Switching Again?

[gussy]

I know that this topic has been discussed to death...but I'm about to run out of Oceanic and need to buy something. I know most people use IO, but I had some salinity shift and caking issues. My calcium is off the charts with Oceanic and Alkalinity is at 9. I could either stay the same, but are considering either Tropic Marine and Crystal Sea Bioassay sea. Tropic Marine is easy for me to get and I'm only looking at Crystal Sea because of Ron's article. However, I lot of the other experts think it's all hogwash. Any of you guys have experience with Tropic Marine or Crystal Sea?

Oh I forgot, I'm also considering just buying Catalina filtered sea water as it's more convenient and I can get it just a few blocks from where I live for $0.80 a gallon. Anybody tried this?

 

[Witfull]

bioassay salt ,,,crashed alot of systems when they switched over. alot of folks are saying good things about mixing IO with oceanic.

 

[Woodstock]

Whatever you switch to, do it slowly.

Please keep us informed so we can learn from your experiences too

 

[BoomerD]

To add to what Woody said...if you change salts, do it VERY slowly. As you've read, not too many people put much stock in Dr. Ron's tests of salt mixes. NOR the fabled S-15 report either...Too many inconsistencies in tests, and too many questions left unanswered.
The general concensus seems to be that you should find a quality salt, that is affordable to YOU, and is one readily available to YOU, and stick with it.
That being said, as Wit mentioned, you may want to try a 50/50 mix of Oceanic and IO. The reports from different hobbyists say that they balance each other fairly well, and make a decently performing mix.
Catalina water has it's supporters, and it's detractors. You can get varying salinity levels, depending on where and when it was collected, and it has less buffers than the mixes, making it more difficult to maintain pH and alkalinity.
The Catalina sold in No Cal is collected off shore from Half Moon Bay.

 

[Kensn]

I have been using the new Tropic Marin Pro Reef, tested out ok right out of the bucket. I need to do a w/c soon so I can test Alk and CA if anyone wants the numbers.

Ken

 

[gussy]

Hey Ken, numbers would be great! Thanks!

 

[mopecula]

I use the crystal sea marine salt. Works for me but this is the salt brand I have been using since day one.

 

[tmc]

i just recently switched from IO to reef crystals because i thought the IO was causing my high alk problems. since then the alk has settled at 9 and the coraline is at a non stop growth rate . im not putting down the IO it just wasn't right for me anymore.
tmc

 

[Jerome]

I use Coralife Salt and haven't noticed any problems with it. I have used it for a long time and do frequesnt w/c.

 

[Kensn]

Well here are the numbers from the last batch, a little low this time. I hope it wasn't because I had put in a little Ro/DI about 15mins before I got the sample to get salinity down a little

Ca 350
Dhk 7.7
PH 8.1
Salinty 1.026
Mg 1400

I will make another batch later this week and see what I get. I think adding that ro/di at the last minute messed up the numbers a little.

 

[Woodstock]

Oceanic

I used to use IO for years but switched to Oceanic salt a long time ago. I am very familiar with both the salts strengths and weakness and have chosen to stick with Oceanic. Here are some testing results of newly made oceanic salt using ro/di done today:

(NOTE: the alk supplement is the wrong type thus the drop in PH I am on the hunt for a true sodium carbonate supplement that will raise the PH and alk. I expect 1/4 teaspoon of a carbonate supplement per 5 gal will fix the PH and alk perfectly.)

Temp = 78.6
Salinity = 35 ppt
PH = 8.06
Alk = 2.86 meg/l
Ca = 480 ppm
mg = 1530 ppm

AFTER adding Seachem's Reef Builder (sodium BIcarbonate):
PH = 7.99
Alk = 4.28 meg/l
Ca = 450 ppm

Again... a true sodium carbonate supplement of approx 1/4 teaspoon per 5 gal will raise the alk and the PH to perfect levels. Even with this needed adjustment, I am happy with the salt's performance.

 

[KimPossible]

Ca480ppm!!!!
Straight from the salt?????
WOW!
I'm still an IO user, I add Turbo Calcium @ 1/8t per 10 gal. to get my levels to 400.

 

[Craig Manoukian]

I use Marine Environment 2 Part salt. Two years now, less than 4 water changes per year, no additives, top off with tap water for evap, and everything is fantastic!!

 

[gussy]

After two months of using mixed Oceanic and Tropic Marine these are the results:

No noticeable difference in all the tanks except one (out of six). It is my 20G that has been running perfectly for a year and a half. I started getting cyano and my alkalinity is suffering...abou 7 to 8 instead of 9 to 10. Even though a lot of people had alk problem with Oceanic, I never did. How bad is they cyano...very bad. I have the suck it up twice a week. I even cut the feeding by half. Nothing else has been added to this tank since August. All the other tanks are fine...no changes even though some livestocks were added/removed.

Maybe I should just walk down the beach with a 5 gallon bucket twice a week. At least it'll be good for my health.

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Gussy,

Be careful collecting NSW from too close to shore to avoid undetectable pollutants. A friend of mine uses snorkling equipment and plastivc jugs to collect his NSW and coordinates with the tides to collect the freshest he can. He stays away from well poulated beaches as well.

Good luck!

 

[Yarr]

I don thave any experience with any of those salts.. however.. i was readin g anew book i bought from germany.. translated of course.. and the author does a 10% water change in his tank ( even though it is 8000L ) per year.. and thats it..

i know this probably belongs in another thtread but i thought id share it here.

 

[gussy]

Well, until I stard using Kalkwasser I have to do water changes for the calcium. In his new book Julian said that saltwater from the beach is not too bad even in a city as long as it is not near a discharge. I could try it in one of my tanks and see what happens. I just found out that someone one of the guys I know have been getting water from the beach. It's a long walk from the parking lot to the water...and up hill on the way back. He feels that it's better than going to the gym. At close to 10lbs per galloon, it'll be a holding a 10lbs or 20lbs dumbell in each hand!

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Cool beans gussy! Keep us posted on your tank results once you switch to NSW, thanks!