Reef Crystals perhaps not so great

[sen5241b]

Last weekend I did a 50% water change using Reef Crystals. I had never used this salt before. My alk has been chronically low but my cal and mag were always high. My cal has been well over 400 and mag usually 1600 as far back as I can remember. I tested the water on Tuesday and my cal was at an all time low of 380 and my alk is barely 8 dkh! How is that even possible? I thought Reef Crystals salt was supposed to reduce the need for cal and other dosing?

 

[ccCapt]

The new formula Reef Crystals mixes to aprox 490 ca, 13 dKH alk and 1440 mag. I would guess either your test kits are way off, your parameters were very low before the 50% water change or you got a bad batch of really old Reef Crystals.

Synthetic Salt Mixes - Reef Central Online Community

 

[sen5241b]

I hadn't done a change in 6 weeks because my RO filter broke. Maybe the parms were already low but my corals seemed just fine.

 

[daugherty]

have you ever tried seachem reef salt

 

[dcantucson]

I use Red Sea Coral Pro

 

[daugherty]

i use oceanic and have used it for years. it is by far my favorite salt that i have used.

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

have you ever tried seachem reef salt

i use the seachem reef also. works well for me.

 

[daugherty]

i use the seachem reef also. works well for me.

if my lfs ever get some i will get it and try it out i have heard nothing but good things about it

 

[Hornet]

The new formula Reef Crystals mixes to aprox 490 ca, 13 dKH alk and 1440 mag. I would guess either your test kits are way off, your parameters were very low before the 50% water change or you got a bad batch of really old Reef Crystals.

Synthetic Salt Mixes - Reef Central Online Community

I agree with ccCapt. I use Reef Crystals and those numbers are close to what I get on a fresh mix of salt water. Did you test the salt after mixing it up?

 

[tankedchemist]

Also, did you roll the bucket of salt around before use? Often the salts settle during shipping & storage at the LFS, so if you don't mix it up a bit, you won't have a homogeneous mix.

 

[sen5241b]

I did not test the new mix, nor did I shake it up. Good suggestions.

 

[sen5241b]

After looking at this, I'm thinking about going back to Oceanic:

Synthetic Salt Mixes - Reef Central Online Community

 

[Rcpilot]

After looking at this, I'm thinking about going back to Oceanic:

Synthetic Salt Mixes - Reef Central Online Community

pffffffft Oceanic sucks. Been using it for 2.5yrs and my pH, alk, dkH and magnesium are all chronically low. I don't think it's been optimized for use with modern RO units.

dcantucson:
I use Red Sea Coral Pro

I just bought the little 1.5g plastic pail (55g mix) and did my first water change in the frag tank. I bought it because it came with a plastic bucket - ya can always use a small plastic bucket with a water tight lid in this hobby - and because it specifically said it had been optimized for use with RO filters. We'll see.

David,
Would really like to know how you are doing with this salt.

 

[sen5241b]

pffffffft Oceanic sucks. Been using it for 2.5yrs and my pH, alk, dkH and magnesium are all chronically low. I don't think it's been optimized for use with modern RO units.

I just bought the little 1.5g plastic pail (55g mix) and did my first water change in the frag tank. I bought it because it came with a plastic bucket - ya can always use a small plastic bucket with a water tight lid in this hobby - and because it specifically said it had been optimized for use with RO filters. We'll see.

David,
Would really like to know how you are doing with this salt.

Yeah, but according to the chart Oceanic had the highest cal and mag.

 

[dcantucson]

But Rc that would require me to do more testing. :lol:

 

[ccCapt]

For those who know who Randy Holmes-Farley is, here is his reasoning for his choice of salt.

"Here's my rational for using Instant Ocean (which I mostly copied and pasted from another thread):

I do not think there is a "best" salt mix. Nearly all of them will work fine as long as you know their pros and cons.

I don't want excessive borate, which leaves out Seachem.

I don't want vitamins or anything else organic in my mix (because I doubt their utility, they degrade with time to who knows what, bacteria may thrive on them as I store new salt water for a substantial period, they are totally undescribed with respect to amounts or identity, they are not naturally present in natural seawater at appreciable levels, and because I've occasionally had them mess with my skimmer), so that tosses out some like Reef Crystals, hW Marinemix Plus BioElements, Kent, Coralife, and Nutri-SeaWater.

I don't want excessive calcium (long term use of limewater as I use drives up calcium, so I do not want it starting high), so that tosses out a bunch, such as Kent, Seachem, Coralife and Oceanic.

There are certain companies that I will not support due to their misleading claims and/or product lines. That tosses out a few which I won't detail here since it is my personal thought as opposed to a specific issue with their salt mix.

I won't use certain lines of natural seawater due to excessive metals in it.

That only leaves a few to choose from, such as Instant Ocean and Tropic Marin Pro. The remaining ones might all be fine for me, but IO is lower in cost, especially if you get it when it goes on sale (which it frequently does). It also has a very long track record of success in many aquaria with relatively few concerning issues of bad batches."

A General Guide to Salt Mixes - Page 26 - Reef Central Online Community

FWIW, I use a 50/50 mix of Instant Ocean and Red Sea Coral Pro. The IO in this combo helps raise the low alk and drop the high calcium from the RSCP.

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

hmm, cool, didnt know any of that

 

[tankedchemist]

why would they put "vitamins" in a salt mix?!! :shock::shock: The pH is all wrong for bioavailability for all organisms except bacteria and viruses, and perhaps a very few filter feeders, on top of the fact that vitamins degrade rapidly even in solid phase unless kept in specific conditions. Lame. Do they have any scientists working at those companies, or do they randomly mix :pooh: together and call it good?

thanks for that info, cc. I didn't realize they bothered with such stupid gimmicks.

 

[saltwater]

H2Ocean salt

what is the feeling on this one,
as my salt is nealy finished i will be looking for a good salt
i do yous ro filleted water tds=0 for my tank

 

[JAG107]

I use a blend of oceanic and ocean pure pro, and the occasional sale bucket of reef crystals. Water changes are 10 or sometimes 15 gallons per week out of around 100 total system gallons (factoring in rock, sand, etc). This keeps my calcium at a regular 420-460, mag 1300, and the alk stays around 7, which I raise with daily baked baking soda mix from Randy's recipe.