Reef Crystals Ca and Alk, plus smell?

[Guy W]

I opened my first bucket of Reef Crystals today, had been using regular Instant Ocean, and the first thing I noticed was the odd smell. It reminded me of really strong smelling vitamins if I had to compare it to something. The regular IO didn't have any sort of smell at all.

Also I tested some water I mixed up with it and the Calcium tested higher then my test kit would go. My API test kit has a max on the chart of 26 drops is 520 Ca, but I was getting 28 drops which would mean 560 if it continues as the same rate. I tested Alkalinity and I got a reading of between 11 and 12 dKH. Both were WAY higher then I'd get with IO, higher then I was expecting, should I have concerns that it's too high?

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[CStrickland]

Ive noticed a smell when I had to mix a lot of water at once, now that I recognize it I catch a whiff once in a while. Idk what it is, but it's normal for the brand.

The last time I checked mine came to a smidge over 400 Ca at 1.026, but I don't think it's the most consistent brand. For a 10% change its not enough for me to worry about. Did you mix the salt before you scooped it? It can settle out during shipping and storage so I roll the bucket around on the floor for a while or shake the bags around.

 

[Guy W]

I didn't really mix up the bucket but you mention shaking the bags around, the bucket didn't have the salt in bags, it was just in the bucket.

 

[CStrickland]

That's fine, sorry for the confusion.
You can also buy it as a box of like 6 or 8 bags. I switched to that after I had enough spare 5g buckets. They are easier to mix and if you get a little water in it you only mess up the one bag. Plus that's what amazon had on Prime. Rolling the bucket around on the floor was funner tho

 

[truepercs]

I have also been using IO, Bought a bag of the reef crystals today... Mixing up and going to check to see how it compares.

 

[MakomekTVN]

I bought a bucket of RC about 2 months ago ,yea Alk is 13dkh Cal 540 at 35ppt. Now I figured a way to use it up by adding 2g regular red sea + 1g RC make alk 9.5 and cal 470 and will never touch RC again.My tank is doing ok with RC salt but after slowly bringing alk+cal to 8-9 +440-470 my tank look a lot happier.