A General Guide to Salt Mixes

I see a place where OCEANPURE PRO is on sale and wonder if anyone knows about it. I've been using Instant Ocean for years but wonder if I'd pay dearly trying to save a couple bucks.
 
Oceanpure had pretty good numbers. I haven't tested the pro, but I can't imagine it being much different.

I would not be afraid to try a bag. :)
 
Well, I finally got around to testing the (new) Reef Crystals and (new) Instant Ocean. Here is the summary of my results.

Reef Crystals mixed very well. Totally dissolved in about 1/2 hr. No residue at the bottom of the 5 gallon container.

@1.0264 using the same testing as the previous tests, RC tested at

490 ppm calcium
13 dkh alkalinity
1440 ppm magnesium

Pretty much what I heard and expected. This is definitely an improved salt mix for reef tanks. More calcium and magnesium than before. I personally love the fact that they kept alkalinity high as this will help the non dosers between water changes. I was very happy with these results. :)

Instant Ocean. Boy oh boy. Not what I expected. I purchased a 1.5 lb box and it was already in the clumping stage when I opened it. It was not hard as a rock but I did have to break it up to get it out of the bag.

It never really totally dissolved, like the Reef Crystals did, and I finally gave up after 2 hrs and just tested it. There was still an unusual amount of undissolved solids at the bottom of the bucket.

There was also a teal color solid at the top of the mixing container which I have to believe is vitamins or something.

Anyways, the IO I tested @ 1.0264 came in at

350 ppm calcium (no change from the previous)
1300 ppm magnesium ( improved )
6 dkh alkalinity :eek1:

I did this test three times with four different test kits.

I totally did not expect this. I actually heard the alkalinity would not change in the new formula.

I'm going to update the numbers on RC on my list , but I think I will hold off on updating the IO numbers because I just can't believe what I saw. At least IO got the mag up a little which I am happy about.
 
RC,yikes 13dkh,not to my liking but i guess some will benefit from this elevated alk,the rest of the big three are great and a big improvement
 
The higher alkalinity does not do squat with a 20% water change. The only concern I would have is if you did over a 50% change at one time.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15128414#post15128414 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Billybeau1
Well, I finally got around to testing the (new) Reef Crystals and (new) Instant Ocean. Here is the summary of my results.

Reef Crystals mixed very well. Totally dissolved in about 1/2 hr. No residue at the bottom of the 5 gallon container.

@1.0264 using the same testing as the previous tests, RC tested at

490 ppm calcium
13 dkh alkalinity
1440 ppm magnesium

Pretty much what I heard and expected. This is definitely an improved salt mix for reef tanks. More calcium and magnesium than before. I personally love the fact that they kept alkalinity high as this will help the non dosers between water changes. I was very happy with these results. :)

Instant Ocean. Boy oh boy. Not what I expected. I purchased a 1.5 lb box and it was already in the clumping stage when I opened it. It was not hard as a rock but I did have to break it up to get it out of the bag.

It never really totally dissolved, like the Reef Crystals did, and I finally gave up after 2 hrs and just tested it. There was still an unusual amount of undissolved solids at the bottom of the bucket.

There was also a teal color solid at the top of the mixing container which I have to believe is vitamins or something.

Anyways, the IO I tested @ 1.0264 came in at

350 ppm calcium (no change from the previous)
1300 ppm magnesium ( improved )
6 dkh alkalinity :eek1:

I did this test three times with four different test kits.

I totally did not expect this. I actually heard the alkalinity would not change in the new formula.

I'm going to update the numbers on RC on my list , but I think I will hold off on updating the IO numbers because I just can't believe what I saw. At least IO got the mag up a little which I am happy about.
Click to expand...

as I have posted in the past I was using up my IO and waiting to switch to H2Ocean. In the interim I have been bringing up my mag levels using Epsom salts.
Billy, I must be using old IO(I believe purchased xmas 2008) because I only get 1200 out of my mag levels with it.

Over the last few weeks my pH has been steadily rising and is now about 8.36. Is this because of the heavy use of epsom salts.

I still use the same amt of bionic two part daily and my cal is 450, and alk 10.5dkH. I am trying to keep the mag at 1400.
without the dosing of epsom salts my pH has remained steady for almost 2 years at 8.20--that's why I am puzzled here.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15128622#post15128622 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Billybeau1
The higher alkalinity does not do squat with a 20% water change. The only concern I would have is if you did over a 50% change at one time.
Click to expand...

