Switching Salts: Should I?

[loans_n_fishes]

I am considering switching salts to Seachem (the reef one). Does anyone know anything about this salt?

I have heard of people having problems when switching salts; what is the best way to go about it?

Right now I am using IO and adding calcium and carbonate supplements (not on the same day). The calcium is still precipitating (less than before, but still..). My coraline has receeded and I have an outbreak of hair algae along with some cyno and diatoms. To address this issue I have added a huge clump of chaeto, am getting some more crabs soon and will be investing in some phos sorb or phos guard. Also, I am doing more water changes.

I have heard that IO is calcium poor. It seems that the Seachem variety has a good selection of trace elements included. Perhaps this would be a little less foolproof and no more additives. What do you think? I am only keeping softies for now.

Has anyone ever used this salt?

[hobogato]

what are your calcuim and alkalinity levels? you should not be getting a precipitation - no matter what salt you are using. i use IO BTW and add the two part Bionic. my calcium stays around 450 to 500.

[loans_n_fishes]

What is Bionic?

[gjuarez]

Its a two part additive. One part boosts calcium and the other part boosts alkalinity. Its a good way to balance and raise levels.

[Richard]

Seachem salt is pretty new so I don't know if you'll get much feedback on it.

It is mixed by Aquarium Systems and starts with IO as a base and then they add seachems stuff to it. So I wouldn't think you would have any issues switching from IO to Seachem.

[NaCl_H2O]

IO mixes up at about Ca = 400 and dKH = 9-10, which is fine for anything but a heavy SPS or Clam load. Your algae, etc. is likely due to your water source, feeding, or other nutrients entering the system. You Ca precipitation is odd, that shouldn't be happening if using RO water with IO. Are you seeing white powder setling in the tanks, or cloudy water?

Hard to tell what's up without some parameters. Good test kits (salifert) for PH, Ca, and dKH would be useful if you don't have them already. How big of a tank are we talking about here?

[GaryP]

Here is the analysis of the new Seachem Product.

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/SaltSpecs.htm

It doesn't say at what salinity this analysis was done at though. This is important because as we found out with Oceanic, its based on what salinity they "assume" people make up their salt water. The alkanity on this salt is 142 ppm (8 DKH), so its probably going to need to be supplemented. Take your pick on a salt, low calcium/high alkalinity, or high calcium/low alkalinity. You can't have it all.

[cbianco]

I have switched from IO Salt to Red Sea Salt and back to IO Salt without any noticable problem. I prefer the IO Salt since it mixes up fast and is ready to use so quickly. Your salt is normally not the cause of algae outbreaks, it is normally your water quality (or lack of).

If your are having problems balancing out your Calcium and Alkalinity you could use the following: (http://www.redseafish.com/Product.asp?dir=y&catID=91&subID=29&proID=92)

I personally use Reef Success Calk and it does a great job with little effort needed.

Good luck!

Christopher

[fishypets]

I switched from Red Sea to Tropic Marin Pro and love it. I was having problems keeping my CA up....Not any more. Seems to be the best salt on the market, only thing it is a little pricey.

[Pacman]

I use IO and use B-Ionic for Ca & Alk. Lately I had been having troubles with precipitation too, and it seemed I could never get the Ca over 400.

Well, I finally got around to getting a Magnesium test kit, and lo and behold my Mag was less than 1000. Anyway, I added some mag and my Ca & Alk problems seem to have resolved.

Anyway, I'm not sure what the Mag levels are in fresh IO, but they're probably not very high. Consider testing for this you're having troubles.

[loans_n_fishes]

Parameters:

CA= 420
salinity= 1.022
Alk= "normal"
Ph= 8.0
Nitrite= 0
Nitrate= 20!!!!!
Mg= ?? (need a test kit) Have supplement (Kent)

[Derek B]

Well ... I switched from IO to Biosea Marine mix ... I had other changes going on so I cant be certain that the salt was the cause of my problems, but probably had something to do with it.

My problem is that I didn't make any change slowly .... which I believe is the key .... You have to "acclimate" your tank to the new salt.

There are many good salts ... you just have to fine tune them with supplimentation afterwards. As long as you are doing regular water changes, Magnesuim and other trace element problems should not arise and keepng calcium up with a 2 part additive is a good way to go ... depending on the size of your tank (it can be costly on larger tanks and your bioload of corals is obviously a factor as well). I used Kent's Turbo Calcium and it did a great job for me ... problem is ... most of the time you need more than what is recommended, so if you are having low calcium issues just slowly increase the dose until you see the calcium start to come up. If that doesn't work .. then it is time to explore other issues that may be causing the problem ... like Magenesium.

I think the only supplimentation that is needed for successful reefkeeping is:

1 ... regular water changes ... that is a suppliment as well people ;) the most important one at that.
2 ... ph/Alk buffering
3 ... Calcium

Forget all the trace supplimentation ... your salt has all of that in it. If you are doing regular water changes, there is no need to waste the money on all the trace additives that you can't even test for :o I bet people contaminate their tanks with trace supplimentation more than they think.

Keep it simple ... let the salt work for you ;)

[Jimnorris]

Seachem is a GREAT salt. I used it about 5 years ago. At that time it was almost impossible to get but I met the owner at GARF that year and he supplied me a source. At the time it was partly a liquid form. I may use it now. I also like Reef Crystals for SPSs and clams.
Jim

[loans_n_fishes]

So, what do you guys think of my parameters? Anything stand out that needs to be corrected?

I bought the Kent phosphate sponge stuff today. Just now stuck it in.

Will adding more algae help my nitrate level? I have a large softball size of chaeto...should I get more/more types?

At the moment I use IO and seachem reef builder and reef complete. Sounds like the seachem salt may be all of that in one step. I will have to see how easy it is to obtain.

Do any of you dose iodide? Could this be a reason my coraline is diminishing? I saw some of that "Purple up" stuff and it looks like it is just calcium and iodide. Is purple up really all that great, or is it just more of what I am doing already?

[aquadoc]

I use the tropic marin pro as well. I absolutely love it. It dissolves extremely fast, and ready to use instantly after dissolving. Plus not to mention it has over 70 different trace minerals in it. It is alittle pricey.....butt the outcome is well worth it! I have noticed my sps coloring up tremendously, and some changing colors.

[Ed]

Another vote for Tropic Marin. I'm in the process of switching from Crystal Sea Marinemix Bioassay to Tropic Marin and have had no problems at all.

[Ram_Puppy]

guys, I have a couple bags of the Seachem salt, I plan on doing the first waterchange in my cube next weekend, and I am heading out to CB... I told Richard I would bring him some freshly mixed from my RO/DI water for him to test.

I did use a little bit of it to make up the difference on my tank when I put the new tank up, and it mixed rapidly but as I added it directly to a tank that is mostly reef-crystals salt I can't say much beyond that.

I don know that I really like SeaChem as a company though, they make top notch products.

[GaryP]

I liuke the fact that they mainly sell dry products, not RO water like some others.

[TexasTodd]

loans n fishes...............what are you keeping, or, do you want to keep in your system?

Fish and rocks....1.022 salinity o.k., corals you probably want to bump it up some. Most of us run 1.025 or so.

Most people I know (myself included) who have ever had CA precipitation in their tanks, were using B-Ionic at the time.

I'd stay with IO, make sure your RO/DI water is perfect, and do a 50% water change. Then test test test.

JMA,

Todd