Problem

[Matthew Cautero]

So the other day i went to my local fish store and they changed the salt water from red sea to fritz and i i needed to do a water change. So after my water change everything seemed fine. Woke up yesterday with a giant break out of cyanobacteria. Could that be because i changed the water. I have a 120 Gallon take and only did 10 Gallon water change could that be or is it something else.

 

[Crabs McJones]

So the other day i went to my local fish store and they changed the salt water from red sea to fritz and i i needed to do a water change. So after my water change everything seemed fine. Woke up yesterday with a giant break out of cyanobacteria. Could that be because i changed the water. I have a 120 Gallon take and only did 10 Gallon water change could that be or is it something else.

I would be led to believe that your problem lies elsewhere, unless your LFS stopped using RO/DI water, but you'd expect that your corals and inverts would be showing signs of distress or something. I've never known switching salt brands to cause algae or bacteria outbreaks. Did you call and ask them if they were experiencing the same thing?

 

[Retro Reefer]

It would be unusual for cyano to outbreak during the night, in my experience cyano will usually disappear to some extent if not completely during lights out and rebound during the day under my lighting

 

[DSC reef]

I don't much about fritz salt but does there mix contain vitamins/organics like reef crystals? Shot in the dark but just curious. I'm a big fan of stability so if my LFS changed salts I'd start making my own with what your 5ank has been used too.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Agree with above i have changed salt brands 4 or 5 times without a hiccup in my live stock.

Do you have a handheld tds meter? Perhaps purchase a gallon of plain ro/di from them and test. If higher than 1 i would find a different source of water. A business should have better controls than that imo.

 

[jda]

Was it the fritz that has organic carbon in it? If it is, then yes, that can fuel a bacterial bloom overnight.. especially if your tank was not getting regular organic carbon additions. If not, then it could just be coincidence. However, do not discount the role of minor trace elements to growing things... chaeto needs the iron, Z&P can waste away without water changes to replenish trace elements. There is more to growing things than just calcium, carbonate and magnesium... and they are hard to test for and/or quantify beyond just "changing water is good."

Reef Crystals does not contain any organic carbon, but there are many others that do.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I don't much about fritz salt but does there mix contain vitamins/organics like reef crystals? Shot in the dark but just curious. I'm a big fan of stability so if my LFS changed salts I'd start making my own with what your 5ank has been used too.

That's a good question, I've been using fritz for the better part of a year now and have never looked into it, just went based off recommendations from another user lol

 

[Matthew Cautero]

its really strange its building up on the sand bed in i guess a low flow area. I never had this before

 

[lion king]

I use fritz and it's actually one of the best salts. Cyano many times is caused by a higher ratio of phosphate to nitrate. So as stated above it's more likely the lfs mixed with a water source containing phosphates.