Can I mix salt brands?

[josh4107]

So I bought a 200 gallon bucket of tropic Marin bio actif salt and when I tested it the alkalinity was super low like 5 dkh. I also have reef crystals which usually has around 11dkh for me. Would there be any ill effects of mixing the two? My tank alk is always around 11 using reef crystals and I want to lower it to around 9 dkh. Anyone mixed salts before or think there would be any ill effect? I've contacted tropic Marin about the very low alk in the bucket of salt but haven't heard back yet. I'd hate to let a $100 bucket of salt go to waste if I can't get another bucket from them....

 

[Reefing Madness]

Should be ok, just make sure its all mixed up and to SG. Should be fine.
But if you want to just lower the Alk, have you thought of just using Muriatic Acid for this? If your mixing it up it won't do any harm to throw in some acid to lower to to where you want it. I've done it in my reef, so I know it won't harm anything, and it does work.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Shouldn't be a problem. I'm currently mixing Reefcrystals and Instant Ocean for the same reason....alk too high with RC. I mix 2 parts RC for 1 part IO.

 

[josh4107]

Well I am afraid if I lower my alk too fast there will be ill effects on the corals. I have mostly lps a few sps and zoas couple softies. My tank has always run around 10.7-11.3 dkh so I want to lower it slowly over multiple weeks of water changes. I think changing it slowly would be better on my corals? My system is only like a total of 35-40 gallons of total water volume so I'm afraid to do anything too drastic.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Theres no need to lower it all in one day, its kinda like dosing everything else, ya need to do it slowly. But you could lower it every 24hours.

 

[josh4107]

Ok so my water after mixing the reed crystals and bio actif at a 1 to 1 ratio got me an all of 8.17 dkh which is right around where I ultimately want it to me. I have plenty of both brands of salt so I'm going to to slow and change 1 or 2 gallons every few days and see what the results get me. I will keep this updated and let u guys know how it goes

 

[xbrentx]

Just don't do major water changes with different salt, if you're changing the type, do it slowly IMO.

 

[mike007]

I wish i had that problem i cannot get my alk where i want it. Mixing salts should be okay though. Just check it before adding.

 

[josh4107]

Just curious what you want to run yours at?

 

[mike007]

I am running a low nutrient reef with sps and i want my alk level to be around 7 dkh.

 

[Dalmatia]

If it's the same brand your ok, like normal purple instant ocean vs the reef crystals the orange box by instant ocean. If you want to mix your brand names, I wouldn't recommend it as you will be changing your complete water parameters as each salt mix contains different supplements. Some contain more copper, magnesium, iron the list goes on! You might have better results, than again you may get worse results?

 

[tikireefer]

So I bought a 200 gallon bucket of tropic Marin bio actif salt and when I tested it the alkalinity was super low like 5 dkh. I also have reef crystals which usually has around 11dkh for me. Would there be any ill effects of mixing the two? My tank alk is always around 11 using reef crystals and I want to lower it to around 9 dkh. Anyone mixed salts before or think there would be any ill effect? I've contacted tropic Marin about the very low alk in the bucket of salt but haven't heard back yet. I'd hate to let a $100 bucket of salt go to waste if I can't get another bucket from them....

I know this is an old thread, but was wondering how this worked out for you. I am in a similar situation. I am planning on lower my alk as it is always in the 11-12 dKh range using Reef crystals. I was planning on mixing Reef Crystals and Tropic Marin Pro to get in the 9 dKh range.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I know this is an old thread, but was wondering how this worked out for you. I am in a similar situation. I am planning on lower my alk as it is always in the 11-12 dKh range using Reef crystals. I was planning on mixing Reef Crystals and Tropic Marin Pro to get in the 9 dKh range.

There is never a problem mixing salts (that are otherwise suitable) to get mixed parameters.

 

[nereefpat]

I know this is an old thread, but was wondering how this worked out for you. I am in a similar situation. I am planning on lower my alk as it is always in the 11-12 dKh range using Reef crystals. I was planning on mixing Reef Crystals and Tropic Marin Pro to get in the 9 dKh range.

Have you thought about using regular IO? It's closer to 9 dKH.