I'm switching back

[Henry]

Josh, sorry to hear about your problems. Maybe it was best that I didn't get that salt from you. I'm going to start using the fritz salt that Charley has at Austin Aquariums. Hope this will work. Good luck.

Henry

[Jimnorris]

Joshua,
Welcome back!
There seems to be a big trend of people with reef tanks switching back.
Jim
P.S.
Henry the Fritz salt is pretty good.

[TexasState]

What do you have for your cleaning crew? That rock I got from you, all the algae clear out. The place in my tank that have hair algae is by the output grid of the Tunze Stream(nutrient rich area, not to mention the snails/fish will get blown away if they attemted to go into that area; I also have some slime/a little bit of hair in my sump. That was cleared away by two Mexican Turbo. They cleared it out good. Then they died away last week, I guess from lack of food. The Astrea snails in the main tank is doing just fine. Your tank might still be going on a cycle. The SPS I got from you is still doing fine, even under a lower light tank. The two corals in my tank that are not looking good is the Xenia, and the colt. They are in a shady spot and I haven't gotton around to install more light. I'm using Crystal Sea with some old LR from the 120/Tim's rock/etc, I have no slime in the main tank.

[TexasState]

Yes, the BioAssay is the only salt in my arsenal right now. My tank is a mix of IO, Red Sea, and BioAssay salt. With the exception of a few choice pieces of LR from Tim, most of my LR in my current tank is about a year old or less. My Astrea Snail are not loosing their grip. The only one that died off was the two Mexican Turbo I got from Bill. They didn't die off until recently. I have about 40 Astrea in the 92G, I don't see any empty shell laying around. You know the current in some area of my tank are very high, and these snails are doing just fine.

[TexasState]

I'm about half way done with my first box. I have done probably about four water change. I haven't done any water change in one or two months.

[TexasState]

Maybe your salt is the problem. There are no for me to say that it's not. But the problem you're describing, peoples who are using Instant Ocean, or other salt could have them too. Maybe it's time you for you to lower your fish load and try going bare bottom like me. It's harder to keep the nitrate down with a bare bottom, but it's easier to keep the tank free from slime & such.

[matt]

Josh;

I really don't think the salt is to blame here. I set up my new 100 gal with 100% bio-assay, with animals from an IO tank, and it's really healthy. I'm pretty sure the fact that you've made so many changes, and put animals closer together in a smaller space, etc.. has more to do with it. FWIW, I'm finding the 100 gal much easier to deal with than the 40 breeder I had before.

If you really do want to switch, I guess I'll take the salt, even though I have 2 full boxes and don't plan on changing much water. Hopefully someone else will want it first.

Matt

[z28pwr]

Josh, I think you need a bigger tank, maybe my 150 ;) .

For real I think one of the problems is that you squeezed alot of things that you had in your 135 into a tank 1/3 it's size. It may take it a little while before things get stable again.

[TexasState]

Have you wondered if the slime and algae problems are because of your calcium reactor? You should clean out your media from the reactor every six months.

[matt]

Hey Josh, I have a former student named Jake who's getting into the hobby (my evil influence) and he'll buy the salt from you if you still want to sell. Gotta say, though, there's way more micro life in my new tank than there ever was in my old one. I also really like the fact that bio-assay mixes to 8.2-8.3 ph, where IO always took days of aeration to get to that.

If you're having problems with your reactor, I might have an idea for you. Send me a PM.

Matt

[TexasState]

I'm sorry if I didn't word it correctly. I was talking more about his media, not the reactor itself. The media could leach extra nutrient back into the tank, thereby fueling the slime & algae growth.