Acerone Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Did anyone here start off using Red Sea Coral Pro Salt and made the switch to D-D H2Ocean? What did you like better about D-D H2Ocean over RSCPS other then the numbers on page one.... Also If D-D H2Ocean is so much better how hard is it to switch from one salt to another.... Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Lots of people use RSCPS, including me....but I dont know anyone that has used it for long...including me I tried it and my corals did not seem happy when I did a water change. It would take a day or two for things too look normal, so I quit using it. Link to comment
Acerone Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Lots of people use RSCPS, including me....but I dont know anyone that has used it for long...including me. Is it true that D-D H2Ocean hasn't been sold in the US very long.... Link to comment
merfin70 Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Yea, that's about right, my TMPR would mix at a about 6/7 and then head towards 5 in the tank after a day or so. For me, it made things very unstable because of the heavy dosing required and the swings you would get each time you did a water change. Caused me to precip a couple of times which is when I gave up. Acerone - H2Ocean has better mag numbers than RSCP (perhaps higher Alk as well) which helps keep Ca and Alk in balance and easier to manage. Beyond that, I've not used RSCP myself so couldn't say more. Changing salts is easy, just start using it for new water changes. As MB said, you will notice a difference in your coral, generally a retraction, for a bit until they get used to the new salt mix. I switched my tank over with about three 30% changes over the course of a week. Probably took my tank 2-3 days to look "normal" again. Link to comment
dtfleming Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 When switching to a new salt. Start with 1/3 new and 2/3 old salt. Next WC 2/3 new and 1/3 old, Next WC all new salt. This way you dont shock your corals. Link to comment
Acerone Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 When switching to a new salt. Start with 1/3 new and 2/3 old salt. Next WC 2/3 new and 1/3 old, Next WC all new salt. This way you dont shock your corals. My tank is new, only 4 days old now with nothing in it just rocks and sand.. So I can do a full WC correct? Link to comment
merfin70 Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Water changes during your cycle will likely only delay the cycle from completing. Why not just use the new salt for future water changes once you get to that point. BTW, welcome to another Long Island reefer and good luck. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Water changes during your cycle will likely only delay the cycle from completing. Why not just use the new salt for future water changes once you get to that point. BTW, welcome to another Long Island reefer and good luck. Agreed. Link to comment
bdare Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Water changes during your cycle will likely only delay the cycle from completing. Why do you think that? Link to comment
merfin70 Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Wouldn't it just dilute the natural process that is taking place. Seems like extra work that doesn't provide much benefit unless levels were extreme. In this case, why change 100% of the water just to move to a different salt mix in a tank that is not fully cycled. Link to comment
bdare Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Wouldn't it just dilute the natural process that is taking place. Seems like extra work that doesn't provide much benefit unless levels were extreme. In this case, why change 100% of the water just to move to a different salt mix in a tank that is not fully cycled. There are a number of things that are being diluted when you perform water changes during a cycle... Amonia, disolved organics, phosphate, and even the beneficial bacteria you are trying to accumulate. IMO there are several reasons why it's good to dilute these things during the cycle: 1) By keeping Amonia levels down during the cycle you have a better chance of keeping as many hitch hikers alive. 2) Less algae following the cycle. By keeping phosphate and nitrate levels down from all the DOC's coming from decaying matter on your rock you'll have less of an algae bloom when the cycle is over. 3) If you follow #1 and #2 you'll also have fewer and less dramatic "mini-cycles" once your initial cycle is over. You've heard peole say your tank isn't really mature for 6 months? One of the reasons is because of mini cycles. You see... If you leave all that dying stuff on your rocks, it takes a TREMENDOUS amount of bacteria to consume all the amonia and nitrite put out. Eventually all that bacteria starves and dies. What does that produce? Amonia. And this continues until your tank finally reaches an equalibrium. When I cycle my tanks, I put JUST the rock in w/o sand. This gives me a chance to vacume all the dead stuff off the bottom of the tank w/o it getting stuck in the sand where it will decay. I also run a skimmer / carbon / phosban and cheato. I occasionally pull the rocks out and scrub them with water from water changes. When there is no more death on the rocks I'll add the sand. Bacteria will seed the sand in a short period of time. This is just how I do it. There are others that think you should let the tank cycle on it's own and let the algae that comes after the cycle consume all the nitrate and phosphate, but who want's to wait for the algae to die? If you are like me you don't. You'll end up adding carbon / macro algae and a skimmer anyway. Why not do it early in the process? Link to comment
merfin70 Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 I can't argue with your process and I can certainly say I wish I knew you back when I started to have gotten the advice on the rock without sand. At best, my rock was "lightly" cured when I received it and so my sand bed was a mess for a long time as the crapola came off the rock. Would have been sooooo much easier to clean up the tank without the sand at first. The scrubing bit might have also saved me the drama of the lovely Caulerpa I have to pluck now. But, we digress from H2Ocean. I happened to need some make up water and so mixed up some H2Ocean yesterday. Here is what I always see at the bottom of my bucket. I've read that RSCP uses a similar evaporative process to H2Ocean. When folks inquired on sediment with the RSCP, the manuf. said it was harmless and due to that evap process so I don't get myself worked up over it. Interested if anyone thinks its a problem. Link to comment
Acerone Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 merfin70, Where did you get your H2Ocean? Was it from a LFS? Link to comment
merfin70 Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Unfortunately no, got it online as no one local had it or was willing to order as it is a new product. Link to comment
dtfleming Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 marinedepot is the only place I've seen it. Link to comment
davidr2340 Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 I ordered mine from Gulf Aquaria. $10.00 cheaper than LFS wanted for the big bucket... Link to comment
PodRod Posted September 18, 2008 Author Share Posted September 18, 2008 Did anyone here start off using Red Sea Coral Pro Salt and made the switch to D-D H2Ocean? What did you like better about D-D H2Ocean over RSCPS other then the numbers on page one.... Also If D-D H2Ocean is so much better how hard is it to switch from one salt to another.... I switched to D-D H2Ocean from Red Sea Coral Pro. The only difference I could find was the elevated Mg levels wsith H2O. I ordered mine from Gulf Aquaria.$10.00 cheaper than LFS wanted for the big bucket... Same here - I purchased mine from Gulf Aquaria but I haven't shopped for it lately. I'll need some soon so let me know if anyone finds a deal... Link to comment
dtfleming Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Still like $69 for a big bucket. Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 $63 at aquariumspecialty.com Link to comment
PodRod Posted September 18, 2008 Author Share Posted September 18, 2008 with shipping? Nope, I just checked and the shipping is extra. Good news for me though, they are located in Charlotte and I'll be there in a couple of weeks! Link to comment
dtfleming Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 blah, Im gonna try the little bucket first and see before buying the bigger one. Link to comment
Acerone Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 I just placed my order for the smaller bucket of D-D H2Ocean.... Link to comment
hcsceo Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Any water test results? Link to comment
merfin70 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I did get a Phosphate kit just to see if the reports I was reading elsewhere had any truth to them and Phosphates tested at 0 for me, so I'm happy. We'll have to wait for the others to see if my results for Ca, Mag and Alk are consistent. Link to comment
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