Should I switch salts?? Using red sea coral pro RN

[James5214]

So I have been using red sea coral pro for months now and I have been using it since my first corals as it was what the lfs had as their already pre mixed. So my question is red sea coral pro had a dkh of around 12 and I know most people run around 8-8.5 give or take. But all my corals like my branching hammer and my torch my zoas all have been in these parameters of coral pro since they came into the tank which for most have been a few months. All of my corals are making new heads. My zoas have multiple new heads per frag. My branching hammer is splitting and has amazing colour and my torch is full and extended. My Duncan is producing like 4 new heads on it I have some pics zoomed in on that. I have attached a few pictures and videos of my corals. Excuse the dirty in my tank and on the glass I need to do some cleaning lol. But main question is should I switch salts? I was thinking red sea blue bucket as it has a lower dkh than coral pro but I don't want to shock corals to much and kill them or am I ok to keep letting it ride at 12 dkh the coral pro level. These aren't sps they are softies and lps. Just want to know if I'm ok leaving them at these levels or if I need to slowly transfer to blue bucket which has lower dkh. Again here are some videos and pics. Everything is happy. Please help with some advice.

 

[James5214]

Video

 

[InvaderJim]

I would test your alk and see where it is currently before deciding anything. If things are growing fine I wouldn't fix what isn't broken.

 

[James5214]

I have red sea test kit for alk cal and mag

 

[James5214]

My ALK is around 12 -12.2 and mag is around 1500+ and cal is easily 450 if not a little more. Everything is growing reproducing heads and open and happy but I see so many people saying 12 dkh is way to high that natural sea water is around 8dkh or so but I do not want to shock them and kill them they all have been in these parameters of red sea coral pro for months

 

[mermaid_life]

This is my experience and my opinion only... I used to use red sea pro when I first started and before I really understood the science. I had a similar experience as you now. Things were really thriving. However, lucky for me, my nitrates were always high and I couldn't keep them down so I didn't have any issues that I was aware of.

In my new tank, I started with dry rock and overall tank was just a lot cleaner. I found out that as my tank matured, my tank was very good at keeping low nitrates and phosphate.. the same corals that did so well in my old tank started to not look so good. I had to switch to the blue buckets to lower dkH. It was either that or start dosing nitrates/phosphates. The way it manifested was that my lps started receding and white tips on my sps.

So my advice is keep doing what your doing, but be ready for some changes as your corals grow and tank matures.

 

[James5214]

This is my experience and my opinion only... I used to use red sea pro when I first started and before I really understood the science. I had a similar experience as you now. Things were really thriving. However, lucky for me, my nitrates were always high and I couldn't keep them down so I didn't have any issues that I was aware of.

In my new tank, I started with dry rock and overall tank was just a lot cleaner. I found out that as my tank matured, my tank was very good at keeping low nitrates and phosphate.. the same corals that did so well in my old tank started to not look so good. I had to switch to the blue buckets to lower dkH. It was either that or start dosing nitrates/phosphates. The way it manifested was that my lps started receding and white tips on my sps.

So my advice is keep doing what your doing, but be ready for some changes as your corals grow and tank matures.

It's funny you say that about the lps. I have had some tissue recession but I didn't know if that was from them being transfered from 8dkh to 12dkh. The tank has plenty of phosphate as I just beat cyano lol and I feed heavily for only 2 fish but I do keep up on weekly WC. But I'm ready for the change if it is needed. I just don't know when I need to make that change or what to be looking out for. As I stated and I'd you can see the pics and videos everything is open and happy and splitting and making new heads. I'm afraid if I do one thing something will happen and I'm afraid if i don't do that something else will happen. Ughhhhh

 

[mermaid_life]

Just look for nitrates dropping over time. My first tank sat comfortably at 20-30ppm even with weekly water changes. Used to drive me mad lol. My tank now is like 5 and sometimes zero if I don't feed my fish frequently enough.

 

[James5214]

Ok thanks! Did you eventually switch over to blue bucket of red rea?

 

[mermaid_life]

Yes I'm on blue bucket now. When your tank starts booming, you'll be thankful to go down a bit on alk to slow down the coraline growth! I have to keep scraping coraline to cut alk consumption.