danger in changing salt brands?

[fungia]

i have read that some times changing salt brands is dangerous. i am using instant ocean but i want to try tropic marin, do you think this is a bad idea?

 

[fyrefysh]

I suppose if you introduced the new salt into the aquarium in small quantities over a period of time with small water changes that you water parameters would not change too drastically. What do the rest of you think?

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think it'll be a big deal at all. They are mostly the same anyway across the board.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

I disagree with chip. Some people have lost many corals switching salts.

Everytime a salt study comes out, people flock to new salts and there are always people who experience problems when they do.

Since its just so easy to transition to the new salt, thats what I would do. Start with 10% new salt, 10% old, then over the next few months increase the percentage of the new salt.


The bigger question is, why change salts at all?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I gave my opinion...what I would actually do is not switch.

In my personal experience, when I've had to use a different salt in an emergency I've never had any problems.

When was the last salt study done, anyway?

Peace,

Chip

 

[camaroracer214]

i switched from instant ocean to red sea coral pro with no losses, stressed out corals/fish/inverts, or any other problems. once my io ran out i just switched...no slow introducing, nothing like that. in retrospect, i probably should have slowly switched...but to late for that i guess.

 

[Anonymous]

I tried corallife salt with no easing in. My corals definately suffered a little, but I do not think that it was due to the switch itself, but to the fact that the corallife salt was inferior to the IO salt.

 

[Anonymous]

Instant Ocean is a great brand. I use Seachem's products though.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I gave my opinion...what I would actually do is not switch.

In my personal experience, when I've had to use a different salt in an emergency I've never had any problems.

When was the last salt study done, anyway?

Peace,

Chip

A couple of days ago Chip

http://reefsaltanalysis.googlepages.com ... s_0208.pdf

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, there's my reading material over coffee tomorrow morning while waiting for my new frags & the Indiana Jones IV trailer.

Thanks!

Peace,

Chip

 

[mr_X]

i switched from instant ocean to reef crystals...not too drastic a switch since they are made by the same company, but nothing was negatively effected.

 

[Anonymous]

I tried corallife salt with no easing in. My corals definately suffered a little, but I do not think that it was due to the switch itself, but to the fact that the corallife salt was inferior to the IO salt.

Why do you think that?

 

[leftovers]

There have been many instances where a reefer changed salts after long time with a single salt only to have major issues. There are most likely reports still in our forum archives here on RDO.

I've not seen reports of this being case lately and this may be due to over increase in the quality across the board of synthetic salts in general.

The culprit from best recollection was (im not chem major just trying to recall posting from 5+ years ago) ionic imbalances and subsequent drops/spikes in basic elements like mg and CA when moving from one salt to another.

HOWEVER, the user, as i recall didn't do small water changes to lesson potential impact.


[/b]

 

[Anonymous]

I tried corallife salt with no easing in. My corals definately suffered a little, but I do not think that it was due to the switch itself, but to the fact that the corallife salt was inferior to the IO salt.

Why do you think that?

After using the salt for two months I noticed that the corals were not looking so hot. So I tested the tank and found that my Ca and pH were very low. I was dosing kalk as I usually did with the IO, so I decided that I should test the salt. The Ca and pH level of the salt was very low when I mixed it to 1.024 SG, 150 and an 8.0 respectively. After switching back to IO the next month I tested the new mix and the Ca tested 300 and the pH was an 8.2 when it tested at a 1.024 SG. Just my experience. Maybe it was a bad batch, but I will not buy Corallife again.