Reef crystals vs. Instant ocean

[xrayman]

Well here is another salt mix question so bare with me.I swithched about 6 months ago from Instant ocean to Oceanic because of mylow cal and alk levels.My cal and alk levels have been out of wack so to speak with oceanic my cal was 500-510 and dkh was around 8 and lower at times.I had some Instant ocean left so have been trying to use it up Cal 370 and dkh 8 so i have been bumping cal and alk up before using for weekly water changes.Would it be worth trying a bag of reef crystals to see if those readings are better?What is everyone's experince with this?

 

[viper_930]

IO and -- are made by the same company. The only difference is that -- is designed more for a reef with higher levels of Ca, Mg, and other elements. For example, the Ca in reef crystals is normally around 450-470.

 

[xrayman]

Is there a salt out there that you don/t have to add stuff to raise levels before you do water changes?

 

[viper_930]

Depends what you want the levels to be at. I use -- and don't add any additives.

 

[xrayman]

I would like my dkh around 10 and cal around 450 but istant ocean is real low and oceanic alk is way low and calcium a little on high side i just want something i don't have to add stuff to and then maintaing with my weekly water changes.

 

[tangman99]

I just bought a bucket of the Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt which gets excellent reviews. I have not tried it yet but I am switching from Oceanic.

 

[viper_930]

xrayman, the alk of new saltwater with reef crystals should turn out to be around 11-13 dkh.
Tropic Marin IMO is much better than -- if you don't consider the price. -- has chelated calcium, which is harder for the corals to absorb, while TM does not.

 

[irondog]

I tried them all except tropic marine,reef cyrstal is high in alk,i was trying to get my alk down is was at 12.2dkh,cal 460,mag 1320,i switched to coral pro salt,its by red sea,its guarantees using ro water an sg at 1.023 cal 450 alk 2.5 an ph.8.2,i will use it for a few water changes to get my alk around 10dkh

 

[nm reef]

I've always used Instant Ocean with good results...I tried one batch of Oceanic and wasn't impressed.
The qustions becomes "why chase perfect numbers" if there is little or no demand on the calcium/alkalinity to begin with?
Most any of the common salt mix products will provide adaquate levels...some better than others as mentioned above...but if there is no heavy demand on the calcium in the system why be so critical of the numbers?
If there is a high demand then even the best of salt mix won't be able to maintain the desired levels without supplimentaion or constant water changes.
I have what I'd consider to be a "moderate" calcium demand on my reef and I use Instant Ocean along with suppliments to maintain calcium levels of around 450 and alkalinity close to 3.0 meg/L...magnesium is also supplimented .... if it were readily available around here I'd consider a switch to Tropic Marin pro Reef Salt....but its not and I'd rather not purchase it on-line...so until I can locate a reliable local source I'll stick with Instant Ocean.

 

[reefdude37]

I used instant ocean