plz help asap salt question

[fish-man-t]

just getting a new tank going and im starting off with 50 gallons of new salt water reef crystals then i wana take 70 gallons from my display tank to top it off but my question is??? i have instant ocean in my dt and reef cyrstals in the new tank can i mix the 2???

 

[memphis]

Sure, but out of curiosity, why? Other than the money you would save on salt it would provide no benefit on a new tank.

 

[thomas712]

No way would I mix the two salts together, not to say that people have not done it, but I wouldn't. Just mix what you can out of either batch and use it that way. Just mix them seperate.
Fact is I'll never use Instant Ocean again, but thats just me. Depends on what type of tank you want. For a reef tank IO salt doesn't cut it.
Thomas

 

[memphis]

I have done it, what would be the problems? I did notice once that I had a PH swing that was a little out of the ordinary but I did a large water change (hence mixing the two) but could there be worse? Inquiring minds want to know! :notsure:

 

[fish-man-t]

thomas,, ok ill use all reef crystal, but now my concern is that!! can i use all my ls thats in my dt that is in instant ocean?? and what about all the corals and fish can i transfer them right away or do i have to cycle the new tank??? i was hoping by useing part old and part new water with all my old sand that i could just move all corals and fish right in to there new home. am i wrong in thinking this
thanks tom

 

[thomas712]

Originally Posted by Memphis
I have done it, what would be the problems? I did notice once that I had a PH swing that was a little out of the ordinary but I did a large water change (hence mixing the two) but could there be worse? Inquiring minds want to know! :notsure:

My 90 got wiped out by Instant Ocean, but that is neither here nor there for this person. With two different salts you will have two different values of calcium, alkalinity et.al.. If the two values of anything are wildly different you could have problems. That is the problem, you never know.

 

[thomas712]

Originally Posted by fish-man-t
Thomas,, can i use all my ls that's in my dt that is in instant ocean?? and what about all the corals and fish can i transfer them right away or do i have to cycle the new tank??? thanks tom
For best results you should cycle the new tank. The old water will do almost nothing for you even though its established so to speak. It's the bacteria that is on everything in the tank, not the water, that you need. It is this bacteria that processes the water.
I've gone from a 55 to a 90 gallon. I personally cycled the 90 on its own first. Then added the rock and base rock from the 55. I changed substrates though. Depending on the condition of your current sand bed you may be able to use it, but it would be better if you could just start a new one.
How long has your old sand bed been established?
How deep is it?
Thomas

 

[fish-man-t]

sand bed is 3-6 inches in spots and been up and running perfectly for almost 5 months

 

[christiiiii]

Originally Posted by Thomas712
My 90 got wiped out by Instant Ocean, but that is neither here nor there for this person. With two different salts you will have two different values of calcium, alkalinity et.al.. If the two values of anything are wildly different you could have problems. That is the problem, you never know.

The same exact thing happened to me with the instant ocean destroying my entire tank!!

 

[taznut]

maybe this is why i am losing all my corals... i use IO salt and all my levels are perfect but nothing seems to want to live... next time i get salt can i something else and slowly work it in with water changes??? i have a 20g and do 3g water changes...

 

[fbm]

I believe the problem thomas had with IO was he had a extremely high alkalinity in a batch. Something like 90 or so if I remember reading it correctly. If you levels are fine then your batch of IO is fine. Correct me if I am wrong thomas.

 

[thomas712]

Originally Posted by fbm
If you levels are fine then your batch of IO is fine. Correct me if I am wrong thomas.
Unfortunaltly I used IO for years and it never gave me great results, in fact very poor. In MY CASE, and in many others, it turned out that IO had very poor magnesium, this drove the calcium and alkalinity into constant downward spirals which caused the tank to be constantly dosed with alk and cal. It wasn't until I switched salts that my tank started to thrive. In my case I went to Oceanic salt.
IO salt just wasn't meant to be a reef salt. Fine for fish only maybe, but not a reef salt.
Thomas

 

[alohami]

Originally Posted by Thomas712
For best results you should cycle the new tank. The old water will do almost nothing for you even though its established so to speak. It's the bacteria that is on everything in the tank, not the water, that you need. It is this bacteria that processes the water.
I've gone from a 55 to a 90 gallon. I personally cycled the 90 on its own first. Then added the rock and base rock from the 55. I changed substrates though. Depending on the condition of your current sand bed you may be able to use it, but it would be better if you could just start a new one.
How long has your old sand bed been established?
How deep is it?
Thomas
Just curious as to why it would be better to start with a new sand bed? I am guessing part of the reason is because the original sand would be disturbed so much by moving it to the new tank.
On the other hand, since you would be cycling the new tank, why would that matter? You would obviously have to add more sand to it anyway, so is it somewhat detrimental to combine the old with the new?

 

[thomas712]

Like I said it depends on how old the old sand bed is, and if it has or had plenty of anoxic regions in it, or if you prefer bacteria areas that are devoid of oxygen, the type of bacteria that if released into the water would/could destroy all life and smell to high heaven. Even if starting a new system I would not chose to start one with an old sand bed. CAll if a preference.
This is not to say that it can't or hasn't been done before.
Thomas

 

[alohami]

That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying. I wasn't thinking that one all the way through. Disturbing it definately could be detrimental to the occupants of the current tank.
In that respect, it would be just as easy/safe to start with new sand. Would you then take a small amount of the old sand to seed the new, or just allow the established live rock to seed it?

 

[seasalt101]

as i am preparing to go to a reef tank and have 1/2 of a bucket of io now, and on a limited budget, my system is a 150gal. 205 gal total water volume, so i do 20 gal. water changes could i do say 15 gal. io and 5 gal of reef salt until my io is gone then (or when it starts to get say down to 1/4 of a bucket go half and half and i guess acclimate the mix) i am thinking i want to go tropic marine reef salt, but no place around here sells it, but i can get the io reef crystal salt here would that be an easier mix to blend, i can't just start over that is just not feasable thanks tobin :help:

 

[thomas712]

Taking a top layer of sand would be fine from an old sandbed to help establish a new one