Oceanic salt = junk ???

[lapoolboy]

I have an Elos Mini that's been running for a year next month. All the contents of a Biocube 8 I had running for a year previous to that were transferred over. The corals have been doing O.K. but no real growth to speak of. One head on my frogspawn has split and that's about it. My toadstool is the exact same size, my mushrooms are exactly the same size, my zoas are not multiplying, etc. Everything is just sort of hanging in there - not dying, but not looking fabulous either. I am running the Elos marine E-lite.

I don't dose anything and don't want to start if at all possible. I have used Oceanic salt from the beginning and I find it to be low in most all parameters but calcium. I change 2 gallons a week (approx. 10%).

I want to give Reef Crystals a try and see if that gets all the parameters up where they should be without the need to dose anything. I'm thinking my corals would do better.

Can I just stop the Oceanic cold-turkey on my next water change and start using the Reef Crystals?

[stormrider27]

I use Oceanic with good results

[bertoni]

You should be able to switch to Reef Crystals with no problems.

[rpjaws74]

I agree but using reefcrystals is not gonna make your corals grow or bring out the best in them. the salt mix is just intended to keep parameters stable not to replenish what the corals suck up. for all that your asking it takes a combination of proper lighting and dosing the right amounts of calcium,alkalinity,magnesium etc...IMO!

[Sk8r]

You're not going to be able to use ANY salt to totally support stony coral. Ain't gonna happen. What you need to do is use kalk. I use Oceanic and have no trouble supporting a packed coral reef. This is about half what it is now. http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f269/Sk8r10/cleantank.jpg