Fritz Salt Issues?

[Crabs McJones]

I've been using Fritz sale for a couple years now, but lately I've been having issues with montipora paling out. And I've heard that other users are having similar issues. Does anyone know what might be going on? Going to switch to Red Sea Blue bucket as I've exhausted all other possibilities. At first I thought my caulerpa went sexual so I pulled it all and left only chaeto. Then I thought my toadstool was releasing toxins from me fragging it. So I pulled him out. Replaced my water mixing containers with grey brute trashcans as I thought maybe the black ones might be releasing stuff into the water as I found out they were freezing temp resistant. Afterwords I did a series of water changes and everything seems to be at a standstill. Not getting any worse but doesn't appear to be getting better.
Only thing I haven't done yet, but am doing today, is changing out all my RO/DI filters including new RO membranes. Was getting 0 TDS water but thought maybe something that the meter doesn't read was getting through as I've had a small algae outbreak.

If I had any hair left i'd be pulling it out.
Any and all suggestions welcome.

Parameters have stayed pretty consistent, these were the numbers as of last night
Sg 1.026
Alk 8.1
Calcium 440
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2.5 PPM
Phosphate .03 PPM
Temp 78.2 depended on the day

Thanks in advance and here is some glitter to brighten up your day!

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Interesting....

I've been using blue bucket for about a year. The last time I got salt I did get fritz. I have done a handful of large wcs lately to get no3 down and haven't noticed any issues.

The one thing I do find about this salt though is if I keep it mixing for an extended period the dkh dramatically drops.

Following along

Probably will go back to blue bucket after this mix or maybe topic marin

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Keep us updated. I am curious on what the solution to them paling out is. I do not use fritz but did have issues with montis paling out a while back, and it was due to my PO4 bottoming out. But if you are at .03 (even figuring in a .01 margin of error), they still have some to consume.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Funny is, I had a 200 gal mix of Fritx and my very montis responded the same to that salt. Switched to Re sea Coral pro and monti bounced back 85%

 

[Daniel92481]

I used to use Fritz blue box, but want to go with Red Sea blue bucket on my next setup. This is news to me, as I haven’t heard anything but good things about Fritz, and is why I chose it before. I hope you get it all worked out. Maybe sprinkle some of that glitter in your tank!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I used to use Fritz blue box, but want to go with Red Sea blue bucket on my next setup. This is news to me, as I haven’t heard anything but good things about Fritz, and is why I chose it before. I hope you get it all worked out. Maybe sprinkle some of that glitter in your tank!

Salt was good..... just not for montis and a couple of acro

 

[JakeLikesReefs]

I recently used this salt. My montis were the first to bleach. My LPS began to struggle next. Two of my zoa colonies began to close up and shrink down. I did ICP test on RODI and tank water with near perfect chemistry.

I switched to reef crystals almost two weeks ago and corals that weren't totally gone have began to come back and revitalize. It was inexplicable.

J

 

[Jason Collins]

I think I went through the same thing... I made a post about trying to figure out what was wrong with my tank. I went from instant ocean to fritz thinking i would get a little better salt... I lost all of my montis. A couple acro... All of my chalices and my gold rush favia! Lost hundreds of dollars in corals My parameters were good, i sent out water sample to ATI and i scored a 95%.

I plan on buying Tropic marin now and trying to stay with that... The main reason i wanted to switch from IO was just the white residue build up i my mixing station that everyone complains about... So figured I'd try something better and it seemed to wreck havoc on my tank. I should never have tried fritz.

 

[DancingShark]

Check Rico's reef tank on YouTube. He is having issues right now on his tank. He has narrowed it down to rocks or fritz salt mix. Leaning more to the salt mix. Fritz to my knowledge hasn't responded to his issues yet. It's all anecdote evidence right now tho.
Waiting for fritz and a icp test for me to have an opinion.

 

[Mrtakeoff53]

I’ve heard rumors Fritz’s is the same as Live Aquaria salt. With that said, I struggled with bleached Montis and STN on all my other SPS with my LA salt. I tried everything and finally switched salts. Within 3 days of going to IO Reef Crystals, everything started to come back. Tank is running smoothly now and STN has stopped. 99% sure it was the salt. I’d switch.

 

[JakeLikesReefs]

I think I went through the same thing... I made a post about trying to figure out what was wrong with my tank. I went from instant ocean to fritz thinking i would get a little better salt... I lost all of my montis. A couple acro... All of my chalices and my gold rush favia! Lost hundreds of dollars in corals My parameters were good, i sent out water sample to ATI and i scored a 95%.

I plan on buying Tropic marin now and trying to stay with that... The main reason i wanted to switch from IO was just the white residue build up i my mixing station that everyone complains about... So figured I'd try something better and it seemed to wreck havoc on my tank. I should never have tried fritz.

