Anyone ever switch salt in established tank

[De Michieli]

I switched from Red sea pro to HW Reefer salt and Love it. Its a fully synthetic . I have sps frags that all I do is a 5 gal water change weekly and am getting nice growth. The only problem with this salt is the only place I have found that sells it is BRS. When I did the change I did 5 gal water changes and just introduced the new salt in my weekly water change cycle. btw this is for my 30 gal tank.

 

[jdpeters]

ive switched too gradually with regular water changes

 

[Sabellafella]

Thanks man for the info ...maybe should try playing with the esv a lil bit and see what come up with can only leaen from it i guess and sounds like you should be pretty familiar with how that salt is

Yea well every salt mix has its flaws so its really up to you to decide, i tritond tested my 200 (used esv only on this tank and do 30-50%water changes every few months) and it showed a little over 5000ugl for lithium, i dont kno if its bad but ive ben running the salt for years and im guessing its ben like that for a while without any crashes. BUT somehow find my way back to IO.theres alot of salt mixes out their and try to find one that matches your desired parameters,hopefully i was helpfull

 

[dewboy1127]

Yea well every salt mix has its flaws so its really up to you to decide, i tritond tested my 200 (used esv only on this tank and do 30-50%water changes every few months) and it showed a little over 5000ugl for lithium, i dont kno if its bad but ive ben running the salt for years and im guessing its ben like that for a while without any crashes. BUT somehow find my way back to IO.theres alot of salt mixes out their and try to find one that matches your desired parameters,hopefully i was helpfull

Yes glad here your experiences and opinions on different salts this exactly what i was looking for so can make my decision maybe some other shall chime in with there experiences as well

 

[MikeyAl]

it would have no effect, mine is changed constantly, at 100% each time, with all forms of salt. the lfs selects which they buy and I do 100% water changes on 10 yr old system only because its small

at any given month im on kent, esv, oceanic, coralife, IO, RC etc. don't even know what the current is, kent I do think per last asking. im not having to dose much, so I don't mind whatever the levels are. one mix's higher alk vs another's lower isn't impactful, only to the alk you might add. how they actually mix up wont kill any corals.

all salt mixes mix up differently, and each coral tolerates this variance. its your dosings that must alter after each change. whether the tank is swapped whole or in part doesn't matter if temp and salinity are matched.

Plus 1. No issues when I switch.

 

[brandon429]

IO holds some neat titles among salts

-oldest currently running mix I can think of
Most hacked on within threads
Most used in large scale production tank work, exhibits, zoos
Longest documented success salt in our tanks/hobby

So as we transition into best salt, I'll have to claim that even though Kent isn't harming me any

 

[pondman]

I've used io from day one that's over ten yrs now with the exception of one time I tried Kent once cause it was on sale .I've never had problems I guess use what works for your tank best.

 

[dewboy1127]

Well had some issues goin on so tested my salt (aquavitro salinity ) and it was low in parameters then what supposed to be so this why i thought about the switch so wanted see what people use and what the salts parameters were supposed to be and what tested at..also salts such as tm who claim to have such trace elements in there salt may be beneficial to my tank every now n then possibly on water changes as i dont think id be able buy this salt all time kind pricey so wanted know if it would effect me switching around ..i believe i got it now im getting a bucket of tm classic this weekend and will start doing 10 gal water changes every two weeks or so and see how things look ultimately i may end up switching to io being the price and is available almost everywhere and has the a lot of happy users

 

[MikeyAl]

Bang for the buck- instant ocean. Just my opinion.

 

[rossco]

I switched from Reef Crystals to Seachem for a few buckets and then back to Reef Crystals when I was chasing a problem just to rule out salt. 45 gallon water changes in my 210. I saw no real change so I switched back.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I do it quite a bit actually mostly on NSW but keep instant ocean on hand always. Today I'm getting RS cp as my mag and all are down for some reason. And I get to see my friends at the Lfs.
10% changes. As not to spike.
NSW is the mildest all around and has Good bacteria IO is the gentlest and easiest on spikes kind of a neutral blend. Red Sea cp has more higher elements. If my Lfs had tropic Marin I'd go with that as well. It's high test stuff but I don't recall the stats as I don't have easy access to it.

 

[dewboy1127]

I do it quite a bit actually mostly on NSW but keep instant ocean on hand always. Today I'm getting RS cp as my mag and all are down for some reason. And I get to see my friends at the Lfs.
10% changes. As not to spike.
NSW is the mildest all around and has Good bacteria IO is the gentlest and easiest on spikes kind of a neutral blend. Red Sea cp has more higher elements. If my Lfs had tropic Marin I'd go with that as well. It's high test stuff but I don't recall the stats as I don't have easy access to it.

Classic: Ca: 370-390 ppm, Mg: 1250-1300 ppm, Alk: 9-10 dKH
Pro-REEF: Ca: 430-450 ppm, Mg: 1300-1350 ppm, Alk: 7-8 dKH
Bio-ACTIF: Ca: 430-450 ppm, Mg: 1300-1350 ppm, Alk: 8-9 dKH, plus carbon dosing compounds.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Classic: Ca: 370-390 ppm, Mg: 1250-1300 ppm, Alk: 9-10 dKH
Pro-REEF: Ca: 430-450 ppm, Mg: 1300-1350 ppm, Alk: 7-8 dKH
Bio-ACTIF: Ca: 430-450 ppm, Mg: 1300-1350 ppm, Alk: 8-9 dKH, plus carbon dosing compounds.

nice!
Im in san Diego. NSW is a no brainer here.

 

[dieselkeeper]

I used Reef Crystals for over two years. Very slow growth on SPS. Plus I didn't like the brown stuff in the mixing container. Switched to RSCP.

 

[dewboy1127]

I used Reef Crystals for over two years. Very slow growth on SPS. Plus I didn't like the brown stuff in the mixing container. Switched to RSCP.

Was the slow growth due to the lower parameters of the io do you think?

 

[dieselkeeper]

Reef Crystals parameters was always good. So no I wouldn't think so.

 

[brandon429]

establishing cause and effect is impossible from this point on whether reef additives and trace elements, human sports additives and elements, chondroitin tabs from the grocery store, unavailable vitamin B vitamins mixed in pills, miracle mud, too many variables to establish attribution. the only establishment we can make imo is that all salt brands mix up non lethal to 99% of species we'll keep. drifts vary.

 

[wpeterson]

It's very easy to measure the fundamentals of your fresh salt water: salinity, Alk, Calc, and Mag. Measure what the levels are for your current salt mix.

If you use a different salt mix, you can dilute it down or add direct additives to ramp it up to match what you've been using.

More importantly, you can match your freshly mixed salt water to your tank or target goals. What salt you use to get those levels doesn't matter, just your discipline in hitting the right levels and staying consistent.

Our first 29gal nano FOWLR tank used Instant Ocean (IO) until we started keeping corals and I switched to Reef Crystal (IORC) to supplement the additional Alk/Calc our corals used up. I had no troubles switching from one to the other.

You can measure and mitigate any differences in freshly mixed salt water.