Tropic Marine BIO-ACTIF Salt?

[slow_leak]

I would instead speculate (from Hans Werner above) cyano grows when phosphates are spiked from foods and nitrates are limited.The carbon source will remove both phosphate and nitrates. Here is how I succeeded in removing cyano.

Blue-Green algae are well known to bloom in freshwater tanks when growth of vascular plants is nitrate limited. The issue you are seeing is tank is nitrate limited, not phosphate limited. I suspect the same is true in reef tanks.

I use Tropic Marin Pro with BRS 3 part recipe with an algae turf scrubber that is heavily cropped with high flow through. I went through a period of a cyano bloom for several months, however carbon source was DOC from Turf Scrubber not Actif. They were leached sugars and starches.

1) To reduce it I first created calcium as supersaturated condition. Kalk naturally does this but with 3 part raised caclium greater than 420 and carefully left kH 7-8. This will accelerate coraline algae.

2) Iron Gluconate to feed algae turf scrubber.

3) Microbe Lift Special Blend 20/cc per 180 gallons per day. Use of mineral flocculant is options.

4) Reduce feeding to every other day of only heavily rinsed frozen foods.

5) Wait 3-4 months. Yes thats how long it took. I have almost no algae and will increase feeding again now.

I would not add Iron if you don't have a large ATS that needs it. I discontinued after ATS growth slowed with it. Red turf algae also faded. I only have volonia as nussiance now. I had stubborn cyano that was on rocks not sand bed. It was also red turf mixed in.

 

[vivek]

Just stumbled upon this thread. I gave this salt the ole college try for about 7 months and had nothing but issues starting with cyano, moving to hair algae and then back to cyano ... then the coral death started near the end of the usage. When the algae started, I was running circles trying to figure out what was going wrong ... I increased my frequencey of changing my carbon and gfo and then did what any good reefer would do, increased my water changes since dilution is the solution to the pollution, right? Must have ran about 1,200 gallons of this salt through my system before I figured out it was the salt. Went back to basic Tropic Marin and I'm back to normal!

What triggered me to figure out it was the salt is that I pulled all the healthy coral out of my system thinking I had a bacterial infection hitting all my corals and placed then in a 12G frag swap set-up I have. I was doing 3-4 gallon water changes on it daily and started growing algae on the frag plugs, eggcrate and sides of the acrylic tank. Kind of hard to do that when I was not feeding the tank and doing 25% water changes a day and was running carbon and gfo ... kind of makes me wonder wants really in this salt!

Amen

Will never use this salt. Gave me nothing but headaches with cyano.

 

[Rosti]

TM BioActiv Salt results after one year

TM BioActiv Salt results after one year

I have being following this thread for a while, and decided to contribute after one year of using Tropic Marin Bio Actif Sea Salt. I started 150g reef tank year ago with this salt, DSB, No skitter, macro algae refugium, etc. and results are great. I haven't had any issues at all. I do daily WC of 1% alternating between TM pro reef and bioactiv salts, i feed 6 frozen cubes every day, harvest macro algae every few days or so. I don't have any complaint from using this salt and hope to continue use it for years to come.

 

[Kingsnake]

I'm starting up 2 tanks (Reef and FO). I've probably spent 24 hours so far trying to find the right salt... I almost went with this salt but after reading all this (This post got me to join RC), holly crap!

I agree, for the price I don't see why anyone would gamble with this salt? It sounds like a huge headache just to keep your tank running well. Of course some people posting might be TM haters but on the other hand I did read where someone hated this salt but likes other TM salts.

Heck, if this stuff was free I don't think I would even risk trying it! It may be perfect for my tank and I am a gambling man but I'm not stupid!

I guess I'll go with TM Reef pro. I've read good and bad things about it but same goes for every other salt mix out there.

This ****es me off, I thought I found the PERFECT SALT!!! But as I have read through all the forums, "What is the best salt". I have to agree with some people who state, "If there was a perfect salt, we all would be using it".

 

[yvr]

I've been using TM Bio Actif for almost a yearl and have really noticed improved colouration in my SPS corals, my Hydnophora colony which I have had for 3 years has gone from a dull/pale green to an intense fluorescent green! So I am really happy with what I have seen so far.

 

[Rosti]

I'm starting up 2 tanks (Reef and FO). I've probably spent 24 hours so far trying to find the right salt... I almost went with this salt but after reading all this (This post got me to join RC), holly crap!

I agree, for the price I don't see why anyone would gamble with this salt? It sounds like a huge headache just to keep your tank running well. Of course some people posting might be TM haters but on the other hand I did read where someone hated this salt but likes other TM salts.

Heck, if this stuff was free I don't think I would even risk trying it! It may be perfect for my tank and I am a gambling man but I'm not stupid!

I guess I'll go with TM Reef pro. I've read good and bad things about it but same goes for every other salt mix out there.

