salt

[Rpalt1]

I think i may have made a mistake! I set up my tank with instant ocean sea salt and this weekend my lfs was out of it so i went with reef crystals. mixed it properly had same salinity reading {refractometer] and added to tank yesterday. Today ducan frag is all curled up! Can switching salts upset corals?

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Potentially. Any sudden changes in water quality are bad. What percentage of the tank was the water change?

Tom

[dputt88]

If you are keeping coal you can't use instant ocean, you need to be at last using reef crystals, though that is a low end salt that i only use on my task that is soft corals only.

[Rpalt1]

I did a 10% water change. I never realized instant ocean salts werent that good. What salt should I use?

[MizTanks]

Reef Crystals is a great salt! Been using it for 4yrs and my tank thrives
Like Tom said though. Any sudden change be it salt or temp can upset even the hardiest of corals. Keep an eye of it. Check your parameters. All of them.


Sent from my iPhone 4s via Tapatalk.

[Rpalt1]

Thanks miz thats good to hear I checked my water {API kit} amm 0 nit 0 ph 8.0 Nitrates 60 Nitrates are the reason for water change The nitrates were up to 100 when duncan was first put in tank so at least i;m getting them down It has to be the new salt because my zoo frags are doing great. I must have high nitrates in my tap water I only feed about 1/4 of a cube mysis a day to my fish and thats plenty for them The duncan is a little better today I'll just keep an eye on it. Is api a decent test kit?

[binford4000]

Thanks miz thats good to hear I checked my water {API kit} amm 0 nit 0 ph 8.0 Nitrates 60 Nitrates are the reason for water change The nitrates were up to 100 when duncan was first put in tank so at least i;m getting them down It has to be the new salt because my zoo frags are doing great. I must have high nitrates in my tap water I only feed about 1/4 of a cube mysis a day to my fish and thats plenty for them The duncan is a little better today I'll just keep an eye on it. Is api a decent test kit?

10% is not to much of a water change to change salts. It is best to slowly change your salts. Doing it by water changes is my favorite method. Instant ocean is mainly used by fish only people but is also used by some if alk or calcium gets to out of control. Reef crystals has grown more reef tanks then any other salt out on the market. When they changed ownership a few years ago they had some issues but seem to have resolved them. The biggest key is to chose one and stay with it. It will pay big dividends in the end. I personally prefer neo marine others like other brands for their own reasons. It is best to choose your salt by what is easily available to you . Test kits like salt can cause great debates !! API is considered a lower end test kit but also are very easy to use. Same advice for test kits as for salt,constant behavior is key in this crazy hobby! If your keeping softies and a lite bio load API will do just fine. Wen you get really addicted and start stuffing the glass box tell seams split it would be a good idea to look at the better kits lie sal fert or Hanna . If you know your nitrates are high then concentrate on reducing it,probably the real reason the Duncan is reacting like it is. Water quality is everything in this game ! Good luck.

[jimsflies]

@Rpalt1 please post some details about your tank in our Member's Reef forum. I'm sure the gang here would like to see it and may be able to offer some advice to lower the nitrates.

[pinhigh1886]

I have always used Reef Crystals mostly because it is easy to get. I see all kinds of other brands in Coral magazine and wonder if they are better? Do you mix your saltwater and then just pour into the tank right away? It is recommended that you make it the night before and let it really mix and dissolve before you pour into the tank. This allows it to get at least to room temp before pouring in. 10% won't bother tank much but freshly mixed salt and cold water hitting a Duncan might cause it to close up for a little. I have 15 gallons of saltwater always available and heated to the temp in my display. I also have a circulation pump to keep it mixed well. You can always throw and old power head in a five gallon bucket too!

[Rpalt1]

I mixed the water in 5 gal pail with an old maxi jet for 8 hrs and then added to tank water was within 5 degrees of tank. I am ordering a salifert nitrate kit because the api im not cofident in. The instructions say to wait 5 minutes for the correct color but i noticed that the longer the vial sits it just keeps getting darker! Then the color is offf the chart. I checked nitrates 3 times and from what i can tell it apoears to be around 80 reading ph,nitrite and amm is ok but the nitrates are a pain to read! If i look at vial after 1 minute its at 40 ppm argh! I can't afford a hanna so i'll try salifert. Would using nitra sorb help until i get a good routine down? And should i do another w/c this weekend? Kind of nervous about doing another w/c right now but nitrates are high