Dude, it was super rough. I had such a great growth going in my tank and the salt was a seemingly slow killer. I lost a few frags along the way and some other stuff got super receded. A 3 inch chalice colony is now a 1.5 inch colony -_-

J

 

[Bayareareefer18]

I've been using Fritz sale for a couple years now, but lately I've been having issues with montipora paling out. And I've heard that other users are having similar issues. Does anyone know what might be going on? Going to switch to Red Sea Blue bucket as I've exhausted all other possibilities. At first I thought my caulerpa went sexual so I pulled it all and left only chaeto. Then I thought my toadstool was releasing toxins from me fragging it. So I pulled him out. Replaced my water mixing containers with grey brute trashcans as I thought maybe the black ones might be releasing stuff into the water as I found out they were freezing temp resistant. Afterwords I did a series of water changes and everything seems to be at a standstill. Not getting any worse but doesn't appear to be getting better.
Only thing I haven't done yet, but am doing today, is changing out all my RO/DI filters including new RO membranes. Was getting 0 TDS water but thought maybe something that the meter doesn't read was getting through as I've had a small algae outbreak.

If I had any hair left i'd be pulling it out.
Any and all suggestions welcome.

Parameters have stayed pretty consistent, these were the numbers as of last night
Sg 1.026
Alk 8.1
Calcium 440
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2.5 PPM
Phosphate .03 PPM
Temp 78.2 depended on the day

Thanks in advance and here is some glitter to brighten up your day!

I too have been following along with Rico's issue. Very curious to see the results.

Wondering if there are a lot of inconsistencies from batch to batch. I only have a couple montis currently and have not noticed any change for the worse. I changed about 60 gallons of my 75 in about a week or so. 20G at a time

 

[TheHarold]

I think blaming the salt mix is in poor taste unless you have ICP testing proving that the parameters are problematic. Without that, it’s just shooting in the dark- looking for something to blame.

A few people may post that they agree with you, but you can find people that blame EVERY brand of salt. Red Sea, instant ocean, fritz, LA, etc.

Plenty of people use fritz- including me- with zero issues whatsoever. Excellent acropora coloration and growth.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I think blaming the salt mix is in poor taste unless you have ICP testing proving that the parameters are problematic. Without that, it’s just shooting in the dark- looking for something to blame.

A few people may post that they agree with you, but you can find people that blame EVERY brand of salt. Red Sea, instant ocean, fritz, LA, etc.

Plenty of people use fritz- including me- with zero issues whatsoever. Excellent acropora coloration and growth.

not putting the blame on the salt mix, just trying to rule it out as a possibility and get others input.

 

[TheHarold]

not putting the blame on the salt mix, just trying to rule it out as a possibility and get others input.

If looking at possibilities and extrapolating, it could just was easily be a new perfume in the home. Or a flake of drywall causing an issue. Or a temperature probe reading low.

What I mean is.... before one attributes a brand’s product to causing an issue, especially in a way that may cause others to avoid said brand, it would be good to have a even a little bit of evidence. It’s a scientific hobby; preferably not based on hunches.

 

[SeaDweller]

I used two boxes of the stuff. In the two boxes, luckily, nothing happened. The only positive thing I can say is how quickly it mixes up clear, but other than that I don't see any reason to buy anymore of it. My TMP mixes up clear in 15 mins, for 40+ gallons, and it's been around forever.

I know it was mentioned up there, but Rico's Aquarium was having issues a few days ago with widespread TN; obviously it's something in his water (I feel) and it's possibly his salt: Fritz. I've read some bad accounts of people losing their tanks when they switched over, coincidentally.

I stopped using it mainly because alk was mixing up all over the place, from 8.5-10.0 dkh

 

[Hemmdog]

I wonder what the potassium levels are on a freshly mixed batch. Low K is a big contributor to paling Montipora ime.

 

[happyhourhero]

This is the only product where sharing a bad experience is almost immediately refuted as user error or bad test kits. I have had their staff search my posts on fb and then private message me multiple times to emphasize it could not possibly have been the salt. I’m sure it’s 100% coincidence but the only time my tank has ever really gone through a bad phase where sps loss occurred on a large scale was when I was using Fritz. I use blue bucket now and won’t look back.

 

[Mrtakeoff53]

I wonder what the potassium levels are on a freshly mixed batch. Low K is a big contributor to paling Montipora ime.

I had that hunch too with my LA salt. Test kit showed 400ppm, right where it’s supposed to be.

 

[mich2599]

You know, I opened up a blue box of Fritz a couple of months ago and after a few water changes one of my monti is about to be dead, another lost color but is coming back, a hammer bleached, and my only acro lost color as well. Never thought about the salt mix.....