This ****es me off, I thought I found the PERFECT SALT!!! But as I have read through all the forums, "What is the best salt". I have to agree with some people who state, "If there was a perfect salt, we all would be using it".

I think you will find that people who complain aboult salts are the one don't know how to set up and run a reef tank properly.
Any modern salt is fine, it's just that Bioactiv is the best of the best and you really need to know what are you doing. Don't get over your head starting two tanks, it's your valet and animals who will suffer from failure.

 

[Vipete1985]

Id go with the new ESV two part salt mixture it is absolutely the best salt out on the market ive pretty much tried them all and in my opinion this stuff is like The GOD of Salts....its not as expensive as tropic marin but its not as cheap as instant oceans so its in between price range but the best salt hands down....it takes a little mixing and measuring but it absolutely contains the best amount of manesium calcium and trac elements and all my coral seeem to have grown alot faster since using it for the past 2 months....i have never seen this type of growth from REEF CRYSTALs, RED SEA coral pro, tropic marin, Coralife, OR Oceanic

 

[Robert Patterso]

Sooo, My tank is low nutrient, N03=0 and P04= .01, Hanna. I am out of salt and have read most of this thread. Think I will give a bucket a try. What do you guys think???

 

[Crypsis]

I had a red cyno bloom about a week after my first water change with this TM bio salt on my four year old tank which never has this problem. So I did another water change making sure this time to check my rodi tds meter and change my carbon and gfo.... and the problem got a lot worse. Now I check the levels ( which I should have done in the first place but after reading all the good reviews just didn't seem necessary) and all of them are low.

@ sg 1.025

kh 5.2 dkh Elos and Salifert
Ca 340 ppm Elos
Mg 1100 Salifert

So now I adjust my levels and test multiple times before every water change but but still can't get rid of the slime algae. So I sent an email with the batch number and got an immediate response which was nice but the problem was not resolved. As a result I would not recommend this salt to anyone, though I'm glad it's working for the rest of you. I just have seem to have better luck with rc and io.

 

[spamreefnew]

I did my last large water change with this salt(80%)about a year ago and my corals did color up nicely and the salt gave the tank a nice clean sea salt smell as strange as that sounds(lol) but i did get a nasty cyano outbreak as well so i would rate tis salt as a 5 out of 10

 

[mordibv]

There will always be some mixed opinions on any product . IME
I have been using this salt since April 2011 on a 20 gallon nano. I have been through 3- 34 gallon boxes . I love water changes . Water clarity is amazing . Nice polyp extension and some changes in coral color on SPS . Skimmate was pretty nasty like when one does carbon dosing . I had a slight hair algae issue but it was not the salt . I was hard headed about using the rose/ red leds .
No cyano at all . I can no longer afford this salt so I ordered a bucket of RSCP .
When finances change and I upgrade in tank size . I will go right back to this salt .
I love the stuff and it even mixed and dissolved quickly .
BTW it does have that ocean smell to it .. :

 

[vivek]

Sooo, My tank is low nutrient, N03=0 and P04= .01, Hanna. I am out of salt and have read most of this thread. Think I will give a bucket a try. What do you guys think???

Having used it and read a lot about carbon dosing my advice is: be prepared for CYANOBACTERIA. Not everyone gets it but it is a real frequent and pesky problem associated with carbon dosing. i would carbon dose my tank in a heartbeat if someday there is a good solution for cyanobacteria.

 

[msp307]

I've been using this salt for about a month and will never use another. I did not have a cyano outbreak but I did have great PE and color improvement.

 

[alrha]

Can this salt me added directly to a high flow area of a sump (in small amounts)? or does it need to cure over a 24-48hr period prior to usage?

 

[sbtdark]

Can I use this salt with a calcium reactor or should I stick with Tropic Marine Pro because of the calcium content?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Despite some odd manufacturer marketing claims, there is no salt mix that is more or less suited to a reef tank being supplemented with a CaCO3/CO2 reactor. So while I wouldn't choose to use this salt due to the organic matter in it, the use a CaCO3/CO2 reactor is not a reason to avoid it.

 

[sbtdark]

Thank You!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

 

[socalmonty]

I apologize for not having read this entire thread to see if the answer to my question is buried here. I have been slowly switching from TM Pro to Bio Actif and I over the weekend I mixed up my first full 100% Bio Actif batch of water for a water change and tested CA, MG and ALK. Salinity is 1.026 and the CA and MG are both in the right range but the ALK is off the charts. I get no color change at all with my Salifert test kit so its higher than 15.7! My tank ALK is 8.6. I even started doubting the test kit so bought another one. Same result. Are others getting really high ALK readings with the Bio Actif? I don't dare do a water change with it. Thanks. Doug

 

[BrentH]

I've been using this salt on my ZEO tank for almost two months now and love it. I noticed better colors and polyp extension four days after making the switch. Colors continue to improve by the day and I'm seeing new growth on all SPS corals. Even my wife looks better since I switched to this salt.

Lol love that!!!!