WTF IS WITH REEF CRYSTALS SALT!!

[JMes]

WARNING TO PEOPLE USING REEF CRYSTALS SALT!!
After doing my weekly water change with a new bucket of Reef Crystals Salt has completely Nuked my tank. To say the least I am ****ing ****ed. All the years of work and thousands spent have been ****ed down the drain.

For the record I have used this salt off and on for years with no problems(minus the alk spikes) .The impact was immediate on my tank after doing my water change. The water became instantly cloudy(as of now is still cloudy and smells bad) and my clown started swimming frantically around the tank. At this time it was 12am so I turned off the lights. When I checked my tank at 8am 99% of my LPS are dead or dying.

[lpsreefer]

What is the Bach number?
Where did you buy it?

[FishyFishy!]

I've heard a lot of this lately with the Reef Crystals. I think there is a bad batch going around.

[JMes]

I bought it at Golds last week.
5137801706
RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A
IN01706-905

[Borderjumper]

I bought it at Golds last week.
5137801706
RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A
IN01706-905

I wonder if that means its a batch from April 2009?? If so maybe something settled or went bad?

[fishytime]

holy crap Jason!......so sorry to hear you lost everything.....also sorry I never got that frag of rainbow off ya:neutral:.....might have been able to get a frag of it back to you now.....

[Enigma]

Wow. This is royally crappy!

Just to be clear . . . This is the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals that did this?

[Nano]

Yikes thanks for the warning I just bought a brand new bucket, I'll check my batch number when I get home

[Enigma]

It looks like this person here had the same batch:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1961866

Edit: Based on the "RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A" identifier.

[Coralgurl]

I have a bucket I bought from Golds a few weeks ago, have done a couple of water changes and no issues. I will check my info when I get home.

Is there anything that can be offered to help out? I'm in the NW and have 2 tanks going if your fish need somewhere to go, I have room.

[hkreefjunkie]

Damn! Sorry to hear that! That totally sucks! Thanks for the heads up!

[Coleus]

sorry to hear, that really sucks. Nothing is reliable and safe any more. There must be something in that salt that can make things go bad so quick

[rayjay]

Keep in mind that there is an excellent chance that what happened was just co-incidental with the use of that bucket of RC salt.
If it wasn't, the store has likely sold a lot of that batch and if no one else is reporting wipe outs, then I'd be looking for some other cause, just in case.

[Ross]

Holy Crap!
Thanks for the heads up!

I have 10-15 gallons of Seachem mixed up if you need it or are you picking up skeletons at this point?

[magikof7]

I'm sorry for your loss!

I have a bucket of that batch I bought from petsmart. I havent started my reef tank yet but started my qt 2 weeks ago, it is still cloudy.
Is there a way to test the salt before setting up my DT tank with it just in case? Even if there is the slight chance it is a bad batch I don't want to start out with a catastrophe. :)

[JMes]

Well,its a 100% loss of my LPS collection. The only thing left that is alive are my purple deaths. I took a quick pic what is left from about 30 or so colonys.

before.
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg283/jmes168/a002.jpg

as of this morning
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg283/jmes168/dead1.jpg

What it looked like before
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg283/jmes168/a006.jpg

and now
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg283/jmes168/dead2.jpg
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg283/jmes168/dead3.jpg

The system in question has been running for over 4 years. I have not added any new fish since then. I have not added any coral since sept of last year. All my parameters are in check. I always keep on top of my tank maintenance. ALL my LPS was healthy untill I did my water change with this salt. There is absolutely no question that there is something wrong with this batch of salt. Just check on RC board. There are already people with the same issues as me.

[FishyFishy!]

I'm sorry for your loss!

I have a bucket of that batch I bought from petsmart. I havent started my reef tank yet but started my qt 2 weeks ago, it is still cloudy.
Is there a way to test the salt before setting up my DT tank with it just in case? Even if there is the slight chance it is a bad batch I don't want to start out with a catastrophe. :)


If it's still cloudy 2 weeks after... then you definitly have an issue. Bad salt or poor filtration, whatever is causing it, you need to do something about it for sure.

I would dump that pail and buy a new one.

[magikof7]

Thanks, Ill do that especially after seeing those pics! What a kick in the.....head.

[FishyFishy!]

Well,its a 100% loss of my LPS collection. The only thing left that is alive are my purple deaths. I took a quick pic what is left from about 30 or so colonys.

The system in question has been running for over 4 years. I have not added any new fish since then. I have not added any coral since sept of last year. All my parameters are in check. I always keep on top of my tank maintenance. ALL my LPS was healthy untill I did my water change with this salt. There is absolutely no question that there is something wrong with this batch of salt. Just check on RC board. There are already people with the same issues as me.


