Need reassurance on IO for SPS

Ostri said:
http://www.pnwmas.org/topic/32997-upgrade-time/page-2

This person only did 2 WCs for 16 months and yet some people are still giving a xxxt to salt brands.
Click to expand...

And for every anomaly like this, there are 100 people who do constant, weekly and monthly water changes and their tank looks as good or better.

I love it when people point out that a positive outcome happened from an extremely rare practice as proof that everyone should be following that same practice even though the consensus among the overwhelming majority including reef chemists follow the exact opposite practice and have excellent results.

You're right man, I should stop fretting about what kind of salt I use because some guy had good results from never doing water changes.
 
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Okay let stick to benefits on IO here please. As OP requested. In 20 years of reefing I have used many types. I almost always go back to IO. I like to feed heavy and sometimes my nutrient export is not enough. Insert extra water change. I did small daily water changes for a month to great success. Anyway IO is affordable and reliable salt that has a proven record in the hobby. Sleep well my friend.
 
Well, he should know of any possible negatives as well. Like the Alkalinity levels are a little higher. The calcium a little lower. It will need more salt then advertised to get to 35ppt/1.0264. With any salt knowing the basics they provide should be known if any adjustments will be needed. If running a fish only or soft coral tank there's a lot more leeway. But as mentioned many times IO has been used in many very beautiful and very demanding coral tanks of all kinds.

To me though most of those are positive. I use Kalk to supplement Alkalinity and calcium. It seems Kalk is slightly more balanced to the calcium side then Alkalinity. So the lower calcium is good for me. If dosing 2 part a slight adjustment would be done. For some the higher Alkalinity is good as they have very high demands or again a quick adjustment to 2 part dosing fixes things if 2 part dosing is done.

The Alkalinity if your demands are low and your nutrient levels are so low (nitrates undetectable via higher resolution test kits and phosphates well under .03) that corals start to have issues at higher Alkalinity levels then that could be an issue too. One could then lower the Alkalinity of the IO mixed in water with something like muriatic acid.
 
jason2459 said:
Well, he should know of any possible negatives as well. Like the Alkalinity levels are a little higher. The calcium a little lower. It will need more salt then advertised to get to 35ppt/1.0264. With any salt knowing the basics they provide should be known if any adjustments will be needed. If running a fish only or soft coral tank there's a lot more leeway. But as mentioned many times IO has been used in many very beautiful and very demanding coral tanks of all kinds.

To me though most of those are positive. I use Kalk to supplement Alkalinity and calcium. It seems Kalk is slightly more balanced to the calcium side then Alkalinity. So the lower calcium is good for me. If dosing 2 part a slight adjustment would be done. For some the higher Alkalinity is good as they have very high demands or again a quick adjustment to 2 part dosing fixes things if 2 part dosing is done.

The Alkalinity if your demands are low and your nutrient levels are so low (nitrates undetectable via higher resolution test kits and phosphates well under .03) that corals start to have issues at higher Alkalinity levels then that could be an issue too. One could then lower the Alkalinity of the IO mixed in water with something like muriatic acid.
Click to expand...

I just mixed up my first batch and the alk is 9.2 dkh and calcium 400.

This is close to perfect for me without having to adjust anything. Is alk usually higher?
 
Need reassurance on IO for SPS

Tuffloud1 said:
Regular IO, right?
Click to expand...



That's it
91643c19645e3287c1d0edd569255e91.jpg


All I have are sps and clams. The only zoas I own are pest zoas that showed up on my rock.
 
swk said:
That's it
91643c19645e3287c1d0edd569255e91.jpg


All I have are sps and clams. The only zoas I own are pest zoas that showed up on my rock.
Click to expand...

Sweet, what alk are you reading with fresh salt at 1.026?

I did notice that it mixes up slightly hazy. I let mix overnight and it's clear, but not quite as clear as the Neomarine I was using.

The alk tested at 9.2 dkh and calcium at 400.
 
Turns out my Hanna Alk Checker has been broken for months.

New Salifert kits confirmed that my first batch of IO is 11.2 dkh not 9.2.

So my tank is actually running higher alk than I thought.

My Hanna checker started giving me "hi light" and "lo light" messages in addition to the readings being all over the place.

I will never use a Hanna checker again. I realize they are convenient and people love them (so did I) but it is an electronic instrument prone to malfunction. Can't trust it anymore.

Salifert gives rock solid readings that are repeatable.
 
Tuffloud1 said:
Turns out my Hanna Alk Checker has been broken for months.

New Salifert kits confirmed that my first batch of IO is 11.2 dkh not 9.2.

So my tank is actually running higher alk than I thought.

My Hanna checker started giving me "hi light" and "lo light" messages in addition to the readings being all over the place.

I will never use a Hanna checker again. I realize they are convenient and people love them (so did I) but it is an electronic instrument prone to malfunction. Can't trust it anymore.

Salifert gives rock solid readings that are repeatable.
Click to expand...
If it makes you feel better all test kits are prone to error of various kinds.
 
jason2459 said:
If it makes you feel better all test kits are prone to error of various kinds.
Click to expand...

I hear ya. I just think that the digital aspect of the Hanna checkers are more prone to failure than a careful human being administering drops. Reagents can be defective, yes, but provided you don't get a bad batch, you can assume the entire batch you do have will work properly provided you are meticulous.

On the other hand, you can get a good batch of hanna reagent and then have your digital meter fail on you half way through that reagent which had nothing to do with reagent or human error.
 
I'm hoping someone can give me an equation and calculate this out for me.

15 gallons of fresh batch of Instant Ocean

alk 11.2

calcium 405


I want it at

alk 8

calcium 420

How would I do this and with what? I have 2 part solutions as well as muratic acid from Leslie's Pools - is this safe to use?

Is it possible to just add some calcium from my 2 part and that will lower my alk and raise calcium?
 
Go to the reef calculator at BRS for ca and mag supplements. For acid try searching for muratic acid. I know I have personally typed the equation about 20 times on here. It's quite wordy so do me a favor and search first...
 
He marine mix produces a synthetic low alk salt. Might be more what your looking for. Me I have corals eating my alk. So when my tank of 350g is at 8 and I do a 40g change only bumps a bit. Not a huge swing.
 
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