Tropic Marin Pro Reef, bye bye

[Drendo]

Check your buckets, was the salt made at the Turkey facility or Germany?

Yup, just found out today why my tank crashed!

 

[BigRick]

Over the past 15 yes I've had brown clay that'll builds up but never black.... this is pretty concerning... now I'm wondering why my sps tank ain't doing so well either. ICP time I guess or maybe save some money and test iron.

 

[Duffer]

Folks, There is a good post on this . So many different post out there it's all confusing, but on this one Lou and Hans (Germany) from Tropic marin has been responding.

Pro Reef salt from Turkey

I just received a box of Pro Reef salt from the plant in Turkey and am weary to use it. I understand that @Lou Ekus has stated that the Turkey salt should be exactly the same as the German, however I've noticed some differences and wanting to see if anyone else has noticed or have encountered...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[spicymikey]

The recent buckets that I received have been fine, but the two that I received late last year left that brown funk residue at the bottom of my buckets. I just went through a crash and I wouldn’t be surprised if the bad salt had a hand in it. Good news is that I think it was limited to a bad run. Would love to hear TM respond. Honesty says a lot about a company.

I wouldn't say my tank crashed, but all my corals, with the exception of the softies, look stressed. SPS and most LPS are retracted and look sick. Exception is Duncans and two large Cynarinas, They look normal.

Yes, I would more than "love" to hear from them. I really expect to hear something from them, otherwise I might consider switching this year. I'm going to ask around to see if theres been any whisper answers given to more connected folks.

 

[spicymikey]

can you take a pic I'm mainly curious

Heres a pic. Keep in mind, this tank is very clean all the time. Hardly any sediment after use. After this last batch from a box I bought in November, my SPS and some LPS started getting stressed. I do a slow few gallon drip water change continuously. This weekend the mixing tank emptied and I went to remix a new batch. The tank has been refilled with another batch of TM Pro so its harder to see the bottom now that its full. But you can clearly see the dark brown or black bottom. It should be white like the walls. Also, we can see the brown residue on the sides and floating particles on surface. Its a mess!

I have one more 100gal TMP box in inventory. I'm going to drain this, clean the tank, and refill with that last box to do a test. If its still this bad, I'll have to switch off to something else.

 

[Drendo]

Has anyone heard from Lou with TM? He sent me an email with the survey, which I filled. He didn’t reply to my message and I have not heard a word since.

 

[MarkyMark_]

I've been seriously considering switching from IO to Tropic Marin Pro, but after reading this thread, I think I'll keep looking.

 

[kris1351]

This is my AWC bucket after 60 days of the latest TMP bucket. It was chunks of black stuff and my mixing brute was even worse. I’ve not had a bucket from Turkey so this is the German batches. I’ve sent pics and am waiting for a response. In the 2 years of using TMP this is a first.

 

[Drendo]

Over the past 15 yes I've had brown clay that'll builds up but never black.... this is pretty concerning... now I'm wondering why my sps tank ain't doing so well either. ICP time I guess or maybe save some money and test iron.

Rick,
I would suggest reaching out to Lou at TMC. You don't need to do an ICP test if you are using a batch from the Turkish plant. Here is a link from their website. https://www.tropic-marin.com/aktuel...2GFG3adtXOpHK_32XXso_a1GsUnp6eolgsXD526O1cIwg

I received "replacement salt", but at this point am waiting to find out the process for submitting a claim for my lost livestock. My loss was soul crushing and expensive!

 

[June Tegtmeier]

I have not had the time to spend on the forum lately and just discovered this issue. I have had the black film in my mixing can for the last few months as well and last week had my Goni melt completely however, my bucket is from Germany. I as a newbie just assumed that all salts eventually would leave a residue. Thinking back and connecting the dots I have had some cloudiness when mixing as well, I switched to TMP after watching BRStv reviews on salt and seeing how clean TM was. I have looked through the threads and have found a few posts saying buckets from Germany have also shown some issues, is that correct?

 

[Spieg]

I have not had the time to spend on the forum lately and just discovered this issue. I have had the black film in my mixing can for the last few months as well and last week had my Goni melt completely however, my bucket is from Germany. I as a newbie just assumed that all salts eventually would leave a residue. Thinking back and connecting the dots I have had some cloudiness when mixing as well, I switched to TMP after watching BRStv reviews on salt and seeing how clean TM was. I have looked through the threads and have found a few posts saying buckets from Germany have also shown some issues, is that correct?

I've seen this as well, but don't know how wide spread the reports are.

 

[elcapitan1993]

I use the Red Sea blue bucket, the coral pro is actually really bad to use, ESPECIALLY if your tank isn’t used to the excessively high parameters, I would go with the blue bucket, I have never had any issues with this salt

 

[Kfactor]

i clean my mixing station after every bucket and my last pail was turk and it was gross. i switch too blue bucket this sat and am sure it will be dirty but am also saving almost 60 dollers on a pail of salt

 

[Metcho]

So I’ve stopped using tropic marine pro after reading all the articles and then closing the turkey site. I ran two 200 gallon buckets threw my system till I found out this was all happing. I’ve lost thousands of dollars or sps. I tore apart my tank looking for answers and found nothing sent in a water analysis test nothing out. Then found out the turkey site was shut down. so only thing that’s changed in my system is when they started sending out salt for turkey. I have switch the Red Sea blue bucket again should’ve never switched years ago but all the hype and watching videos of how the salt was the best alway clear when mixed. All bs after turkey plant opened. They obviously found something to shut down the plant so basically taking some sort of blame. But I don’t see anything coming from it beside them wanting to replace the salt. I don’t want it and will probably never use it again. All salt have there ups and downs but this is the biggest loss in money with sps die off.