I wonder if this is proved in some way.... what would Instant Ocean do?

I'd take pics of everything you lost and fight to have them replace it!

You'd think that they would have some sort of quality control in place so that this crap dosn't happen.

[Enigma]

Well,its a 100% loss of my LPS collection.

Truly dreadful. :( You had a stunning collection.

[Snaz]

It looks like this person here had the same batch:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1961866

Edit: Based on the "RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A" identifier.

Perhaps someone should call the LFS and advise to pull the other buckets if any. Two tanks with the same symptoms and same batch is more than a coincidence.

[Coralgurl]

That's weird as the RC thread is from January 2011.

[lpsreefer]

I bought it at Golds last week.
5137801706
RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A
IN01706-905

those numbers are not the batch number.
those numbers just mean reef crystal salt 160 gallon in a 5 gallon bucket.
i have the 200 gallon boxes and the batch number is on each bag.
as i look threw all my buckets of reef crystal salt and i have no clue where the buckets keep the batch number.
i dont know if this info helps. ill try calling instance ocean and ask where to find it on the buckets.

[Starry]

Didnt think that was the batch # as all my empty buckets have the same #.....i just mixed up 45 gallons for a wc. glad i didnt use it yet....nervous now!

[Nano]

I wonder if this is proved in some way.... what would Instant Ocean do?

I'd take pics of everything you lost and fight to have them replace it!

You'd think that they would have some sort of quality control in place so that this crap dosn't happen.

+1 when I crashed from bad Kent carbon, they hooked me up good with an rodi, aquadoser (drips system) and a few other randoms. All i had to do was report the batch number with before and after pics.

[Enigma]

I bought it at Golds last week.
5137801706
RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A
IN01706-905

From RC:
051378017060
RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A
IN01706-905

Didnt think that was the batch # as all my empty buckets have the same #.....i just mixed up 45 gallons for a wc. glad i didnt use it yet....nervous now!

The RC1 number was what I searched the internet for, but the other two numbers are the same on both buckets (minus the leading and end zeros in JMes' numbers).

I'd say they're the same . . . unless there is another number on the buckets somewhere that is relevant?

[wmcinnes]

the same number is on my bucket at home and its almost empty.. ive had no problems..

[Zoaelite]

Whoa... So sorry for your loss James I can only imagine how painful that must be. Do you still have the bucket, from the RC thread he noticed a change in the bucket plastic, perhaps this caused the problem? Either way I would be contacting Reef Crystals, I hope they give you some credit here.


FROM REEFCENTRAL

I took a closer look at all my empty buckets of Instant Ocean salt which I reuse to do the water changes and out of 8 of them, all older ones are made of HDPE plastic (number 2 for recycling purposes). The last one, where the offending ReefCrystals were is made of PP (recycling number 5). The pail manufacturer is ROPAK (800)-387-3779. Interesting coincidence or we have found the problem?

BTW - the pail of Coralife salt is made of HDPE, number 2 same as all the older IO salt pails.

Can you guys check what plastic type are your pails of salt made of?

[ScubaSteve]

I got a batch of RC a month or two ago and have just recently started using it. I've maybe done 3 WC with the new batch. Ever since making the switch things haven't been right in the tank. I've had a couple SPS colonies crap out and I've been having weird cyano and algae outbreaks that I've never seem before. Nothing else has changed except for the salt. I was wondering this weekend if there was something up with the salt, especially after the last WC and there was a weird sediment left behind the in the mixing bucket.

[Nano]

That's weird my last bucket left sediment as well. Like a hard white almost calcium substance. This new one is fine so far, still haven't checked the batch though.

[whatcaneyedo]

I bought it at Golds last week.
5137801706
RC1-160P 04/09 REV.A
IN01706-905

I've got two full unopened buckets with these numbers. I think I purchased them at Ocean Aquatics a few months ago. The sticker on the lid says 11332.

[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.

[JMes]

Just like to add a BIG thank you to Concept Aquatics for the good deal on salt. I will be doing a major water change asap.

Sorry,I made a mistake on the batch number. I just looked at some old buckets and mattjoly85 you are correct. Can we please verify where Instant Ocean places the batch numbers? The only sticker on the bucket is on the lid which reads 12128. Correct me if I am wrong but I assume that is the batch number?
Levi,
Yes,I still have the whole 160 bucket. I only mixed up 6 gallons from it.(my tank is only 25 gal)

[Enigma]

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]

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]

@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.

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)

[rstar]

Did you hapen to mix up the salt bucket before you used any of the salt? I too bought the same bucket of salt (with the free tee shirt) When I opened it, I noticed a pretty good degree of separation in the salt mix and thouroughly mixed the salt before I used it, and have had no problems with it so far (done two water changes).

