This is my last resort before i completely give up on my tank. I believe i have gha

[BigRedReefer MT]

Good news that it is getting better. As far as salt, I use instant ocean reef crystals. Certainly not the best but it's what they carry at Petco and PetSmart in my area. Brs did a couple videos recently on salt as far as mixing time and precipitation of calcium and alk. It seems like tropic marine coral pro is better than most, but they even admit that salt choice is negligible in a thriving reef as long as you pay attention to everything else. Again, I'm glad things are improving in your tank.

 

[DuckyinthePotty]

Glad you figured out the problem! Consistent water changes should take care of the excessive growth in no time. I got two trochus snails and they do a fantastic job of cleaning the mats of algae that are in my 10g frag tank. They are chewing that stuff up just a bit faster than it's growing out.

I hear from everyone that the brand of salt doesn't really matter as long as the tank parameters are consistent. I think the only thing is how much precipitate and gunk settles out of the mix which translates to needing to clean your salt mixing containers more frequently. As long as it's new salt it should be good. I had some salt in sealed bags sitting in a huge rubbermaid container with a bottle of ammonia and somehow all my bags of salt soaked up the ammonia and all the water I made with the salt was contaminated with ammonia. Not sure how the ammonia "leaked" out since the bottle was nearly full and the rubbermaid was dry inside. Lesson learned: always check your water if you use old salt. Heck, check it even if you use new salt, you can never be too careful with the thousands of dollars we pour into this hobby.

But to answer your question, currently using red sea blue bucket and so far corals and fish are doing well. There is sediment that settles out after mixing and I try to clean my 5 gal mixing buckets regularly to prevent excessive build up. I used instant ocean reef crystals years ago when I tried to get into the hobby and it kept fish alive but that was the salt that got contaminated with my bottle of ammonia so I just thought i'd try a new brand of salt.

Just FYI i'm pretty new to the hobby but I can only tell you what I have noticed thus far either from my very limited personal experience/observation and all the information I gather from the web.

 

[Abonifay]

I bought a bucket of Red Sea and a reverse osmosis system so i don’t even need to get water from lfs anymore. My salt level has almost claimed to an appropriate level but i need to do one more water change before i am ok with where it’s at and hopefully smooth sailing from there. Also the gha is turning brown and dissipating now i just need to keep a little in there for the blennys

 

[DuckyinthePotty]

Yay! Good to hear that your tank is finally turning around. My two trochus snails and pictus blenny must have been super hungry when they first arrived because they made quick work of a majority of the algae but even with the constant grazing there is still plenty for them to eat and it's been almost a month since I added them. Just be patient and add/change things slowly if you want to kept them fed naturally. If you run out of food I read nori or algae wafers will work so maybe just have some on hand?

 

[Abonifay]

Yay! Good to hear that your tank is finally turning around. My two trochus snails and pictus blenny must have been super hungry when they first arrived because they made quick work of a majority of the algae but even with the constant grazing there is still plenty for them to eat and it's been almost a month since I added them. Just be patient and add/change things slowly if you want to kept them fed naturally. If you run out of food I read nori or algae wafers will work so maybe just have some on hand?

I’ll take that good advice. Thank you i appreciate it!

 

[DuckyinthePotty]

Np. I hope it all goes well for you!

 

[acan-man]

Glad its getting better

 

[Abonifay]

I post some pictures as it gets better

 

[madweazl]

Any brand salt will work just fine; pick one that is easy to find is my only recommendation. It's nice to be able to run into Petco (or the like) for salt in an emergency. I have a successful acropora dominant tank and use cheap, regular old Instant Ocean.

 

[Zohar78]

its seems atleast in my area, lfs tend to atleast carry red sea and fritz. petco has the live aquaria salt and of course instant ocean.