WTF IS WITH REEF CRYSTALS SALT!!

[Coleus]

sorry to hear, that really sucks. Nothing is reliable and safe any more. There must be something in that salt that can make things go bad so quick

[rayjay]

Keep in mind that there is an excellent chance that what happened was just co-incidental with the use of that bucket of RC salt.
If it wasn't, the store has likely sold a lot of that batch and if no one else is reporting wipe outs, then I'd be looking for some other cause, just in case.

[Enigma]

So Jmes . . . Did your water look like this?



New bucket of instant ocean reef crystals. No sticker on lid. No t-shirt in bucket.

That's about 15 gallons of water that I mixed up about two hours ago. Just went downstairs to check the salinity, and that's what it looks like. It didn't look like that when I was mixing it . . . The clouding happened over time.

[Snaz]

Egads that looks horrible.


Here is a Google search for "cloudy reef crystals" during the past 12 months only. Seems like quite a few hits.
http://www.google.ca/search?q=cloudy...iw=360&bih=592

[Enigma]

Thankfully it happened before it went into my system.

It smells fine. It tests fine (for reef crystals). Idk.

[lpsreefer]

Originally Posted by JMes

I bought it at Golds last week.
5137801706
RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A
IN01706-905

those numbers are not the batch number.
those numbers just mean reef crystal salt 160 gallon in a 5 gallon bucket.
i have the 200 gallon boxes and the batch number is on each bag.
as i look threw all my buckets of reef crystal salt and i have no clue where the buckets keep the batch number.
i dont know if this info helps. ill try calling instance ocean and ask where to find it on the buckets.

[Starry]

Didnt think that was the batch # as all my empty buckets have the same #.....i just mixed up 45 gallons for a wc. glad i didnt use it yet....nervous now!

[whatcaneyedo]

Originally Posted by JMes

I bought it at Golds last week.
5137801706
RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A
IN01706-905

I've got two full unopened buckets with these numbers. I think I purchased them at Ocean Aquatics a few months ago. The sticker on the lid says 11332.

[magikof7]

As I understand it the sticker on the lid is the batch number. That is what the LFS guy showed me today when I went in and asked. Unfortunately my Son colored mine in blue pen and I can't see it lol.

[daniella3d]

whoa people...before blaming the salt it must be analysed to see if there is something that can be killing corals.

It could be other things as well. I don't know if you use tap water or if your RODI is a bit old and could be leaching some toxic stuff from the city water? You must absolutely have this salt analysed by a pro lab before you do anything.

I had my tank poisoned by copper and nickel from the kent carbon and the first thing I did was to send a sample to a professional lab and get the result. Kent paid all my dead corals so that's good and I presume that if it is proven that there was something in that salt crashing your tank, then they would give you a compensation. I am surprised that you're the only one having this problem though, and the cloudy water can be a bacteria bloom caused by a fish dying and then ammonia would surely kill your corals and irritate the fish, if not kill them.

Copper does not do this to LPS, in fact, none of my LPS were affected with copper poisoning. I have seen a duncan near death once and it was from too high nitrates.

YOu should first do proper test on your water to see if everything is good, then send a sample of the salt (fresh batch!) to be analysed, then you will know if it is the salt or not.

I have been using Reef crystal for years and never had any bad results, plus it should not be so potent as to crash everything from just a water change, since you're not replacing all the water but just a part.