is it ok to mix different salts in a reef tank?
hi i have a 20 gallon reef tank and i want to buy the petco premixed saltwater! i have heard nothing but good things about it and i would like to do a 25% water change with it! is this ok and in the future can i mix salts not exactly mix the actual salt i mean add salt to the aquarium and later on switch to another salt and do 25% water changes monthly til the water is all one salt?
i want to change salts because the one i have now is kinda cheap and i want vitamins and specially formulated stuff!
Using different brands of salt mix won’t hurt anything, just test your salinity and pH (at a bare minimum) to make sure your numbers are within proper range, as each brand may yield different results.
Unless the PETCO near you is different from mine though, I wouldn’t trust their brand of products. The PETCO my way has a very limited knowledge of proper salt water maintenance and care, and that seems to be a trend with many of their other stores. I would highly recommend testing their water before using it. I would check for proper Salinity, pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Calcium, Phosphates, and Total Dissolved Solids.
If it’s a name-brand product they sell, like Nutri-SeaWater, then it should be okay to use without extensive testing, but I would still check the salinity and pH.
It’s fine to do they way you mentioned. Just don’t change it all in one go as you may stress the fish with the change.
January 17th, 2010 at 12:02 amReferences :
Why would you want to change the salt? I reccomend that you just buy the one salt you want to change the water to. However if you have a reason for changing the salt, I might even do it by 10% to play it safe. You may even want to consult a Petco worker that specializes in fish.
January 17th, 2010 at 12:47 amReferences :
no it is not okay because the different salts will kill your fish.
January 17th, 2010 at 1:27 amReferences :
thanks
hell no don’t do it mixing salts will kill all of your fish use instant ocean or 40 fathom if you mix salt you will never get just one kind of salt in you tank
January 17th, 2010 at 1:35 amalso with such a small tank you really need to watch your ammonia nitrate and nit rats very close you can sometimes lose all fish in just one day if you move thing in the tank the fish will start to piss and run up your ammonia really quickly
References :
Using different brands of salt mix won’t hurt anything, just test your salinity and pH (at a bare minimum) to make sure your numbers are within proper range, as each brand may yield different results.
Unless the PETCO near you is different from mine though, I wouldn’t trust their brand of products. The PETCO my way has a very limited knowledge of proper salt water maintenance and care, and that seems to be a trend with many of their other stores. I would highly recommend testing their water before using it. I would check for proper Salinity, pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Calcium, Phosphates, and Total Dissolved Solids.
If it’s a name-brand product they sell, like Nutri-SeaWater, then it should be okay to use without extensive testing, but I would still check the salinity and pH.
January 17th, 2010 at 1:50 amReferences :