year ago. Not nearly as bad though only because I was testing alk every day. My bad batch was reef crystals. Mag was 1600+. Alk was unreadable. 2 syringes wouldn't turn it. Nitrates were 30..fueled my algae problem. Sps frags bleached one day randomly and I saw alk increasing dramatically..quick response for me only because I was lucky

You know, I wonder if this didn't happen to me. I had outrageous nitrates and didn't feed that much. Did several water changes in my 30 and wouldn't phase it. My monti's bleached on me and my algae was uncontrollable. Lost a few corals in that time but everything that survived is thriving in my 75 with the same brand salt. Just a different batch

 

[rtparty]

Years ago I was plagued by bad salt and it took me forever to figure it out as well. Luckily, no coral death but I fought GHA and cyano something fierce in 2 tanks for months. I knew the only thing they shared was salt but testing didn't show anything abnormal. So I just kept doing water changes like always.

After a few months I started to notice the brown gunk building in my water change bucket even though I would rinse it. It was coating the sides pretty bad. I switched salts and about 2 weeks later, GHA and cyano disappeared. Corals were happier and healthier as well.

Sorry to hear all the issues but happy you found the problem before it got too much worse