Beefing up IO salt

madadi

ReefOG
Recently, when i do a water change, for every 5gallon bucket of mixed salt water i add 1tsp of CaCl, 2tsp MgCl, 3tsp MgSO4 and 1tsp KCl. Ive noticed a great improvement in color, growth and polyp extension. Coralline algae is growing like never before.

Other then water changes, only other thing i add to the tank is kalk, 100ml per hour, 24hour constant drip. the rest of the evaporated water is topped off with a separate ATO to a float valve.

i thought I'd share and see if anyone else is doing something similar.
 
i still have one huge bag of CaCl and two bags of MgCl. really dont want to throw them out on the drive way.

who really knows which salt is better, but i know for sure which is more expensive and its not IO. :p
 
i do remember the thread you posted Jeff and its the reason why i started to test each new bucket and adjusting accordingly.

if i wasn't so lazy, id buy two buckets IO, one each of coralife, and oceanic and mix them all together in a large tub. put them back together in the buckets. lol
 
But isn't it easier to just use a better salt and not have to mix salts together and test so much? I figured out once that it only cost me a couple dollars more to use Tropic Marin Reef Salt (200 gallons of water per bucket) per water change as opposed to Reef Crystals.
 
that is true, specially for me since i have a much smaller water volume then you and water changes are small.

are you sure that tropic marine is that consistent from bucket to bucket? not sure if any brand is 100% and unless they can guarantee me that i don't think its worth paying more then double.

most likely when i do run out of the extra calcium and magnesium, i will mix a few brands. that way, if one has a bad batch, the others can average it out.

im sure you agree with me, a "better" salt mix is no substitute for bad husbandry and plenty of TOTM tanks that use only IO without the beefing it up. an optimum salt mix is just the icing on the cake and just like cake, some are better with just fruit topping. lol

its too early and if that actually made sense to you, your obviously more awake then i am.
 
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