Salt Switch

Dom · Nov 10, 2018

I'm always preaching; "Don't fix what isn't broken". And since I began in this hobby, 10 short years ago, I have been using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals.

But now I have decided to switch over to Red Sea Pro in my 33 long.

Below is a photo of the DT right before the water change. Typically, I do water changes on the 10th, 20th and 30th of every month. I will update the thread with a photo after every water change to watch the changes for better or worse.

Dom

cromag27 · Nov 10, 2018

what prompted you to make this switch?

WVNed · Nov 10, 2018

I did a water change last week where I mixed 2 brands.
Nothing exploded or anything. I was disappointed.

fabutahoun · Nov 10, 2018

How much water (parentage) do you change , if you are changing 10-20 % every time it is not a big deal. however large water changes can effect your tank specially that Red Sea Salt Pro have very high alkalinity at 12 dkh.

Dom · Nov 10, 2018

cromag27 said:
what prompted you to make this switch?

I'm trying to promote growth rate.

Dom · Nov 10, 2018

fabutahoun said:
How much water (parentage) do you change , if you are changing 10-20 % every time it is not a big deal. however large water changes can effect your tank specially that Red Sea Salt Pro have very high alkalinity at 12 dkh.

It will be about 10% every 10 days.

SPR1968 · Nov 11, 2018

I used Coral Pro for over 12 months (I’m now on the standard salt) and basically the foundation elements are raised, and if you maintain the raised levels by dosing you will see increased growth if that’s what your after, especially if the nutrient levels are raised as well.

You do however need to maintain stability otherwise you will get constant drops and then increases when you do a water change for example so you will need to keep on top of this and try and maintain the higher levels constantly

Dom · Nov 11, 2018

Well... I did my first water change yesterday, so the commitment is underway.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 11, 2018

Thanks for posting this thread. I'm sure folks will be interested in the changes (if any).

Dabcrusher · Nov 11, 2018

Ive been using the red sea coral pro since uve been in the hobby for over 3 whole years im. It does work for the gast groth but in a 50 gallon tanknibwas 200 litr i was using 20 ml of their alk a day i just ordered the tropic maribn pro reef to try out but ive switched before on a small tank i tried the aquaforest id do 20% a week and it was fine

vic5hands · Nov 11, 2018

Don't change what's not broken....

Dom · Nov 11, 2018

vic5hands said:
Don't change what's not broken....

LOL... I deserve that!

DesertReefT4r · Nov 11, 2018

Dom said:
I'm trying to promote growth rate.

Switching salt mix wont increase growth. Just use a salt you like and can easily get. I used RC for a long time until the alk was increased and I got sick of new water mixing up dirty. Red Sea Pro is a good salt to switch if you like the high levels in RC salt.

Dom · Nov 23, 2018

UPDATE...

These are pics of the tank from the water change on the 20th of this month... the second water change using Red Sea Pro

andrewkw · Nov 23, 2018

Over the years I've used :
instant ocean
reef crystals
ati - anyone remember this salt for some reason you had to add the magnesium separate
coralife
red sea blue bucket
aquaforest reef - amazon used to sell this dirt cheap

Probably 1 or 2 others that I can't remember. Every time I've changed I've noticed no change at all, maybe once I had a bad batch. With the exception of the early years I've tried to match the alkalinity at least somewhat this is the only reason I don't use IO as I tend to run my alk at or below 8.0 Red Sea blue bucket is actually really close to my tank but I tend to use coralife since it's cheaper and close enough. While I think there is more then enough evidence that you can be successful with any salt, and probably every salt has had a bad batch at some point, I do wonder if periodically using a different brand would have any advantage as they may have different trace elements. To study this would take years and many icp tests so probably not worth it.

Dom · Feb 15, 2019

Some time has passed since I last posted. I intended to post more frequently, but even after a month, changes are barely noticeable.

November 2018, I was walking around with my chest out where my tank's health was concerned. In my 10 years in the hobby, I can say for that first time I was truly happy with the way my tank looked.

But I became a bit overconfident when I thought to myself; "it's perfect in my mind. But how can I make it better than perfect"? That's all it took. LOL

So after years of using Reef Crystals, I decided to try Read Sea Coral Pro.

Now after 4 months of weekly water changes, I can barely notice any growth in my corals. But changes in my corals was all I monitored.

The connection some of us have with our system is somewhat parent like. We can look at our tank and sense what "mood" it is in. After all; it is living entity. And looking back I can recall indicators that illustrated the downturn my system was going through, leading me to this point: my tank seems "under the weather".

When did this all begin? About a month into switching from Reef Crystals to Read Sea.

I am NOT blaming Red Sea. The whole point of this was to see how Red Sea effected, not just the coral, but the tank as a whole. Frankly, I don't think the overall growth of corals was worth the sacrifice to the tank's general health.