instant ocean
 

with all the talk of bad batches of IO, i am getting a little scared. cause i have a new pail. but i have all ready done one water change with it, and every thing turned out fine. But now i am wondering does this mean i have nothing to worry about.

Re: instant ocean
 

I'd say that if it did go cloudy, and it didn't kill everything, you're probably fine.

I'm not letting a couple of bad buckets turn me away from IO. I'm more afraid of the negative effects of changing salt brands.

The good news is like Brad says...if the water didn't go cloudy in the bucket, I wouldn't worry about it. At least there'll be a visible warning before you dump it in the tank.

i have a brand new bucket of the stuff as well from jl :frown: :sad:

if you are afraid of it, i will buy it from you, at a heavily discounted price of course :lol: :mrgreen:

seriously though, if it mixes fine, it probably is fine.
if it mixes fine and you are still afraid, test it before using it.
if you are still afraid, i'll really will take it of your hands :biggrin:

FWIW, i will be buying a new pail of IO very soon.

Have you seen this post on Reef Central?

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...17#post1857017

I make it a point of testing any water change mix before putting it in my tank. If you get into that habit, you might save yourself some headaches.

Salt Mix Tests
 

Jason:

What tests do you perform on new saltwater mix ?

I purchased a new bucket of IO from J&L recently as well. There has been no problem. I wouldn't be too worried, but . . .

I am aware of some friends of mine that purchased a bucket of IO over a year ago from a different retailer in the Lower Mainland and the new salt water mixed cloudy as well. They used the water 24hrs later and proceeded to watch their 135 gallon reef crash. They lost clams, sps, LPS and some fish. This happened to them at least a year ago.

I ran into a bad batch of IO in 50 gallon bag back in the early nineties. The water again turned cloudy and all heck broke loose in the tank.

But I am not overly worried about IO. If the salt water mixes clear you should be fine. If it doesn't then take the appropriate measures of testing the salt water and/or returning the salt to the retailer.

Re: Salt Mix Tests
 

I test pH, specific gravity, temperature, ammonia, nitrite, alkalinity, and calcium. It's a pain, but it's the only way I know that I'm not going to dump water in my tank that is "bad". The good folks at Instant Ocean probably mix up their salt in huge industrial sized vats with big paddle mixers, and it's possible that a big clump of a particular ingredient doesn't mix quite right once in a while. I'd rather be safe than sorry.