Salt is NOT salt and water is NOT water!

[sssnake]

Just a word of caution (and a heads-up) to the newbies in this hobby, like myself; ........whoever tells you "salt is salt" and you don't really need RO/DI water has no clue what they are talking about, and, if they own or work in a LFS they should look to another line of work.

My first bucket of salt "Dophin Marine Salt" which was thrown in "no charge" by the LFS finished last week. I bought a bucket of "Instant Ocean" being highly recommended by almost everyone in this hobby and an RO/DI unit by "Aqua-Safe". Well, what a difference! First of all I could never figure out why my pH was lower than it should have been. I was getting constant readings of 7.8 with the cheapo salt mixed with semi-purified tap water. I mixed some new water for a water change this past weekend (slightly high nitrates), took a pH reading on the new mix and got a result of 8.4 and the IO mixes extremely well, no cloudiness. At this point I couldn't tell if the salt was to blame or the water or both.

I will be looking into buying a couple of more tests in the near future because now I want to convert my 20 gal QT into a mini-reef tank.

So go ahead and spend a bit more for your tank if you could and DO heed the advice of the members in this forum. Do not cut corners because in the end you may end up spending more anyway.

Tanks for your time

[Matt Rogers]

Yeah that's a good point.
I've noticed big differences in pH with different mixes too.

[rickzter]

Yep, not all salt mixes are created equal.

Why didn't you just buffer the pH?

[powdertang05]

well a better salt and a RO unit will really help but a QT tank would benefit you more in my mind , but if you going to get another qt tank then right on!

[sssnake]

A pH reading of 7.8 is not really in the danger zone IMO so I chose to ride-out the last of the original salt mix suspecting that a premium brand of salt would yield the correct pH level. Also, I tend to shy away from putting buffers in the tank if I could avoid it. In this case it worked out and in due course with a couple of more water changes my pH should creep up slowly to where it should be with minimal stress to the fish.

With my track record (2 sudden deaths) I doubt I'll be ever needing a QT to treat sick fish. Seriously though, I will eventually buy another tank so a QT is still in the picture. Maybe I'll keep the 20g as my QT and buy something bigger for a reef tank.

This hobby is sick ! ..........love it

[rayjay]

I boost calcium and magnesium levels in my I.O. before adding it to the tanks.