Corraline Die Of... Reef Crystals To Blame?

[Stu1210]

I mixed up a new batch of NSW and tested it today...

I am using Reef Crystals mixed with RO water... (RO has a TDS measurment of 006 so is fine)

I got the water heated to a steady 26° in a 25 Litre Container... Had 2 Power heads in there for mixing 1 x 600lph & 1 x 500 lph... Then added the salt...

It had been mixing for 30hrs (approx)

Readings were as follows:

Mag - 1150 ppm
Alk - 2.0 meq/l
Cal - 390 ppm

with these figures it seems i have found the culprit for my corraline die off...

I have started to add supplements to the NSW to get the levels balanced...

But i was wondering what would cause these figures?.. Can salt go off?..

Dan (SF05) who i brought the tank from used RC salt and his corraline growth had been great.. But in the last month it has been dieing off and it seems now i know the cause...

This was a bag that Dan was using and had some left

Has anyone had any problems with RC before?.. If so what Salt mix would you all reccommend!?...

Thanks

Stu

(for the record i'm using Salifert Test Kits)

 

[Pheonix]

hmmm something deffinatly seems a bit dodgy there, as far as i know the crystals dont have a date on them, i use them myself and buy a huge bucket to last me a while and dont have any problems.

reef crystals has one of the highest calcium contents of all the salt mixers thats one of the reasons i go for it.

whats the flow rate like in your tank?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

depends how they're stored, i don't think they can go off as such, but if not stored correctly and kept clean and dry they can get a bit manky, we had problems with our nitrates once when we were using old salt.

 

[Stu1210]

hmmm something deffinatly seems a bit dodgy there, as far as i know the crystals dont have a date on them, i use them myself and buy a huge bucket to last me a while and dont have any problems.

reef crystals has one of the highest calcium contents of all the salt mixers thats one of the reasons i go for it.

whats the flow rate like in your tank?

Flow rate is 32x per hour so it's nothing to do with the flow rate....

The salt is a bit damp... I'm going to buy a tub of Red Sea Coral Pro upon reccomemdation of many!...

Thanks for all the replies..

Stu

 

[Ter]

They are not 2 blame.. but if it helps read this link, I'd go with instant ocean, kent marine salt, or marin... and dose as u need...
Ter
PS; whats your dkh and cal in your tank? thats probably your major factor with ur coralline algae... add anything that might eat it? like a sea urchin?

 

[SkiFletch]

PS; whats your dkh and cal in your tank? thats probably your major factor with ur coralline algae... add anything that might eat it? like a sea urchin?

Agreed, coraline algae loves high carbonate hardness (3.3meq or higher) so make sure thats whats going on in the tank

 

[Mr Miagi]

I agree, your Alk levels could go up, but also, Coraline algae does not like being moved. It could just be a case of when you moved the tank, the majority of the coralline may have dried up, causing it to bleach out. Keep up levels of Alk and Calc, and you should have a return of all that beautiful coralline.