A General Guide to Salt Mixes

Who sells red sea coral pro salt..?
Was it petco or petsmart, can't remember...?



Most petco shops sell it. That pet place had a nice special on it, buy 3 get 1 free with a low shipping too I believed fosters has a nice deal on it also if you are getting it shipped. I get mine at our local pet shop (the pet zone) after urging him to carry it; he sells it more then any other brand he has.
 
Picked up some this morning at petsmart. They had the small 55 gallon bucket.
Also noticed a new coralife salt on the shelf....
 
Wild question- Would hard water effect a alkalinity reading or does our R/O filter take care of that? Does water temp matter when testing?
Just tested this red sea coral pro and got 12.8 DKH with a Salifert kit.
Every salt I test has a high Alk.
 
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Wild question- Would hard water effect a alkalinity reading or does our R/O filter take care of that? Does water temp matter when testing?
Just tested this red sea coral pro and got 12.8 DKH with a Salifert kit.
Every salt I test has a high Alk.

water temp does matter with sg especially if you are using a hydrometer but not alk

If your TDS is 0 then you are adding nothing as far as alk is concerned.I would suspect you may have a inaccurate refractometer or hydrometer and mixing a bit on the rich side.
 
Wild question- Would hard water effect a alkalinity reading or does our R/O filter take care of that? Does water temp matter when testing?
Just tested this red sea coral pro and got 12.8 DKH with a Salifert kit.
Every salt I test has a high Alk.





here is what i got a while back when i first noticed red sea coral pro had changed





I just tested a new bucket of red sea coral pro and they either changed something or I have a bucket with higher then average alk


55 gallons batch

sg at 1.026 freshly calibrated refractometer(pinpoint salinity calibration fluid)
alk @ 11.2 tested 3 times with salifert and confirmed with ATI test
cal 420 tested with salifert
mg 1300 tested with salifert

this is a bit higher then the last few buckets on the alk




here is what billy got on the old res sea coral pro

alk 7dkh
cal 490
mg 1300
 
Just tested the same water with a instant ocean Alk test kit I had, now I'm getting 3.50 meq-- about 9.7 dkh....Guess its time for a new Salifert Alk kit. It was almost done anyway.
 
did you get salinity online or from lfs?

LFS. I bought it from one of the LFS here in metro Atlanta. It helps that Seachem makes it here in Georgia. I believe that we had the first shot at the stuff. So far I like it. Though it does take 2 days for it to mix properly. I use less salt to make the same 1.025 SG that I was with Seachem's Reef salt. 2 cups of salt vs 2.5 cups for 5 gallons of water.
 
I'm finally running out of salt and since I have cabin fever, it may be time to check up on some of these mixes you all have said changed.

Let me get to work. :D
 
I'm finally running out of salt and since I have cabin fever, it may be time to check up on some of these mixes you all have said changed.

Let me get to work. :D


Hey Billy,I just cracked open a new bucket of RSCP and tested it 2 times for each parameter with a freshly calibrated refract and at a sg of 1.026

alk 11.4 dkh
cal 410
mg 1230

Its definitely changed from the old mix.These #s are about what I have been getting from the last couple buckets.FYI I mixed this pail thoroughly before adding to RODI with a zero TDS.

BTW my tank has never looked better but I am sure the salt is only a small part of this equation.
 
along those lines (post above), I just tested a 50/50 blend of RSCP and Instant Ocean. I was expecting to get dhk of 8.5-9 with that blend, but instead I got 11.5 dhk! Very surprised at that. It was 1.025 sg BTW.
 
Mixing new batches of salt

Mixing new batches of salt

I have a 32 gallon Rubbermaid Brute filled with 18 gallons of salt water mixed with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals for a 15% water change tomorrow. I have been circulating it for a week with a 400 gph powerhead and heating it with a heater I bought for mixing set to aquarium temperature. This evening I checked the salinity and adjusted it slightly with about a half gallon of fresh to bring it even with the tank reading of 53.0 mS according to my Pinpoint Salinity Monitor calibrated with Pinpoint 53.0 mS calibration fluid. I use the Pinpoint monitor in the tank to keep it at 53.0 mS and then get a measurement on two Coralife hydrometers. I then rinse them and measure my mix container until it is equivalent to the hydrometer readings. This seems to work right as I did a monthly cleaning of my canisters last weekend and the water was very close to 53.0 mS when I relaced 15%.

How necessary or beneficial would it be to add a couple of air stones tonight before the water change tomorrow?
 
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If the lid was on during circulation, it could possibly be low in O2, but may be fine. If the lid was off, or opened frequently, then the airstones won't do much.
 
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