Instant Ocean vs Reef Crystals

[pecan2phat]

Sometimes you wonder about marketing.

I tested my water for 3 parameters after filling two separate tanks with water and then mixing in one tank with IO and the other with RC. Both systems were allowed to circulate and heat up to 78 degrees for about 4 days. both systems contained live rock but no corals (yet )

I tested Calcium, Alkalinity & Magnesium in order to supplement if needed and this is what I came up with. Note that this is just an amateur results since it should be tested a few times but I thought that I would just share my initial thoughts.

Test were done with Salifert test kits.

Instant Ocean - Ca~360 ppm / Mg~1350 ppm / Alk~9.9 dkh
Reef Crystals - Ca~375 ppm / Mg ~1080 ppm / Alk~10.9 dkh

As you can see, Ca & Alk is higher but IMO not enough to justify the additional cost because you still need to supplement. The extremely low Mg was what really surprised me though.

My next test will be straight from the mixing bucket and if I get similiar results then i will just stick to IO salt and supplement instead of trying new salts every 6 months.

 

[deelucky]

pretty cool.thanks for the info and i will continue to follow your findings,its kinda fresh topic.

 

[ireefny]

alot of time in our hands I see.......LOL

I told Pierce I would do the surgery for free over the weekend., he wouldnt go for it. I will also mix salt instead

 

[Tonyscoots84]

the cost is not really a big deal when there both about 35 bucks shipped to my house :biggrin:

ive used IO and know use reef crystals on my 2nd bucket and its good so far... but the MG is a lil low....

 

[PalmTree]

I never even thought about testing my water before putting in my tank. Good thinking!

 

[Awibrandy]

Interesting! My calcium was always over the roof when I was using "Coralife" 560 and up. After years of using Coralife I switched to IO during the switch, and my calcium dropped to 360. Stupid me thought it was all the changes done to my system that caused the drop. Perhaps it wasn't all the improvements after all, and it is simply the salt switch.
Coralife was supposedly a cheap salt, and I got talked into changing.

What do you guys think?

 

[jhale]

testing the new salt at least once before you use it in your tank is a good practice. once in a while a bad batch might come out, it's better to know about it before it goes into your tank.

Awilda, it was great to meet you at the swap, even if it was just for 30 seconds I've never used coralife salt so I could not say, but 560 Ca is really high. on average 410-420 is the recommended range, and most sps keeping people are now bumping it up to the 450-460 range

 

[fritz]

Warren that was awesome! I was just looking at the two buckets and wondering exactly this.

Fantastic thread!

 

[Awibrandy]

Awilda, it was great to meet you at the swap, even if it was just for 30 seconds I've never used coralife salt so I could not say, but 560 Ca is really high. on average 410-420 is the recommended range, and most sps keeping people are now bumping it up to the 450-460 range

Same here J!!
Exactly, which is why I stopped dosing, and when it still didn't go down we couldn't understand what was happening.:teeth: Now I think I now what was happenning.

Should I go back to "Coralife"? What do you guys think?

 

[PalmTree]

Man its a good thing I checked this thread. I did my water change and tested the water to find that CA had droped to 390. It was 450 before!

 

[brattramp]

I use Instant Ocean and my Ca and Alk (before supplementation) are also consistently about 360 and 10 respectively.

 

[Awibrandy]

I am really confused.

Why are we using a salt that drives the calcium down, and pay more for it to boot?

This does not make sense to me.:irked:

Can one of you gurus please enlighten this old lady please!!!!!!!!!!:help:

 

[jhale]

It's not driving the Ca down. It's the Ca level of the salt that changes. one bucket might give you 350, another 400, another 500 etc. they are not consistent. lower is better as you can then buffer it up, but if it's too high then there's not much you can do.

 

[Awibrandy]

It's not driving the Ca down. It's the Ca level of the salt that changes. one bucket might give you 350, another 400, another 500 etc. they are not consistent. lower is better as you can then buffer it up, but if it's too high then there's not much you can do.

OK, thanks J.:hug: Got it know. Gotta break things down for the old :turtle:lady. But I promise, my brain is getting better everyday.:wink1:

 

[reefman]

i think the only quality salt may probabably be trop marine ,that is if u wanna pay almost double. otherwise just test n compensate.

 

[crox99]

is tropic always consistent?

 

[PalmTree]

Yeah I think I'll stick to testing! I pay enough on other things reef related.