[reefwars]

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)

dude that sucks , gives credit to those who dont do water changes , after reading this i may go that route now too:( sorry for your coral loss when you start back and your tank is healthy ill give you back a purple death frag(or anyones you like) to help you stock up again

[sphelps]

One potential issue I'll point out which may or may not be relevant is the amount of the salt you mixed up. Although rare I've seen it cause similar issues before when small portions of large pail of salt is mixed for water changes, you can end up overdosing on something if the salt pail is poorly mixed or something has separated. IMO if you're unable to mix large portions of a pail at once then you should use smaller packages.

[FishyFishy!]

One potential issue I'll point out which may or may not be relevant is the amount of the salt you mixed up. Although rare I've seen it cause similar issues before when small portions of large pail of salt is mixed for water changes, you can end up overdosing on something if the salt pail is poorly mixed or something has separated. IMO if you're unable to mix large portions of a pail at once then you should use smaller packages.


I suppose that comes back to the good old rule "roll your buckets"

[JMes]

Sorry,I should have added this in my last post as its an important point. I always roll my new buckets of salt before I open it. I also go one step further. I take out all the salt and place it into four 3 gal buckets. I use my handy mixing spoon and stir up each bucket. While pouring the salt back in the original bucket I am stirring it with my spoon tyring to mix it as much as possible.

I have have used Reef Crystals for years and it has always mixed up clear for me. The BIG red flag on this salt is how cloudy it mixes up(The cloudyness does not go away).This is not normal. In all he years doing this I have never experience anything like it. I am using a ATI 6 bulb Powermodule. The light is 6" from the surface,tank is only 14" high and the light couldn't penetrate to the bottom.

[reefwars]

maybe i missed it but have you tested the new batch of salt by its self to see whats causing this or if anything is off??

[daniella3d]

There is no point talking about this if you don't have it analyzed and then confirm what you are saying or not. Only a real lab analysis will tell if it is the salt or something else.

for now everything read here is just pure speculation and could be a lot of reasons for the problem.

As for me, I won't stop using Reef crystal as I have very good result with it. If any batch of salt would mix cloudy I would definitly not use it and if I had such issue with my corals I would have the salt tested.

With Kent carbon, hundreds of people had bought and use the carbon and crashed their tank, but this seem to be a very isolated problem.


Sorry,I should have added this in my last post as its an important point. I always roll my new buckets of salt before I open it. I also go one step further. I take out all the salt and place it into four 3 gal buckets. I use my handy mixing spoon and stir up each bucket. While pouring the salt back in the original bucket I am stirring it with my spoon tyring to mix it as much as possible.

I have have used Reef Crystals for years and it has always mixed up clear for me. The BIG red flag on this salt is how cloudy it mixes up(The cloudyness does not go away).This is not normal. In all he years doing this I have never experience anything like it. I am using a ATI 6 bulb Powermodule. The light is 6" from the surface,tank is only 14" high and the light couldn't penetrate to the bottom.

[fishoholic]

So sorry to hear that really sucks.

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?

Not everyone who is in the hobby is part of an internet fish group. Just because there haven't been hundreds of reports doesn't mean hundreds haven't been affected. Working at AI I would say about 80% of our customers have nothing to do with internet fish boards and have no desire to join any either.

[rayjay]

I took that into account with the "hundred" figure.
How many stores are sending all this salt with this batch number back because all their customers are experiencing wipe outs?

[Seriak]

I just opened a batch of Reef Crystals and no problems. I agree that it has to be something to do with the water change. Either way, it's good to know that if my water ever mixes up cloudy, I should scrap that salt. Sorry for the loss.

[Skimmerking]

I have never rolled my salt. weird and i have ben in the hobby since 2002

[reefwars]

I have never rolled my salt. weird and i have ben in the hobby since 2002



same here mike, i doubt rolling the bucket or not would kill off a tank:)maybe if you ran an sps dominant it would mess with your params a bit but to kill a lps tank in 8hrs not likely.

jason i would def get the salt tested somethings not right there, goodluck buddy:)

[reefwars]

I took that into account with the "hundred" figure.
How many stores are sending all this salt with this batch number back because all their customers are experiencing wipe outs?


is it not possible that its only a bucket or a very small amount of buckets that could have this??

why does the whole batch have to be tainted??

is it not possible the bucket could have been contaminated before salt was added??

or is it not possible there was an error in packaging??

[Doug]

I have never rolled my salt. weird and i have ben in the hobby since 2002

Yup same and 30yrs of salty. Learn something new everyday.

[ashr]

Wow.. so sorry to hear this! I hope something goods out of this for you!

