Could changing salt cause bloom?

I have had a small outbreak of what appears to be a greenish brown hair algae in my 90 gallon. The only change I have made recently was changing from instant ocean salt to Red Sea coral pro. Tank has been running for two years. The salt change was about two months ago and around five 15% water changes. Any chance the different salt caused this or should I look somewhere else?

Thanks!

 

Test for phosphates.

 

Test says .05 but it is an older test kit so not sure how accurate it is

 

I know it's not always 100% but when I observe an excess in algae growth, it's usually elevated phosphates. Even if the test doesn't reflect a high number, that can be misleading because the algae can be absorbing it.

It probably doesn't have anything to do with the salt change. During that same time that you've been using new salt, could be an amount of time for phosphates to increase. Do you run any phosphate absorbing media?

 

I've not run GFO so I can't help with that other than to ask if you're using the recommended amount?

Personally, I think of pellets more as nitrate reducing although they are supposed to keep phosphate down as well. I ran them for a while and did not experience a significant decrease in either

 

While it could be totally unrelated as stated; Red sea Coral Pro is a naturally harvested salt and could very well be the cause of increased nutrients in your system.
Switch back.

 

+100! I've experienced this first hand and it's why I switched back to good old reef crystals. Haven't had a problem since.

 

Small tangent here-

I'm still liking results and Param #'s I get from good old 'Kent' salt.

 

Is it harvested from the.................................
..............wait for it...........................
........................Red Sea?