Woohoo COLOR omg gtfo bbq

[Esper]

Apparently good things can happen quickly in this hobby!

I've had decent growth all along, but my acropora have been...brown. With nice colored tips, perhaps, but mostly tan and mostly brown. My green slimer was more white than green, and was very sensitive to light intensity. It's been driving me nuts.

I wish I could say that my corals colored up due to my perfect reefkeeping skills. I wish I could say that all those weeks of diligent water tests, and parameter adjustments, and perfect stability, finally paid off.

...Nope!

I just had to change salt mixes.

I won't say what the new mix is, because I don't want people to think I'm shilling a certain brand. Sorry.

I will say that my previous salt was mixing up cloudy, and my corals did not react well to a water change. Nothing died, they just stopped growing, and lacked polyp extension. Alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium all tested normal.

Once I switched to the new salt, my corals colored up in TWO DAYS. The unknown brown frag went from this color:


to this color:



In two days!

Here's my "bleached" green slimer. Before:


After:


The growth shown in the pictures occurred before they colored up.

I have an unusual SPS tank by most standards: 20L, no skimmer, no sump. T5 lighting. I do this because after 10 years, I'm bored with throwing money and technology at the tank, and I prefer a more natural approach. Until recently, I had no fish, either. Adding 2 fish (to get my nutrients up) started a small cycle, but didn't really help bring color back to the corals.

I still have one acropora (visible in the background) that still hasn't really colored up. That mystery continues!

My guess is that the previous salt was missing one or more trace elements that are better included in the new salt mix. I don't supplement trace elements, I rely on big, frequent water changes for that.

Any ideas?

[farfromsea]

When you switched salt did you do a giant water change (70%+) or just a normal weekly change? Curious about the brand but okay lol. My only guess is it a trace element. Did you compare the alk Mg Ca test results to the previous one? Some mixes have higher alk


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[Esper]

I started with the normal bi-weekly 33% water change with the old salt. It clouded up when added to the tank, so I bought a different salt mix and did a large change with that. 13 gallons out of an estimated 15-16 gallons in the tank means it was an 81%-86% water change with the new salt mix.

Alk was 9.3 dKh on the old salt, tested before the water change. I think it precipitated out (causing white cloudiness) and dropped the alkalinity in the tank, although I didn't measure the tank.

The new salt was lower, about 8 dKh. I realistically keep the tank between 8 and 9 dKh. Daily variance doesn't exceed 0.1 to 0.2 dkh, though.

I don't think alkalinity was the issue, as I've had it everywhere from 7 to 10 (changing slowly) without causing these drastic improvements.

[Esper]

I should reiterate that these corals were pale and brown for months before coloring up in two days. I changed salt mixes because a regular water change went bad, and then boom everything colored up with the new mix.

Perhaps a triton test on both mixes would be revealing.

[rodneyri]

what new salt are you using?

[codydemmel4]

i think it also has to do that you have a lot more nutrients in your tank now. no algae before and you can clearly see some now which a lot of the SPS like a small amount and color up a lot faster that way.

[Redfish1980]

I have seen some huge differences between salt mixes over several years. I have tried several "reef" salt mixes but found they are inconsistent. I am to the point now of using a cheaper salt that mixes well and clears up quick so I can add the elements at the levels I want. I'm sure someone will come up with a good option that gives the same results every time. Has anyone tried the aquaforest products yet? I haven't seen any reviews from SPS guys yet.

[71xlch]

Before pictures have pristine white bottom. The after algae everywhere. Clearly a difference in nutrients. I don't know if I'd champion the salt on that change.

[farfromsea]

Originally Posted by 71xlch

Before pictures have pristine white bottom. The after algae everywhere. Clearly a difference in nutrients. I don't know if I'd champion the salt on that change.

Before pic may have been long before the salt change? OP did say months went by without color. And I often forget to take before pictures and only find ancient ones. But good catch I didn't notice.


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[mannyhernz]

Seems fishy..pun intended.
I've never had salt mix change color on my sps in 2 days. Not even aminos.
Plz PM me both salts to conduct a small investigation

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[africangrey]

gtfo bbq what exactly does thses stand for?

[farfromsea]

Originally Posted by africangrey

gtfo bbq what exactly does thses stand for?

Gtfo is an acronym containing a curse word that I think is blocked on RC but you can search it.

The phrase omg gtfo BBQ is meant to make fun of the increasingly common use of acronyms to express emotion online. Definition: https://www.urbandictionary.com/defi...e&defid=474914

[yellojello]

That is amazing SPS growth in 2 days. Please PM me the salt brand before and after! I've used IO for years, but won some buckets of Fritz RPM to try.

[yellojello]

Ah, I read your tank journal. Growth is a couple months, but the color change you saw in 2 days.

[spkennyva]

Obviously its your choice, but if you won't profit from the sale of the salt mix I see no reason not to simply tell us the brand of salt you used. People talk about various experiences with salt mixes all the time. I think every salt mix that has ever been created has had both positive and negative comments. I seriously doubt your post is going to result in a flood of business either way.

I started with IO moved to Aquavitro Salinity, then moved back to IO. Honestly I feel my corals looked and grew better with Aquavitro Salinity. Probably going to switch back.

[Ucantwin]

When you said your saltwater was cloudy before, were you adding the salt before the water? I know if you add the salt first your get precipitation and the water will be cloudy and will not clear up.

[organism]

Why not just post the salt mix names so that we can get an idea of what might have changed? No one thinks you're shilling, it's a non issue and every other post is going to keep asking what it is which is going to clog up the thread.

[africangrey]

Man in this single thread I've learn two vocabularies that I've never heard before, shilling and gtfo bbq, man I feel so out of touch with this world.

Can someone educate me about "shilling", is that another teen word.

[Diana A]

Shillings means to stop all the lies

[jpfishfan09]

What salt did you switch to? I need help because my corals are also brown

[joshky]

Originally Posted by africangrey

Man in this single thread I've learn two vocabularies that I've never heard before, shilling and gtfo bbq, man I feel so out of touch with this world.

Can someone educate me about "shilling", is that another teen word.

Shilling is someone boasting about a product to drive sales under the false pretense that they're a customer, not a teen word, but outside of the internet it really isn't used.

[africangrey]

Originally Posted by joshky

Shilling is someone boasting about a product to drive sales under the false pretense that they're a customer, not a teen word, but outside of the internet it really isn't used.

Thanks for explanation, when I did a quick google search it came back with British coins, which I thought couldn't be right.

In this case, I would also like to know the salt brand the OP is using, the only clue we had right now is the salt mix the OP originally used, which is the infamous Aquavitro that mixed cloudy with some dirt like precipitation settling in the bottom. I have since switched to the IO and Aquaforest coral salt 1:1 mixture with great result. Hope this does not give an impression that I am shilling here.

[kevin.st]

Originally Posted by africangrey

Thanks for explanation, when I did a quick google search it came back with British coins, which I thought couldn't be right.

In this case, I would also like to know the salt brand the OP is using, the only clue we had right now is the salt mix the OP originally used, which is the infamous Aquavitro that mixed cloudy with some dirt like precipitation settling in the bottom. I have since switched to the IO and Aquaforest coral salt 1:1 mixture with great result. Hope this does not give an impression that I am shilling here.

Shill!

[africangrey]

Originally Posted by kevin.st

Shill!

Thanks.

Looking at the pics again, I think the OP has Dino infestation, hopefully it's not from the new salt.

[outssider]

shill or shilling is not a new term....I've heard this used way way before the internet existed