Oceanic Salt Mix PH issues

[FishyMel]

Hey! I'm new here. Been keeping aquarium fish for 12 years now, and just set up a 150 FOWLR tank to complement my African tanks The last time I did a saltwater tank was in the early 90's and it was a 75 gal w/ UG filter. Wow! Has the equipment changed since then! Anyhoo, I decided to use the newest blend in salt mixes, the one by Oceanic and I can't stand it. It left a scummy white film all over my live rock and glass and I premixed it and aerated for 24 hours! Plus, when mixed w/ RO/DI water, the Ph only runs 7.8. I have added lots of buffer to stabilize it. :x I just wanted to comment on this observation since I was paging through posts and saw that someone else had problems with Ph after using this blend. I am going to go back to the Red Sea mix I used to use, years ago!

 

[Atari]

Welcome to the forum

I've heard a similar problem from several people now, but many more seem to be happy with it. Strange how it varies so much from person to person.

I personally use Kent salt and get very good levels across the board.

 

[reefrunner69]

Sounds like you precipitated the MG or bicarbonate out of solution, either by mixing it wrong (adding the water to the salt, rather than the salt to the water) or, and I find this more likely, there was a pinhole in the bag of salt and it collected some moisture. Either way, this type of issue is common with many brands of salt, and can happen to any brand. I wouldn't give up on it just yet.

 

[Hara]

I have used a total of 2 big buckets so far and have not seen the problem you
are having....

Wow Kev .... I am going to head to bed a little smarter tonight. I honestly didnt know it made a difference on which you add to which. I have been doing it the right way on accident

 

[FishyMel]

Nope. I mixed it correctly. Still having PH problems tonight. We were down to 7.8 or so...Any ideas why my ph won't stablize? I am adding Kents Calcium Reactor now since Seachems Marine Buffer wasn't doing the trick. Kent's reactor adds Calcium, Magnesium and Strontium which should raise KH as well as PH. Could it just be the new tank syndrome messing with my PH. I have an argonite sand bed, 80 pounds of reef bones and 70 pounds of liverock as my substrate. I am also running a trickledown, protein skimmer and refugium if that helps any...

 

[reefrunner69]

There is still the possiblity that the salt took on moisture during storage, anyway, not sure why this wasn't asked before...what time of day are you testing the ph and are you testing the freshly mixed water. Curing LR and the nitrogen cycle in the tank will play havoc on your ph, you shouldn't even concern yourself with the ph until the cycle is over.

 

[quarryshark]

I switched to it about 3 months ago and have no issues. In fact my PH is a steady 8.2 before I add to my system. I do airate for at leat 12 hrs.
Have also noticed a increase in CA.
I do like the produst, sorry you are having trouble.

 

[pecan2phat]

There was a huge discussion on the Oceanic salt on the "other forum". Based on all the hobbyist testing and the rave on all the elevated levels, I had to try it. It's definitely high in calcium content, close to 600, but the KH was on the low side, about 7-7.5. I use this for my reef tank without any issues other than the alkalinity, but I won't use this in my FO tank. The calcium content is too high for a FO tank. Keeps my CA in the FO tank at over 500, Instant Ocean is just fine for the FO tank.