Red Sea Coral Pro Salt users...

Very odd.
I've been using it for a long time and have not hand these problems. Just started using a new bucket last week too. Nothing to report.

 

I've used the new formula since it came out last year and have never had a spike in PO4 or algae issues. I did and do have accelerated coral growth and don't have to mess around dosing mag up where I want it anymore.

 

I did check my batch number a while ago; blank as well.

Still fighting my HA; I don't know what's causing it. It's either salt or my sandbed at this point.

 

Ive been fighting as well. I just ran out of the red sea salt and will be going back to regular instant ocean. I will let you know what happens with this. I spent most of my day yesterday doing a big water change, changing GFO, and picking as much of this stuff off of the rocks as I could.

 

Algae can often become trace element limited. In otherwords, you can have nitrate and phosphate, but no algae growth. This means there is something else is limiting the algae growth. Changing water, in such a case, can replenish trace elements and allow the algae to grow. My guess would be it is something along those lines. Even if you are not detecting nitrate and phosphate, that could just be because the levels are below the detection threshold of your test kit, not that there is none in the system. Or perhaps the test kit isn't that accurate. Both seem to be common occurrences with hobby grade kits. There shouldn't be enough nitrate or phosphate in the salt to drive any noticeable algae though.

The only other thing I can think of is perhaps something has accumulated in your mixing bucket, or your mixing bucket is leaching something. Sometimes cleaning it out with bleach is a good idea. However, without further info, I would suspect trace elements from the salt is more likely.

 

I think what we are trying to figure out is whether or not we all got a batch of the same salt, maybe it has spoiled or contaminated which included phosphate or nitrate.

 

Have you tested any parameters in the freshly mixed salt? Seems unlikely that a bad batch would have something wrong that would drive significant algae. Usually when we talk about bad batches, it has to do with components solidifying and not properly dissolving. Anythings possible though, it is manufactured differently than most salts. N, P and Fe would be the most likely drivers of algae. These are testable. Other trace elements may drive specific types of algae, but are mostly not testable and there isn't tons of data. N, P and Fe seems like a good place to start though.