I just switched salts for my reef...

[ryancw01]

So I decided to try something new from the Reef Crystals I have been using for about 2 years now. I am trying the Kent Marine salt. I feel like with the Reef Crystals my dKH is always hovering around 6-7 and my calcium comes out to about 360 and am trying to find a salt where I do not have to dose for this. I know that using a RO/DI filter has something to do with having a low dKH, but I am just tired of dosing right after a water change. Anybody have any thoughts on this salt or maybe an idea of another good one to try?

 

[denniscoy420]

I have been using reef salt for about 3 years and I was thinking of changing also
but I went out and got a 4 stage RO unit and IT seems to be helping my corals but also us
PH buffer and coral elements and stress coat in the water mix
if I was u I would go get a RO unit so worth it easy to hook up and NO MORE LUGGING water jugs

 

[yerboy]

i just tested instant ocean salt as im going to use it for my new setup. A 50 gallon bag of IO will mix 45.5 gallon or RO to 1.026 with 400 calcium 11dkh 1350 mag. Sorry cant comment on kent.

 

[ajroc31]

Kent Marine and Reef Crystals are made in the same building. Not sure what that means, but it might mean something, or nothing. So this is a completly uselss post, sorry to take your time. Basically my LFS owner said that he prefers Reef Crystals, however he carries only 50 gal bags of it, so when i asked for more salt for more frequent water changes, he pointed me towards Kent. From his experiance there is not much difference between the two. Look up charts on salt mixes, not easy to find, but from what I have found, Seachem salt mix addresses the problems you seem to have the most. I think it has the highest ph and dkh from all the salts. Maybe you could check them out.

 

[ryancw01]

Originally Posted by Denniscoy420
http:///forum/post/3263796
I have been using reef salt for about 3 years and I was thinking of changing also
but I went out and got a 4 stage RO unit and IT seems to be helping my corals but also us
PH buffer and coral elements and stress coat in the water mix
if I was u I would go get a RO unit so worth it easy to hook up and NO MORE LUGGING water jugs

Maybe I said that wrong...I DO have a RO/DI filter and I know that has something with having a low initial dKH. I have had a RO/DI filter for 5 years now.

 

[speg]

Originally Posted by yerboy
http:///forum/post/3263804
i just tested instant ocean salt as im going to use it for my new setup. A 50 gallon bag of IO will mix 45.5 gallon or RO to 1.026 with 400 calcium 11dkh 1350 mag. Sorry cant comment on kent.
Well.. if you've tested the salt and you've gotten those results then you have an inconsistant batch.
Instant Ocean claims to have mineral levels that are the same as natural sea water ( taken from their website ). Their email to ME said that "Natural seawater does not have 400-450ppm calcium" "our calcium should offer 350ppm calcium at 1.026."
You can google 'natural seawater calcium' and find many articles that suggest that 350ppm is not a 'natural' level.
My email to Kent said that "at 1.026 you should have a calcium level of 475ppm!".
When I was using Instant Ocean I had a low calcium level and coral wasn't growing too fast and a one (a brain) started to show its skeleton-also, my coraline was bleaching and wasn't growing.
I made the switch to Kent after their email and about a two weeks later coraline is 'dotting' all over-the brain is healing its damage.. I'm happier.
If you want those emails I'll copy+paste them here.. otherwise, I won't.

 

[yerboy]

cant comment on if i have a bad batch or not but this is takeing from another website and my results show the same as listed here.
Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium
Aquatic Gardens
430
8
1240
Brightwell Neomarine
370
11
1140
CoraLife
560
9
1380
Crystal Sea Marinemix
340
9
1050
Crystal Sea Marinemix Bio-Assay
340
9
1050
D-D H2Ocean
450
10
1380
Instant Ocean (new)
400
11
1350
Kent
540
11
1200
Marine Environment
480
7.5
1450
Oceanic
580
8.5
1650
OceanPure
510
10
1320
Red Sea
400
8
1300
Red Sea Coral Pro
490
7
1300
Reef Crystals (new)
490
13
1440
Reefer's Best
420
11
1200
SeaChem Marine Salt
500
10
1400
SeaChem Reef Salt
540
10
1450
Tropic Marin
375
10
1230
Tropic Marin Pro Reef
450
8.5
1380
Tunze Reef Salt
420
9.5
1350

 

[speg]

At what SG? 1.026?
400 would suggest near natural seawater... in the test results that were posted elsewhere online show that only two brands to have a decent level of calcium and for IO to be low.

 

[speg]

 

[yerboy]

yes all of the above were tested at 1.026

 

[ryancw01]

Well, that chart indicates that I made the right choice as far as the calcium. I am going to test the calcium and dKH tonight so I will post my results. I did a 50% water change this time so it might take a few water changes before it makes a complete difference.

 

[ryancw01]

Well, my calcium is over 400 with the Kent Marine so that is good, but my dKH is still low at 6.5dKH. I am using an Elos test and an API test and getting the same results.
Does anyone else have this problem with their RO/DI water? I have been using RO/DI for a while, but it seems like my dKH keeps coming in lower and lower lately and I am not sure why.

 

[bullitr]

i think D-D is best for my application
it dissolve fast and clear and has very good calcium , alkalinity and magnesium
great for SPS tank
my 2 cents