[rayjay]

is it not possible that its only a bucket or a very small amount of buckets that could have this??

why does the whole batch have to be tainted??

is it not possible the bucket could have been contaminated before salt was added??

or is it not possible there was an error in packaging??
Based on today's production methods, there isn't much chance of just one or a few buckets having a problem, either before filling or while or after.
There is no way to say absolutely that it can't happen, just highly unlikely.

[reefwars]

Based on today's production methods, there isn't much chance of just one or a few buckets having a problem, either before filling or while or after.
There is no way to say absolutely that it can't happen, just highly unlikely.


agreed def unlikely to happen often as im sure they dop quality control but not impossible human error still has a chance untill the bucket of salt is in someones home:)


either way this sucks for jmes:(

[daniella3d]

yeah sure...just look how many have reported problems with Kent carbon, and I am 110% sure there are FAR MORE people using Reef Crystal than those that use Kent carbon.

It's a small world.

So sorry to hear that really sucks.
Not everyone who is in the hobby is part of an internet fish group. Just because there haven't been hundreds of reports doesn't mean hundreds haven't been affected. Working at AI I would say about 80% of our customers have nothing to do with internet fish boards and have no desire to join any either.

[don.ald]

Yup same and 30yrs of salty. Learn something new everyday.

people may want to check with salt manufactures but i dont think they recommend you roll their buckets before use?

[reefwars]

people may want to check with salt manufactures but i dont think they recommend you roll their buckets before use?


you would think if they did it would be written on the bucket i know mine doesnt say anything about it:)

[rayjay]

human error still has a chance untill the bucket of salt is in someones home
And, quite possibly WHILE in someones home.

[Cal_stir]

you would think if they did it would be written on the bucket i know mine doesnt say anything about it:)

H2Ocean does recommend a thourough mixing of their salt prior to use, they use different grain sizes in their mix that tend to settle out during transport.

[reefwars]

H2Ocean does recommend a thourough mixing of their salt prior to use, they use different grain sizes in their mix that tend to settle out during transport.


it says this on heir packaging??

[Cal_stir]

Yes, when you open the pail there is a leaflet explaining it inside, the salt is in a plastic bag in the pail. No instructions on outside of pail.

[reefwars]

Yes, when you open the pail there is a leaflet explaining it inside, the salt is in a plastic bag in the pail. No instructions on outside of pail.

thats good to know, now if they would drop the hugeeee price lol its way to expensive:P

[Coralgurl]

Interestingly, threads on other forums are starting to pop up regarding issues with reef crystal salt. Doesn't appear this is a one off situation.

[Enigma]

So Jmes . . . Did your water look like this?

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/a435/Iasgair/IMG-20120825-00066.jpg

New bucket of instant ocean reef crystals. No sticker on lid. No t-shirt in bucket.

That's about 15 gallons of water that I mixed up about two hours ago. Just went downstairs to check the salinity, and that's what it looks like. It didn't look like that when I was mixing it . . . The clouding happened over time.

[Snaz]

Egads that looks horrible.


Here is a Google search for "cloudy reef crystals" during the past 12 months only. Seems like quite a few hits.
http://www.google.ca/search?q=cloudy+reef+crystals&hl=en&client=chrome-mobile&tbo=1&rlz=1Y3PGWF_enCA495CA495&output=search&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:y&sa=X&ei=nHs5UNuoNqfxiwKz6oCQBQ&ved=0CAsQpwUoBQ&biw=360&bih=592

[badAZZlars]

Yeah my reef crystals mixes clear in 5 minutes. That definitely doesn't look right.

[Enigma]

Thankfully it happened before it went into my system.

It smells fine. It tests fine (for reef crystals). Idk.

[Enigma]

Yeah my reef crystals mixes clear in 5 minutes. That definitely doesn't look right.

It immediatly mixed clear. That happened later.

[rayjay]

aerate overnight and see how it is in the am.

[daniella3d]

Calcium precipitation?

It immediatly mixed clear. That happened later.

[Enigma]

Calcium precipitation?

It could be.

aerate overnight and see how it is in the am.

Still cloudy, but it is possible to see some particulates today. I suspect Daniella is correct, though I have no idea why it would happen.

It doesn't smell bad, so I'm guess it is a different issue from what Jmes had.

[SteveConn]

Hmm.. should I be nervous about my next water change. Have 2 new buckets of Reef Crystals.. Tank is finally recovered from accidental copper exposure!

[rayjay]

Still cloudy, but it is possible to see some particulates today. I suspect Daniella is correct
If it is calcium precipitation, you will find a lower than normal test result when you test the new water for calcium.
If the test is normal, then it's not calcium precipitation.

[Enigma]

If it is calcium precipitation, you will find a lower than normal test result when you test the new water for calcium.
If the test is normal, then it's not calcium precipitation.

It is brutally low now . . . 140. Insane.