WTF IS WITH REEF CRYSTALS SALT!!

[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.

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by 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.

I just checked . . . mine doesn't have a sticker on the lid.

Either it fell off before I got it . . . or I'll find it stuck someplace strange within a three-year-old's line of sight (kids!).

[Snaz]

Originally Posted by Enigma

or I'll find it stuck someplace strange within a three-year-old's line of sight (kids!).

Yep kids and stickers... You can make a five year old do anything with a couple of Spiderman stickers.

[Skimmerking]

Jason so so sorry to hear that buddy. I know how much u love your Acans and remember we talked about me buying them and fragging them back to you after u moved. To bad it never worked out man Sorry for your $$$$$$$$ loss it's rough when u hace so much in corals and they die just so fast.

[mandyplo]

So sorry man I can only imagine... If you talk to instant ocean about this in the future to try and get some compensation; just remember you catch more flies with honey. Don't flip, stay calm tell them what happened and how devastating it is to you and I bet they will help any way they can.

@daniella3D didn't you read this whole thread? There are other cases of this exact same scenario, it IS happening to other people, not just J.

[rayjay]

Originally Posted by mandyplo

@daniella3D didn't you read this whole thread? There are other cases of this exact same scenario, it IS happening to other people, not just J.

IMO, the problem is that if the batch was bad, there should be thousands of people with the same problem.
The numbers of people with the problem are statistically insignificant when dealing with the size of a batch mix.
It's too easy for someone to blame a batch of salt and then others having problems jump on the band wagon and feel the salt is the cause of their problems also.
Can you find even a hundred people who have a problem that they are blaming this batch of salt on?

[MKLKT]

Or a small amount of contaminant could have been a part of the batch too; along the line, during shipping, who knows. It's worth investigating at least. It would be a shame to ignore it and have others' tanks wrecked if there is truly an issue.

Originally Posted by rayjay

IMO, the problem is that if the batch was bad, there should be thousands of people with the same problem.
The numbers of people with the problem are statistically insignificant when dealing with the size of a batch mix.
It's too easy for someone to blame a batch of salt and then others having problems jump on the band wagon and feel the salt is the cause of their problems also.
Can you find even a hundred people who have a problem that they are blaming this batch of salt on?

[JMes]

Tank -25 gallons Acan Tank.
Live stock - 1 clown,1 Green clown goby,4 large mexican turbos,30+ acan colonys,dozens of Acan lord frags

Equipment - ATI powermodule,ATB Multi-Use,50 GPD Aquafx Barracuda
Media - RowaPhos,ZEOVit Activated Carbon

maintenance

50 GPD Aquafx Barracuda(RO/DI)- Filters/Cartridge were changed 3 months ago. Membrane was changed 10 months ago. My RO water is stored in 5 and 1 gal water jugs. All my buckets are rinsed thoroughly and wiped dry with paper towel before and after I mix up my salt.

I change out my RowaPhos,Carbon at the end of every month. I do my main water change of 6 gallons every 7 days. The tank is siphoned out 1-2 times in-between my main water change,and I might add a 1-2gal water change depending on how my corals look. All pumps and equipment are taking apart and cleaned at the beginning of every month.

My water is always crystal clear. When I added the 6 gallons of salt mix from this bucket my tank water turned very cloudy,milky white. My female clown fish which is usually docile started Frantically swimming around the tank. She did this for hours. A few hours after the water change all my Turbo snails stopped moving and closed up in their shells. 8 Hours later 2 of 4 of them were dead. Even the bristle worms were not immune. I had dozens either dead or dying. The only coral that was not affected were my Purple Death palys.

Different species of LPS are not all the same.(Some are more hardy than others) Also different grades of LPS are more sensitive than others. Duncans and Micromussa are more hardy and less sensitive than Acan lords. Ultra Acan lords are much more sensitive than grade A or B. So,the first to die were my ultras,next were the A-B,and the last to go were my micros.

Now about the salt. As I said in my first post. I have been using Reef Crystals off and on for years with no problems. The salt I was using before this bucket was a 200gal box of Reef Crystals which I purchased last Sept

I don't know if its the batch or just this particular bucket,but all I know is that this new 160 gal bucket of Reef Crystals salt is contaminated or just bad. Two things really concern me are that the salt is not packaged into a plastic bag. It's just dumped into the bucket. The other alarms me is that this bucket came with a free T-Shirt inside. From my understanding manufacturers use Formaldehyde when shipping clothing. So could some kind of chemical from the T-Shirt contaminate this salt?

I've done a 80% water change with a new bucket of Red Sea salt. My water cleared up and the fish look more relaxed, Turbos came out of their shells and started moving again.This just confirms theres nothing wrong with my RODI(which I already know)