Instant Ocean Reef Crystals crashed my Tank!

[heliman206]

I have been using io reef crystals for years but I'm having issues as well. I buy my salt the only place in town which is petsmart. The last 2 160g pails and 50g bag that I have bought there have all read .25-.5 ammonia. Checked test kit on the fresh rodi water with 0 reading. Also checked test kit on tank which reads 0. I will no longer use io reef crystals. I have also had several fellow reefers in town check theirs and they all have the same readings.

[denny_C]

Originally Posted by heliman206

I have been using io reef crystals for years but I'm having issues as well. I buy my salt the only place in town which is petsmart. The last 2 160g pails and 50g bag that I have bought there have all read .25-.5 ammonia. Checked test kit on the fresh rodi water with 0 reading. Also checked test kit on tank which reads 0. I will no longer use io reef crystals. I have also had several fellow reefers in town check theirs and they all have the same readings.

amonia in salt is quite common as an impurity


from RHF:

There are a variety of sources of ammonia in reef aquaria. Minor sources include: 1) tap water (especially if it contains chloramine and is not treated with a deionizing resin) and 2) impurities in salt mixes and other additives. It has previously been shown that the total NH4-N ranged from 0.55 to 11.9 micromole/kg (0.008 to 0.17 ppm total NH4-N) in an analysis of eight brands of artificial seawater mixes. At the higher end of the scale, those levels will be detected with an ammonia test kit and can present potential toxicity concerns if fish are kept at those levels (see below). These levels of ammonia may be introduced from impurities in calcium chloride and magnesium chloride, where ammonia is a well known impurity resulting from some of the commercial manufacturing processes used (such as the Solvay process, which involves ammonia).

Calcium and magnesium additives can also be a significant source of ammonia, especially for aquarists who are trying to use inexpensive sources of bulk calcium or magnesium chloride. I discussed testing calcium chloride for ammonia in a previous article.

[DigitalWeight]

Just a thought here - do most people weight their salt when adding it into RODI? I do as I found the whole measured cup thing wildly inaccurate when I test the salinity of the newly prepared water (which I think is just good practice to do no matter what). You did say you tested the salinity so that should be fine - unless the testing was way off (no offense)?

A couple of more thoughts - how much water did you actually change - 20% or 80% - larger change can really impact things if the water is not close in parameters?

For the experts out there - is mixing for 2 days an issue at all? Perhaps not as it constantly gets mixed in the tank anyway but something in me remembers reading something about only letting salt mix until dissolved (not necessarily clear) and not for extended periods of time. Could the 2 day mixing time have any downside?

That said, I am still only 1.5 years into this whole crazy hobby so my questions/thoughts may be off base, but I wanted to throw that out there...

[Slyguy00]

I usually mix my new salt water for a day or 2 sometimes more. Never seemed to be a problem.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by denny@concept

amonia in salt is quite common as an impurity


from RHF:

There are a variety of sources of ammonia in reef aquaria. Minor sources include: 1) tap water (especially if it contains chloramine and is not treated with a deionizing resin) and 2) impurities in salt mixes and other additives. It has previously been shown that the total NH4-N ranged from 0.55 to 11.9 micromole/kg (0.008 to 0.17 ppm total NH4-N) in an analysis of eight brands of artificial seawater mixes. At the higher end of the scale, those levels will be detected with an ammonia test kit and can present potential toxicity concerns if fish are kept at those levels (see below). These levels of ammonia may be introduced from impurities in calcium chloride and magnesium chloride, where ammonia is a well known impurity resulting from some of the commercial manufacturing processes used (such as the Solvay process, which involves ammonia).

Calcium and magnesium additives can also be a significant source of ammonia, especially for aquarists who are trying to use inexpensive sources of bulk calcium or magnesium chloride. I discussed testing calcium chloride for ammonia in a previous article.

This is all very true. But if you have a well established tank, the nitrogen cycle will quickly digest and render a small amount of ammonia totally harmless when added to your tank. But if it is accompanied by other deaths (eg livestock) and lack of O2, then the ammonia can indeed be a problem, and can result in what we call a tank crash.

Don't know if your problems were directly related to the salt, but I wouldn't take a chance with it, if indeed that was the only actual change to your tank routine. Best of luck with your recovery.

[albert_dao]

Ummm, Reef Crystals has crashed tanks in the past. Go call the Vancouver Aquarium and ask them about 2012. Or y'all remember former TOTM member Fooser? Ever wonder why he's not really around anymore? Yup, Reef Crystals. I've had several clients that had tank wipe outs from RC's. Again, this was in 2012, but the precedence is there. Just because it didn't happen to you doesn't make it imputes to call BS on another person's experience.

[Samw]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Ummm, Reef Crystals has crashed tanks in the past. Go call the Vancouver Aquarium and ask them about 2012. Or y'all remember former TOTM member Fooser? Ever wonder why he's not really around anymore? Yup, Reef Crystals. I've had several clients that had tank wipe outs from RC's. Again, this was in 2012, but the precedence is there. Just because it didn't happen to you doesn't make it imputes to call BS on another person's experience.

Is this the one? No doubt I've had salt troubles too. But I'm surprised it would kill fish before killing the inverts. I've had Instant Ocean salt that mixed cloudy and never fully dissolved. After seeing my corals react poorly to it (and some sps die I think), I threw out the salt.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=89006

[albert_dao]

Originally Posted by Samw

Is this the one? No doubt I've had salt troubles too. But I'm surprised it would kill fish before killing the inverts. I've had Instant Ocean salt that mixed cloudy and never fully dissolved. After seeing my corals react poorly to it (and some sps die I think), I threw out the salt.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=89006

Hey! There it is

[Skim]

WOW that may explain a few things that have happened to my tank. I was using Seachem Reef Salt and I was running low. I was at the reef shop one day picking up a few frags and asked about the salt, all he had was RC so I thought I would give it a try. Well I did a 20 gal change and everything seemed OK and did another in a weeks time. I then noticed one frag had a spot, skeleton showing, OH NO sure enough in 2 days 4 frags poof gone I ( they had be in the tank for awhile ) have also lost a Pipe Fish for no reason ( Pipe fish had be the tank for about 4 months ) was eating well getting along seemed to be happy. Went to sleep next day did not see him and have not since. I also noticed skimmer just was behaving the same and polyps not coming out. I noticed it the most on a Gorgonian that I had, was a beauty blue polyps. Then I did another water change may have been 2 weeks but I used the last bit of Seachem that I had and within minutes the polyps on the Gorgonian where like a giant rose bush bursting but within a few days they slowly became less and less. I thought OK must be trace elements so I picked up some Aquavitro Fuel, hope I spelled that right, but did not help much. Now all other measurements have be acceptable not perfect but within parameters but I have pretty much lost the Gorgonian and 2 to 3 more frags and I have not done a water change in a while just have not got to it, but things seem to have settled down as in no more loses, but I did decide that I was going to use another Salt and I picked up some Coral Life Salt and thought would give it a try but now that I have read this I think I may have to jump on this and see if anything changes. Wow this may explain quite a few things even that I have not listed just so it stays on the shorter side.
I will do a few water changes and post if notice anything worthy.

Mike