Instant

[VIVVIV]

After wasting far too much time trying to find out what the parameters are for Instant Ocean Reef Crystals I finally called the company. The moron I spoke to said the information was proprietary.

What a joke. I guess the want you to buy the stuff and then test it for yourself. Bunch of jerks.

So he tells me to wait while then comes back and says he will send me "what I can". I asked him why it seems the don't want to reveal what is in there and he says because the competition would like to know too. So what?????

Anyway, makes my decision very easy now. Never going to buy anything from the Instant again.

 

[Bpb]

I always have to laugh when people put so much emphasis on what salt they use. There will be a wild amount of batch variation no matter what you choose. Your parameters will even change from mix to mix on a single bucket or bag (unless you use it all at once) due to the settling of different weight grains. Just use whatever salt you want. It's not going to make any noticeable impact on your tank health


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[mcgyvr]

Reef Crystals is typically 490ppm cal 13dkh 1440ppm mag

I have never experienced wild variation in any salt mix and never use it all at once..
Picking one that is close to the parameters you wish to maintain is often the easiest/best choice as you can change as much as you want without causing a swing nor do you need to use other additives to adjust freshly mixed water..

They should publish their basic parameters and do so for regular IO..Why they dont for RC is goofy..

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Why didn't you just ask here for standard Reef Crystal params? Would've saved you the frustration. It's a very widely used salt mix and many people can give you the mixed batch params.

 

[PCguy21]

Reef Crystals is typically 490ppm cal 13dkh 1440ppm mag

I have never experienced wild variation in any salt mix and never use it all at once..
Picking one that is close to the parameters you wish to maintain is often the easiest/best choice as you can change as much as you want without causing a swing nor do you need to use other additives to adjust freshly mixed water..

They should publish their basic parameters and do so for regular IO..Why they dont for RC is goofy..

This is what ive noticed... every box.bag.bucket ive used of reef crystals puts my calcium at 520 KH is at 12 or 13. Magnesium is 1450.

Normal instant oceon is about 390 for calcium.. 1350 magnesium.. and kh of 10

 

[Bpb]

Instant

Fair enough on batch variation. But I'm curious if the OP called Red Sea, tropic Marin, fritz, ect and was given a full proprietary list of ingredients of each of their salt mixes and how forthcoming those brands were at disclosing their entire recipe. I don't know, but I'd wager they'd be about as helpful as instant ocean was.

The spirit of my post was moreso pick whatever salt you find lines up best with your budget, and just don't worry about it. If you insist on lowering the KH (I never do and my acros are fine) then adding some muriatic acid and mixing a day prior to using will do the trick. Or just pony up the extra money for a low alk salt like tropic Marin or brightwell

I catch PetSmart having a salt sale once a year or so on instant ocean and reef crystals and I'll go buy out all of their buckets in the store. $20-25 per 160 gallon bucket can't be beat.

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[mcgyvr]

All salt mix brands should disclose the "main/basic" parameters readily on their site and most certainly if you call/ask/email..
None of us I'm sure would require a complete/total elemental breakdown of the salt including all major/minor trace elements,etc...

Straight from Fritz site
Parameters:
Salinity: 35 ppt (1.0264 sg)
Calcium: 400-450 ppm
Magnesium: 1300-1400 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.0-9.0 dKH
Strontium: 9 ppm
Potassium: 400 ppm

Straight from Red Sea site coral pro
Salinity 35 ppt
ALk 11.5-12.5
Cal 450 – 480
Mag 1350 – 1430
Potassium 385 – 415

Straight from Tropic Marin site
Parameters: approx. 7° KH, calcium approx. 440 ppm, magnesium approx. 1350 ppm

 

[Bpb]

All salt mix brands should disclose the "main/basic" parameters readily on their site and most certainly if you call/ask/email..
None of us I'm sure would require a complete/total elemental breakdown of the salt including all major/minor trace elements,etc...

Straight from Fritz site
Parameters:
Salinity: 35 ppt (1.0264 sg)
Calcium: 400-450 ppm
Magnesium: 1300-1400 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.0-9.0 dKH
Strontium: 9 ppm
Potassium: 400 ppm

Straight from Red Sea site coral pro
Salinity 35 ppt
ALk 11.5-12.5
Cal 450 "“ 480
Mag 1350 "“ 1430
Potassium 385 "“ 415

Straight from Tropic Marin site
Parameters: approx. 7° KH, calcium approx. 440 ppm, magnesium approx. 1350 ppm

I took it as OP wanting more proprietary information considering much of that is usually listed on the bucket lol


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[PCguy21]

I catch PetSmart having a salt sale once a year or so on instant ocean and reef crystals and I’ll go buy out all of their buckets in the store. $20-25 per 160 gallon bucket can’t be beat.

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Fyi petsmart price matchs chewy and amazon... they own chewy btw and chewy is even cheaper then amazon alot of the times.

So i garuntee itll be cheaper price natching then any sale petsmart has.

Petsmarrt tends to charge double or tripple for in store items then what an item actually costs.. its insaine. Like my emperor 400s and 200s were 75 and 40 in store.. chewy its 40 and 20... 160 gal bucket or reef crystals is 75$.. on amazon its like 50 i believe i havent checked recently.


Petsmarts sale is taking their 75$ filter and moving it down to 55$ while its still 40$ on chewy lol

What sucks about my store though is they dont carry salt anymore.. or the lazy managers wont restock it.. they have had the same hard as a rock bags for years and they are yellow now too.. they refuse to get new ones despite me repeadidly telling them their product is bad..

I need to call the district manager or something..

Hell one hag was ripped and they taped it