Dary's tank!

[Dary421]

Reef Crystals always leaves a nasty brown residue in my mixing drum. That, and Seachem Reef salt.

Ok... What do you use? .... My coral pro leaves a white residue ...i always think that its leaving alot of the good stuff behind..thats even with two powerheads running

 

[mr_X]

I still use it, but also use oceanic, red sea coral pro, kent, coralife....I generally alternate. My thinking is what one lacks, another will make up for.

 

[Dary421]

I still use it, but also use oceanic, red sea coral pro, kent, coralife....I generally alternate. My thinking is what one lacks, another will make up for.

Thats an interesting philosophy ... I have the reef crystals coming which ill try out but here again id like to. Try others too just to have some actual hands on use...do you ever just mix 'em all up together as a project " x" salt mix ( couldnt resist sorry ) or do you just let one bucket totally run out before switching over?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Thats a high recommendation coming from you....thank you... In your system you prob change 45-90 gals weekly ?

I do not change but 40 gallons of the 450 every other week. I dose and monitor constantly.

The reef crystals leaves some calcium deposits in my mixing drum, but have not seen any brown residue. Use to use Instant Ocean, but it turned into concrete once the bucket was opened. Didn't have enough calcium once my corals took off. I should think all the major brands are pretty similar. Some have more calcium than others.

 

[mr_X]

Dary, I usually use one bucket then change to another unless I see an issue. This time I bought Red Sea Coral Pro and Oceanic. I will be alternating those since oceanic has low Alk.

I will take a picture of the gunk in my mixing barrel.....

 

[Hondatek]

I get the Brown residue in my mixing can with the regular instant ocean. Haven't had any brown stuff using the reef crystals yet. Can't really say reef crystals are good or bad yet since my reef is still young but so far everytime I test I have 440 ca. 10 dkh and 1400-1450 mag. So far so good .

 

[Keithhjs]

I was using reef crystals too but wanted to try another brand after I too was getting a lot of deposits in my mixing container. I switched to Aqua Vitro Salinity and everything so far loves it. Been using it for about fix months now.

 

[Sniperhank]

I Ist switched from io to kent. In terms of mixing up it is so much better to mix and the residue is gone.

 

[Gregcoyote]

May have to try Kent sometime. Reef Crystals does leave some residue, but all salt mixes I tried left some. Haven't used Kent though.

Don't need a picture of residue, I certainly believe you, I have just seen white calcium deposited, can't imagine what the brown stuff is.

 

[Dary421]

It kinda looks like everyone is searching for just that perfect salt mix ( if it even exist ) I'll prob try the kent mix next if the reef crystals don't do it or me... It's kind of like I'm not really sure what I'm looking for but I'll know when I find it

 

[needmorecowbell]

I have the brown stuff too. My guess is its burnt calcium. It's hard and needs to be chiseled off of the reservoir. I've just did my first pwc with seachem reef salt, it didn't blow up my tank yet. I'll tell ya how it goes.

 

[Dary421]

I have the brown stuff too. My guess is its burnt calcium. It's hard and needs to be chiseled off of the reservoir. I've just did my first pwc with seachem reef salt, it didn't blow up my tank yet. I'll tell ya how it goes.

It's weird that different salt mixes leave different stuff and colors,...when my tank was starting off a while back I was using coral life salt(?) because it was cheap and readily available ,I remember that it left behind no residue ,maybe it just didn't have enough xtra minerals to leave anything ,I'm not sure ,... My coral pro which I've been using for the last couple of years leaves a white mess that I usually scrub out after every four or five PWC's .

 

[Gregcoyote]

I have a big power head in the bottom of my 40 gallon tub that keeps everything moving around. Still get some white calcium precipitate.

 

[Dary421]

I have a big power head in the bottom of my 40 gallon tub that keeps everything moving around. Still get some white calcium precipitate.

I'm running two power heads in my 55 gal drum and I still get the junk,...I guess it's just the nature of the beast :- /

 

[mr_X]

This is not hard brown residue I'm talking about- It's a slimy coating that ends up covering everything. Even the pump I have in the bottom of my barrel is brown if I pull it out and will make your hands brown if you touch it.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Sounds a lot like iron. The hose in my barrel gets slimy but no color to it. Wonder what the difference is. I've used reef crystals for a long time and never noticed it.

 

[Dary421]

Sounds a lot like iron. The hose in my barrel gets slimy but no color to it. Wonder what the difference is. I've used reef crystals for a long time and never noticed it.

What's weird about this is that one person gets ugly brown slime and another doesn't ,..seemingly everyone here is using an RODI unit along with a powerhead and heater too,...maybe it's the local water being used at the time or maybe its the mixing container itself or the temperature as its being mixed....doesn't make much sense.
It'll be like everyone is given the same Box of Betty Crocker white cake mix right off of the shelf,....yours come out yellow ,Doug's comes out brown and I end up with white...must be a common denominator somewhere there causing it.

 

[mr_X]

I'm using R.O.D.I. water. My sediment filter ends up looking like this after a short time though.....

looks familiar, and I would say this is the culprit except for the fact that I fill 2 barrels up- one with fresh and the other is the mixing barrel. Only the mixing barrel has the gritty brown slime. That, and the T.D.S. of the outgoing is good also. It's definitely coming from the salt.

 

[Dary421]

I'm using R.O.D.I. water. My sediment filter ends up looking like this after a short time though.....

looks familiar, and I would say this is the culprit except for the fact that I fill 2 barrels up- one with fresh and the other is the mixing barrel. Only the mixing barrel has the gritty brown slime. That, and the T.D.S. of the outgoing is good also. It's definitely coming from the salt.

Wow,....that picture reminds me of the movie " walk the line" where Johnny cash is at San quentin and holds up that glass of yellow brown water and asks the prisoners ' you drink this s#%?" ....
Re.salt ,..so you think that maybe there's a variation from salt bucket to salt bucket that may or may not cause the " brown slime" and it's just a crap shoot as wether you get one or not ? If some people get the slime and others don't than its just nuts .
They may have to put warning labels on the salt bucks saying prolonged use of this product may cause brown slime lol
Itll prob just be another saltwater mystery gone unsolved

 

[Gregcoyote]

We have a lot of iron in our water. My sediment filter gets gooey brown on it as well. Makes you not drink tap water.