A General Guide to Salt Mixes

[Aquarist007]

I don't see why not, as long as it was covered to prevent any outside contamination.

Thanks --the reason I asked that is that I understand sitting tank water such as in the sump or a refugium can stagnate in twelve hours without flow but I guess that is because of all the bacteria and plankton etc in the water.

 

[Billybeau1]

Yes, newly mixed salt water should not have that problem as long as the bucket was clean to begin with.

 

[Billybeau1]

My list of salt mixes with the numbers for cal, alk and mag can now be found in a sticky near the top of the Reef Chemistry Forum called "Synthetic Salt Mixes".

Enjoy.

 

[alrha]

nice and neat - many thanks!

 

[Lightsluvr]

My list of salt mixes with the numbers for cal, alk and mag can now be found in a sticky near the top of the Reef Chemistry Forum called "Synthetic Salt Mixes".

Enjoy.

Excellent! Thanks again Billybeau.

LL

 

[Aquarist007]

What do you "dose up"?

I have used the old and new RC, and except for buffering alkalinity, I have never had to supplement.

Just curious. Thanks.

LL

I would think supplementation depends more on how heavy stocked your tank is with corals and clams for eg.
When I switch over from IO to H2Ocean and now back to the new IO I still had to dose as much two part because the corals and clams will still consuming at a certain rate--the only thing that changed was the level of cal, alk and mag between the salt mixes.

 

[ehutchby]

I dosed Get tanked concentrated liquid potassium. I've added 380ml to my system. So far the my blues are looking better and I've have had different sps react positively, with some unexplained new growth, polyp extension.

 

[kc350twin]

Capn- I see that you switched back off the H20cean. I am in the process of changing back to RC. I changed back to weekly water changes and just could not afford the salt anymore. I'm on water change two of the change and all is well so far.

What has been your experience in the change back? Any issues or ill effects?

 

[Billybeau1]

kc, you will find more calcium and magnesium in todays Reef Crystals. Keep us posted how you like it.

 

[balloonpilot]

Can someone give me an opinion ?

Between Seachem Reef Salt and Red Sea Coral Pro...

 

[PhreeBYrd]

Can someone give me an opinion ?

Between Seachem Reef Salt and Red Sea Coral Pro...

It's just my opinion, but when I tried the Red Sea Coral Pro (admittedly, it had just come onto the market), I didn't care for it. The Ca/Alk balance was not to my liking (Ca really high, kH very low), and it did not accept additional carbonate buffering well. The mix may well have changed in the past couple of years, so this should be taken with a grain of (yes, of course) salt.

I do like the Seachem Reef Salt, have used a lot of it, and currently use it.

 

[Billybeau1]

Can someone give me an opinion ?

Between Seachem Reef Salt and Red Sea Coral Pro...

Both salts offer a good balance in certain situations.

I think if you want to target alkalinity on the low end of the scale, the RSCP is for you. If you want alkalinity on the higher end of the recommended scale, then Seachems Reef Salt may be a better choice.

Thats about the only two differences in these salts.

 

[temetito]

Hi Dr. Holmes

I'm having problem to reach the levels of Mg in my aquarium. I have a 90 gal tank and I'm using tech m to increase the Mg level. Right now is in 950.

Please help me to find a solution for my problem.

Thanks

Robert

 

[brshriver]

Sounds like you need to dose Magnesium.

Randy's article on DIY Mag supplements
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/rhf/index.php

Randy's article on DIY two (really three now) part recipes.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

I get my components from bulk reef supply and baking soda in large bags from BJs. I bake the baking soda in the oven to get soda ash if I need it.

 

[bertoni]

Raising magnesium takes enormous quantities of supplement. This calculator might help:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

The general recommendation is to add no more than 100 ppm of magnesium per day.

 

[kc350twin]

Crazy how much Mg it takes to raise the level but once it's there it doesn't take much to maintain it.

 

[Aquarist007]

Raising magnesium takes enormous quantities of supplement. This calculator might help:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

The general recommendation is to add no more than 100 ppm of magnesium per day.

This is why I use epsom salts to raise mag levels and then keep them at the preferred level using two part

 

[Aquarist007]

Capn- I see that you switched back off the H20cean. I am in the process of changing back to RC. I changed back to weekly water changes and just could not afford the salt anymore. I'm on water change two of the change and all is well so far.

What has been your experience in the change back? Any issues or ill effects?

I switched back to IO but have not noticed any negative impact on corals etc

 

[balloonpilot]

I know I posted this above, but left out info on what I'm doing...

Ive been using Seachem Reef Salt - because thats what the LFS had at the time. I was recently at a different store (sh dont tell them) and that store is pushing Red Sea Coral Pro.

Should I switch?

The push away from SeaChem is the high level of boron/borate (?) - Is this really an issue.

But then I saw somewhere on here a chart that listed actual numbers for the salts and Reef Salt showed higher Ca level as well as higher Alk.

With Reef Salt I've been dosing Kalk+2 and Seachem Builder to keep my Alk at 9.6 to 10... Sounds like this might be even more of a problem if I switched to Red Sea... correct?

What about a 3rd option - Oceanic Salt ?

 

[Billybeau1]

The Borate is not an issue with the Seachem Reef Salt IMO.

You will have to supplement more alkalinity if you switch to Red Sea Coral Pro if you want to stay around 9 or 10 dkh. Some reefers like the way their tank looks with alkalinity at the lower end of the acceptable scale. The lower calcium is not going to hurt a thing as 490 ppm is still way above NSW. And it does have a little less Magnesium then the Seachem but 1300 ppm is still pretty good.

I would not use the Oceanic in your situation. You do not need all of that calcium as only high demand tanks can get away with using this salt.

That said, if the Oceanic is at a good price, no reason not to try it. It does have a little more alkalinity than RSCP and would probably require a little less supplementing of alkalinity.

You never really know until you try it for a couple of months. Your eyes are the best test kit.

Or just stay with the Seachem if your tank is flourishing.