Why there are so many people been using Instant Ocean salt with a

[bct15]

I've been using rc forever now, since I have my calcium reactor offline until after new years I have to dose all weekly to keep it above 8.0. I use salifert test kits...my coral seem to love the stuff and I get good growth from everything lps, sps, and polyps.

 

[brahm]

IO mixes to around 11-11.2 for me. w/my hannah checker and salifert kits. RC is supposed to be 13ish..

Synthetic Salt Mixes - Reef Central Online Community

I keep my tank around 9.5 now (w/hannah or salifert.. it would be around 8 if I was using an elos kit). my water changes do bump a little bit but I have my dosers set to slowly decrement instead of slowly increment alk over time (since you'll never get anything 100% perfect). So when I do my weekly water changes it gives me that little extra bump to keep me in range.

Mag tested good for me with IO/and so did calc don't recall the numbers off hand as I primary pay attention to alk and ignore the rest as long as they are "in range"

 

[twinspots_goby]

So. you have been using IO, right?

IO mixes to around 11-11.2 for me. w/my hannah checker and salifert kits. RC is supposed to be 13ish..

Synthetic Salt Mixes - Reef Central Online Community

I keep my tank around 9.5 now (w/hannah or salifert.. it would be around 8 if I was using an elos kit). my water changes do bump a little bit but I have my dosers set to slowly decrement instead of slowly increment alk over time (since you'll never get anything 100% perfect). So when I do my weekly water changes it gives me that little extra bump to keep me in range.

Mag tested good for me with IO/and so did calc don't recall the numbers off hand as I primary pay attention to alk and ignore the rest as long as they are "in range"

 

[brahm]

Yes I currently use IO. I've used IO, hW, D+D, NSW (from Scripps in SD), and RSCP. With my current setup over the past year and half.

I recently switched back to IO on 11/14 after a rapid decline in my tank while using Red Sea Coral pro from 10/23-11/10.

I started the tank w/IO and NSW which I ran from 9/14/10 - 4/14/2011
I switched to hW which I ran from 4/27/11 - 10/5/11
(ran out of hw and didn't have anything so a friend gave me some D+D) which I ran for about 3 weeks. Then switch to RSCP as I heard good things about it. It was a huge faliure almost lost all my sps, so I switched back to IO everything is recovering and doing really well again.

I really like hW to it's just pricer and lately I've been wanting to do weekly water changes.

 

[returnofsid]

IO mixes to around 11-11.2 for me. w/my hannah checker and salifert kits. RC is supposed to be 13ish..

Synthetic Salt Mixes - Reef Central Online Community

I keep my tank around 9.5 now (w/hannah or salifert.. it would be around 8 if I was using an elos kit). my water changes do bump a little bit but I have my dosers set to slowly decrement instead of slowly increment alk over time (since you'll never get anything 100% perfect). So when I do my weekly water changes it gives me that little extra bump to keep me in range.

Mag tested good for me with IO/and so did calc don't recall the numbers off hand as I primary pay attention to alk and ignore the rest as long as they are "in range"

I'd suggest ignoring the link provided. That link is from 2009. IO has gone through a significant reformulation since then, about 6-12 months ago, or so. They reforumulated IO and Reef Crystals

 

[twinspots_goby]

That's very good to know.

Can anyone provide some testing results for Alk, Calc and Mag for freshly mixed? Please specify @ what salinity.

I'd suggest ignoring the link provided. That link is from 2009. IO has gone through a significant reformulation since then, about 6-12 months ago, or so. They reforumulated IO and Reef Crystals

 

[btkrausen]

Will be mixing some RC up tonight and will take measurements tomorrow if I remember.

 

[returnofsid]

I'll be mixing some IO up, in the next few days, and will get some test results.

 

[Reefltx]

That's very good to know.

Can anyone provide some testing results for Alk, Calc and Mag for freshly mixed? Please specify @ what salinity.

RC 5g mixed since last night all tested with Salifert.
1.026
Alk - 10dkh
Cal - 500 or more
Mag - 1250

 

[returnofsid]

The main reason I use IO, aside from it being recommended by reef hobbyists who are also chemists and really know their stuff, is because of it's long history of great results.

Reef Crystals along with a few others have added organics, mainly vitamins and other organics, which are not identified. IO doesn't have the added organics. These added organics have been shown to be a possible cause for Cyano issues, in a lot of tanks. Still other brands are very high in borates, which can cause problems, with long term build up.

I can supplement Ca, Alk and Mg, very inexpensively, by making my own supplements, per Randy's 2 part DIY recipes. This is much less expensive, IMO, than purchasing a higher priced salt, that could also have a bunch of unknown organics in it.

 

[rjcranor]

I've used reef crystals for years and haven't had any issues, but I've never tested mag or alk.I've only tested for calcium. And its been fine.

 

[brahm]

I'd suggest ignoring the link provided. That link is from 2009. IO has gone through a significant reformulation since then, about 6-12 months ago, or so. They reforumulated IO and Reef Crystals

Link gets edited (look at the bottom for the edit date). I tested new batch of my IO. I always get between 11 and 11.2 & 1.025-1.026 respectively. I also test calcium and mag from time to time, but it has always been acceptable. I'll check my logs and see if I can't find it. If not I have a fresh batch mixing right now..however this morning when I checked on my mix I noticed my bin needs some cleaning so I wouldn't trust the results I get today.

Back in the days I used to run Reef Crystals, but they had a mess with a bad batch, and it caused me a lot of issues that when I initially switched to hW. For some reason IO just stays stable seems like they like to tinker with RC now and then.

 

[Fieroguy19]

So here is a good link if you want to see what will happen when you do a water change with saltwater that has a much higher level of something than your tank.
Water Change Calculator - FrugalReef

For example, using RC and a tested tank value of 3.5meq/l(8dkh) and minimum level of 3.05meq/l(8.5dkh) you get one 30 percent change. This means that if you did a 30 percent water change on a tank with 8dkh then it would raise the alk level to 8.5dkh from that one water change. You can play with the numbers to figure out howbig of a change you can do without having your parameters swing too much.

 

[brahm]

Thanks for the link but the problem with that stuff is that nobody (at least I've never known) the EXACT water volume of my tank. Sure I know I have a 65 gallon tank, with a 40 gallon sump, and a 15 gallon frag tank. However I'll never figure out how much my corals, fish, equipment, rocks, etc.. displace. Should get you close though.