Salt of choice?

tur4k

tur4k

Member
I guess this is kind of geographically specific and maybe not in the spirit of the original post, but here in Miami it is popular to purchase ocean water from LFS's to use for water changes and not use any salt mixes.
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
I went back to basics, Instant Ocean was the first salt mix I ever used 25 years ago so I switched a year ago to reef crystals. My bottel of calcium never gets used anymore.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Speg,
I wish I still had all the notes and numbers from my past experience, but all the old posts seem to be gone. I remember having really poor results with IO even with simple coralline growth, then a fatal crash caused by IO salt which was documented here and another board.
Honest I've tried every salt in my local area. Then I tired Oceanic and my tank exploded with growth, not only the corals, but coralline as well. I remember that there were some very good readings of magnesium in oceanic which kept the calcium and alklinity from doing the yo-yo effect.
I'm starting again after a couple of years absence, and I still have faith in Oceanic to give me the results that I had before. I'd give you some numbers but I'm only just this week starting some water changes to get my tank back in shape.
Best of luck with what ever you choose.
Thomas
 
bla403

bla403

Member
Ive gone through a bunch. I was using red sea coral pro which I thought was good but my LFS stopped carrying it and told me that they liked Seachem better anyway. I switched to it and had some issues with it. Batches were inconsistent and mixed terribly. I had some SG problems as well as noticed other issues. I am now using coralife salt and I like it thus far.
 
pirates

pirates

Member
i am now one reef Crystals WoW my calcium is at 500 i like the reef crystals the tanks stays at 500 i was having to add calcium turbo so far i have not had to and anything as far as calcium
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Originally Posted by nycbob
http:///forum/post/3253907
u will get many answers to this. personally, l use reef crystal.
indeed.
I started with SeaChem's reef brand.
It was pretty good stuff. Loaded with nice minerals and whatnot. But the mixing was a little harder to do since it took a while to fully disolve. Also its expencive stuff.
Latly I have been using reef crystals. 5g for $35 at my LFS. That cant be beat!
I tink Ill stick with reef crystals. ITs cheaper, and disolves MUCH MUCH faster!
WAter params are just fine. But I would say reef crystals is slightly the lesser to Sea chem, in terms of qualityof mineral content.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Originally Posted by Speg
http:///forum/post/3253940
You've tested the mixes and they're acceptable? Regular calcium levels?
For me. Sea chem was 450. But theres more than calcium at stake, thats just the entry level to corals.
Originally Posted by Speg
http:///forum/post/3253957
Ok....... So I have Instant Ocean.. which I guess 'secretly' claims to not have as much calcium as Reef Crystals (same company) even though Instant Ocean says it's comparable to natural seawater...
So does Reef Crystals have a calcium range of 400-450?
My reef crystals tests at 400 calcium. A little lower than sea chem, but its not an issueu to me. 400 is still peractly doable for corals.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Speg
http:///forum/post/3253887
Going to switch away from this instant ocean salt due to the poor test results it's showing.
What salt do you guys really recommend (for a reef tank)?
Was thinking about going with Kent's salt.
I think any of the commercial salt mixes are fine.
To me it is more important how the tank is operated/maintained.
That said.
I think I used instant ocean.
But it is kinda hard to remember.
I last mixed up salt 6-7 years ago.
I do dose with the diy 2 part though.
my .02
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Originally Posted by beaslbob
http:///forum/post/3258855
I think any of the commercial salt mixes are fine.
To me it is more important how the tank is operated/maintained.
EXACTUMUNDO!
I can always adjust for any readings that are less than desireable.
I personally dont dose atm. Im happy with everything as it is. But i will be getting more into fine tuning everything when funds become available for things such as Calcium ractors and kalk reactors ect.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by King_Neptune
http:///forum/post/3258917
EXACTUMUNDO!
I can always adjust for any readings that are less than desireable.
I personally dont dose atm. Im happy with everything as it is. But i will be getting more into fine tuning everything when funds become available for things such as Calcium ractors and kalk reactors ect.
If you haven't tried already, you might try the diy 2 part.
IMHO with my very limited experience, those things just make a system more complicated and failure prone.
but that's just me.
and my .02
 
bmkj02

bmkj02

Member
After reading this I made a new batch of water to do a water change. I let the tank sit for 24hrs to get a well mix. When I checked the calcium it was at 460, no nitrates and a PH of around 7.2 or less. Is the low PH normal? My salt is Oceanic
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
To see if the low PH came from your water source itself.
Put a powerhead in it and stir it up alot near the surface.
See if that helps raise it to the 8.0-8.2 range
 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
Sorry to jump into this thread, are pH buffers good to use? Just bought the API brand. My pH is a little high 8.4 and all the other paramters are fine. I was going to do a water change this weekend then add the pH buffer.
Thanks for now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top