It definitely effects some of my acroporas in a negative way.I have noticed this many times over a year or so period when I was using RC.I run my alk closer to NSW and do 25% water changes weekly and I notice a slight shock to some of my more sensitive acroporas with using a salt mix with a high alk.I know it only raises the total alk in the tank about 1 dkh but to me I rather use a salt with closer to nsw alk levels.to each his own and I know we disagree on this one billy but if it works for you then all the power to ya but I personally get better results using a salt with a lower dkh.now for people that run there alk at 11 dkh or on the high side of the spectrum I am sure they would not see the effect that I see or others that keep there alk at or around 8dkh.
 
I like the low alk salt mixes. It's easier to fortify alkalinity with some baking soda / baked baking soda blends than it is to boost it's Calcium or Magnesium.

I don't like salt mixes that don't fully dissolve though, or leave solids or any sort of colored residue (teal?...).

Although I'm prone to wishful thinking, I doubt IO reduced their alk to 6. That must have been a bad batch of salt, where solids that never dissolved contained some of the Alk.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15128414#post15128414 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Billybeau1

Instant Ocean. Boy oh boy. Not what I expected. I purchased a 1.5 lb box and it was already in the clumping stage when I opened it. It was not hard as a rock but I did have to break it up to get it out of the bag.

It never really totally dissolved, like the Reef Crystals did, and I finally gave up after 2 hrs and just tested it. There was still an unusual amount of undissolved solids at the bottom of the bucket.

There was also a teal color solid at the top of the mixing container which I have to believe is vitamins or something.

Anyways, the IO I tested @ 1.0264 came in at

350 ppm calcium (no change from the previous)
1300 ppm magnesium ( improved )
6 dkh alkalinity :eek1:

I did this test three times with four different test kits.

I totally did not expect this. I actually heard the alkalinity would not change in the new formula.

I'm going to update the numbers on RC on my list , but I think I will hold off on updating the IO numbers because I just can't believe what I saw. At least IO got the mag up a little which I am happy about.
Click to expand...
 
I agree, I may have gotten a bad box. Especially since it was already clumping. I am going to post the new RC numbers but will hold off on the IO until I can get another sample. :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15129770#post15129770 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rigleautomotive
It definitely effects some of my acroporas in a negative way.I have noticed this many times over a year or so period when I was using RC.I run my alk closer to NSW and do 25% water changes weekly and I notice a slight shock to some of my more sensitive acroporas with using a salt mix with a high alk.I know it only raises the total alk in the tank about 1 dkh but to me I rather use a salt with closer to nsw alk levels.to each his own and I know we disagree on this one billy but if it works for you then all the power to ya but I personally get better results using a salt with a lower dkh.now for people that run there alk at 11 dkh or on the high side of the spectrum I am sure they would not see the effect that I see or others that keep there alk at or around 8dkh.
Click to expand...

Dan, I always say if it looks good, it probably is. Conversely, if it does not look good, stop doing it.

If you need to stick with salt mixes with low alkalinity out of the box, there are certainly a number of them to choose from. :)
 
yea billy,its been working for me,i have been using red sea coral pro for quite a while now and i am happy with it.who knows though,my corals could just be looking better for a thousand other reasons,LOL.I dont pretend for a moment to understand what it takes to make these delicate animals happy.
 
I guess this question was missed so I'll ask it again:

as I have posted in the past I was using up my IO and waiting to switch to H2Ocean. In the interim I have been bringing up my mag levels using Epsom salts.
Billy, I must be using old IO(I believe purchased xmas 2008) because I only get 1200 out of my mag levels with it.

Over the last few weeks my pH has been steadily rising and is now about 8.36. Is this because of the heavy use of epsom salts.

I still use the same amt of bionic two part daily and my cal is 450, and alk 10.5dkH. I am trying to keep the mag at 1400.
without the dosing of epsom salts my pH has remained steady for almost 2 years at 8.20--that's why I am puzzled here.
 
billy - how did you go about getting the "new" RC? i'm interested in adding it to my "mix" but am not sure how to make sure i'm getting the latest formulation. is there a packaging change? or a serial/batch number of some sort to stay above? do you know of any online retailers that would reliably send the latest batch?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15145632#post15145632 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capn_hylinur
I guess this question was missed so I'll ask it again:

as I have posted in the past I was using up my IO and waiting to switch to H2Ocean. In the interim I have been bringing up my mag levels using Epsom salts.
Billy, I must be using old IO(I believe purchased xmas 2008) because I only get 1200 out of my mag levels with it.

Over the last few weeks my pH has been steadily rising and is now about 8.36. Is this because of the heavy use of epsom salts.

I still use the same amt of bionic two part daily and my cal is 450, and alk 10.5dkH. I am trying to keep the mag at 1400.
without the dosing of epsom salts my pH has remained steady for almost 2 years at 8.20--that's why I am puzzled here.
Click to expand...

Cap, I'm wondering if your pH probe needs cleaning. They will steadily rise as they get dirty. I can not think of any reasons the epsoms would do that.
 
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