reef crystals is a scam!!

[jayb12]

almost every other "reef" salt uses the same standard as their regular salt so if your going to be mad at the standard be mad at the standard and stop isolating reef crystals.

and for all of you talking about getting ripped off oh please (I'm sure you are but it has nothing to do with specific gravity). you are paying for the amount of salt received not a specific gravity hence at DFS a 5g bucket of reef crystals is $2 more than a 5g bucket of IO. what are you suggestng a 35% decrease in the price of reef crystals because you need to mix it at 1.025 even though you are getting the exact same amount of (fortified) product?

what i was paying for was 160 gallons of reef grade water. not 100 gallons. thats almost half of what they claim for their "reef" mix

 

[shred5]

What are you using to check the salinity and have you checked that it is acurate? I have over the years seen salt be different from bucket to bucket, Salt can get old too.

Dave
Polzin

 

[otrlynn]

I've always had to use more than 1/2 cup to get 1.026 salinity with Reef Crystals... usually about 0.6 cups per gallon.

This was my experience as well. I would have said a semi-heaping half cup of salt per gallon when mixed up to 1.025 s.g. I used a half cup measure, but just did not level the top off as you would when measuring a half-cup of flour for a recipe. Prior to this I used Seachem Reef salt and it seemed spot-on at a level half cup per gallon at 1.025. I am currently using Brightwell and it takes just a tad under a half cup to mix a gallon to 1.025

I still don't see though how a box/bucket of Reef Crystals intended to make 160 gallons would make only 100 gallons!

 

[TRITON1]

what i was paying for was 160 gallons of reef grade water. not 100 gallons. thats almost half of what they claim for their "reef" mix

No, Ill have to agree with the above. Your paying for the salt. If your logic is correct they should charge you more for running a quarantine tank at hyposalinity because you could make more water with the same amount of salt.
Now and days bucket size and bag size just give you an idea of what size container of salt, its up to the user to adjust how much they use to get the sg they want.
At the end of the day this arguement could go round and round. :spin3::spin3::spin3:

 

[fasteddie99]

I can see both sides...Its all in how its worded, and interpreted...Just like a law. A defense attny will see a law written to mean one thing, when the prosecution will interpret it another.

"reef crystals", when used for your "reef" tank should be measured accordingly and the ratio displayed on the bucket. And if it is intended for a "reef" tank, the ammount the entire bucket makes should be adjusted accordingly as well.

However, in their defence, it DOES state that the quantity is based on an sg of 1.021.

I simply just accepted the fact that what written on the side of the bucket is not accurate for "my" use and I know that the entire bucket does not in fact make 160 gallons, but closer to 100.

It might make us feel better if it was call FOWLR crystals, then the writing would be accurate. :rollface:

 

[Chris27]

What was used to measure the salinity? Was it calibrated?

 

[eyebedam]

The only thing I find weird is on the 200 gal mix boxes why does RC weigh 3lbs less than IO? They both claim to make the same amount of salt water but the total weight of RC is less. Anywho the product still works fine IMO but I'm gonna try Brightwells salt next.

 

[Chris27]

The only thing I find weird is on the 200 gal mix boxes why does RC weigh 3lbs less than IO? They both claim to make the same amount of salt water but the total weight of RC is less. Anywho the product still works fine IMO but I'm gonna try Brightwells salt next.

Good Luck - I have a funny suspicion you'll be switching back.:rollface:

 

[jbird69]

The vast majority of people keeping saltwater aquariums are keeping fish only. When youre on RC its easy to think everybody has a reef tank, this simply isnt true. The sg standard these salt companies are suggesting are fine for fish only aquariums. If a company comes out with a salt that is "reef specific", you can bet they will charge accordingly...and then some, assuming us reefers have deeper pockets. REEF CRYSTALS is just a cool marketing name for salt, its not reef specific.

 

[tektite]

You can always look into seachem's new salinity salt - each bucket makes 225 gal @ 1.026. Each batch is independently tested by a lab and the results are printed on each bucket. The buckets more expensive than most but if you do the math on how much saltwater you can make its not that bad.

My bucket has:

pH 8.5
alk 3.8 meq/l
cal 417
mag 1370
stron 8.6

 

[shred5]

The vast majority of people keeping saltwater aquariums are keeping fish only. When youre on RC its easy to think everybody has a reef tank, this simply isnt true. The sg standard these salt companies are suggesting are fine for fish only aquariums. If a company comes out with a salt that is "reef specific", you can bet they will charge accordingly...and then some, assuming us reefers have deeper pockets. REEF CRYSTALS is just a cool marketing name for salt, its not reef specific.

I do not know about that.. IO is marketed toward the fish side and reef crystals is toward the reef side. Reef crystals is Instant ocean with higher calcium levels. But we used to keep reefs at a lower salinity than we do now and reef crystals has been around a long time.

Dave
Polzin

 

[graveyardworm]

Instant Ocean has reformulated. $35 bucks for a 200gallon box that mixes out to 180 gallons at 1.025. I am not complaining. Not sure why anyone is still using Reef Crystals. They are both made by the same company.

 

[mscarpena]

If you dont like the salt dont buy it again. It's as simple as that. I bought RC for years, but have switched to corallife because I think it is a better salt. Both salts worked well for me, but my tank is more stable with corallife and I add less supplements. Also when you think about it salt is very cheap compared to the other things we buy. I am not saying that the fine print is upstanding, but all sorts of companies do it. Candy bars instead of the price going up they just keep getting smaller and smaller.

 

[SDguy]

Instant Ocean has reformulated. $35 bucks for a 200gallon box that mixes out to 180 gallons at 1.025. I am not complaining. Not sure why anyone is still using Reef Crystals. They are both made by the same company.

Oooo, where'd you find it for $35? I need to get some!

 

[dan223]

yeah its pretty lame that they sell a product labled with specs that are not inline with the intended use of the product, definately misleading. Red Sea and Red Sea coral pro are listed the same way.

 

[graveyardworm]

Oooo, where'd you find it for $35? I need to get some!

LFS sells it for that price everyday. Shipping would probably hurt.

 

[reefscape15]

I can't honestly believe that the mods didn't lock this out when they saw the title. Anyways..........I agree if you aren't happy with the product, don't buy it. I started with Reef Crystals, then switched to Coralife mostly for the free shirt in the bucket . But I was much happier with the results from Coralife than Reef Crystals. I just bought another bucket of Reef Crystals cause I was in the middle of making water up and ran out of salt. RC was all the LFS had, but once this bucket is gone, I'm going back to Coralife. I do understand your b!t€h about the subject but there's really nothing you will be able to do about it other than use something else.

 

[SDguy]

LFS sells it for that price everyday. Shipping would probably hurt.

You have a good LFS!

 

[graveyardworm]

yeah its pretty lame that they sell a product labled with specs that are not inline with the intended use of the product, definately misleading. Red Sea and Red Sea coral pro are listed the same way.

Many people intend to use it in different ways. Sort of one size fits all. If they made a seperate salt for each purpose then a brand like Instant Ocean would probably cost as much as TM Pro. Its fortunate they havent specialized all of it. Be thankful and appreciative.

 

[lougotzz]

True but the fact that it's called "Reef" Crystals, not "Fish Only" Crystals tells me that they think natural "Reefs" have a specific gravity of 1.021 or they have found a way to rip us off. Either way, I don't like their salt for other reasons. I've always said the best thing about Reef Crystals is the bucket it comes in.

I dont buy that. Ive seen reefs with a sg of 1.021. You can always dose a little mag and cal. Still not a scam as far as im concerned.