Battle of the cheap salts: Fritz RPM vs Reef Crystals

[Sean Clark]

I would agree on Posh. I didn't look up the then vs now.

 

[zdrc]

I use Fritz RPM (blue box) and I like it. I just started reefing so take my recommendation with a grain of salt. It mixes to the low 8s for me which has been totally fine for my LPS. You might want the red box though.

Whatever salt you choose, be sure to follow the instructions on the box. I think salt mixes are actually quite chemically complex. They have to get a lot of minerals into solution in a short amount of time with high consistency and no precipitation. Different salts will have different mixing instructions. For example, the Fritz instructions are clear and specific: mix without heat but with a pump, the water will be ready/clear in 2 hrs (this is accurate in my experience, it mixes clear very fast), and if storing the saltwater for longer stop mixing and heating. I think a lot of problems people have with this salt are due to a different mixing schedule, i.e. they mix for 24-48 hrs and they mix with heat, which would be totally fine with other brands of salt.

 

[GoTakeANap]

IO Reef Crystals for me. No issues with storage for weeks. I’ve used fritz rpm for about a year and ended up going back to IO bc I couldn’t tell the difference and IO is cheaper here.

 

[polyppal]

I though they were both commonly around 50-60$ for the big box - but looking online at Fritz now I’m seeing it go for 70-75$! That Coral Pro Territory!

I might go with Reef Crystals because it is consistently cheaper. Even if I buy a few boxes of Fritz locally cheap, I don’t want to end up paying 70$+ for it down the road if I can’t source it locally

 

[mindme]

reef crystals is the only salt I've ever used.

I am thinking about going to plain IO now however, because I do not care for the elevated alkalinty of RC.

 

[polyppal]

reef crystals is the only salt I've ever used.

I am thinking about going to plain IO now however, because I do not care for the elevated alkalinty of RC.

I didn’t know the basic IO was so close other than dkh- and it’s significantly cheaper than reef crystals.

think I’m going that route

 

[Unitylover]

Correct me if this is not a good way of mixing salt, but i just put water in a mixing bowl, add salt, mix until there is no salt on the bottom. Let stand for a few minutes. pour into tank. (keep in mind I only mix about 1 - 2 gallons of saltwater per WC)

 

[Big Smelly fish]

RC here for many years , no issues.

 

[BigMax]

I read the below thread several days ago. I expect to store at least 30 days of mixed water for AWC. It makes me lean toward using standard IO salt, but I'll admit the discussion leaves me with a few unanswered questions.

www.reef2reef.com/threads/which-salt-mix-stores-the-best.902085/

 

[G Santana]

Reef crystals here, used it when I started 32 yrs ago worked then working now... and cheap!!!

 

[twwety]

Depending on how long your gona store the salt your mixing container is gona get pretty brown and scummy with RC not the end of the world you'll just have to clean or replace it once and a while.

 

[BigMax]

For those of you who use Reef Crystals. In the past when I heated the mix Cal/ALK precipitate coats the side of my brewing tank. Five questions for those who believe it works well :

1) How long have you stored water for you AWC? I'm targeting 30-45 days worth.
2) Do you continue circulation in the brewing tank?
3) Do you aerate (air stone) while in storage?
4) Room temp or heated storage?
5) Do you see the precipitate as well?

 

[jkcoral]

For those of you who use Reef Crystals. In the past when I heated the mix Cal/ALK precipitate coats the side of my brewing tank. Five questions for those who believe it works well :

1) How long have you stored water for you AWC? I'm targeting 30-45 days worth.
2) Do you continue circulation in the brewing tank?
3) Do you aerate (air stone) while in storage?
4) Room temp or heated storage?
5) Do you see the precipitate as well?

I do not have an AWC setup, but have used reef crystals for years.

1. I’ve stored buckets (well sealed Home Depot 5g) of mixed salt for up to two months. Especially when I moved and wasn’t making my own water for a bit, I’d take like 5 buckets to my LFS to stock up on salt water.

2. When I’ve had buckets in “long term” storage, I just keep them sealed tight with no heat/circulation at all. When I’m mixing water that will be used within like 1-3 weeks, I will keep a small pump (a super cheap 80 gph) in the bucket to keep things moving.

3. I don’t aerate while in storage Once I’m getting ready to do a WC I’ll position the pump to create a lot of surface agitation and have the lid off for a few hours to take care of some of that.

4. Room temp storage. Although I will make sure to toss a heater in if needed before a WC. But with an AWC system doing small changes, you might not even need to worry about it because the temp difference of a small amount of water probably won’t matter.

5. I’ve seen some precipitate over the years. I’ve noticed that precipitate was more common when I mixed the salt with a heater in. I don’t do that anymore and instead just heat to temp before WC.

Putting a small piece of filter pad over the intake of the mixing pump also eliminates almost all of any “gunk” from mixing. I’ve even put the mixing pump inside of a filter sock and it worked great haha!

Been using RC for over a decade and have never had any issues!

 

[BigMax]

I do not have an AWC setup, but have used reef crystals for years.

1. I’ve stored buckets (well sealed Home Depot 5g) of mixed salt for up to two months. Especially when I moved and wasn’t making my own water for a bit, I’d take like 5 buckets to my LFS to stock up on salt water.

2. When I’ve had buckets in “long term” storage, I just keep them sealed tight with no heat/circulation at all. When I’m mixing water that will be used within like 1-3 weeks, I will keep a small pump (a super cheap 80 gph) in the bucket to keep things moving.

3. I don’t aerate while in storage Once I’m getting ready to do a WC I’ll position the pump to create a lot of surface agitation and have the lid off for a few hours to take care of some of that.

4. Room temp storage. Although I will make sure to toss a heater in if needed before a WC. But with an AWC system doing small changes, you might not even need to worry about it because the temp difference of a small amount of water probably won’t matter.

5. I’ve seen some precipitate over the years. I’ve noticed that precipitate was more common when I mixed the salt with a heater in. I don’t do that anymore and instead just heat to temp before WC.

Putting a small piece of filter pad over the intake of the mixing pump also eliminates almost all of any “gunk” from mixing. I’ve even put the mixing pump inside of a filter sock and it worked great haha!

Been using RC for over a decade and have never had any issues!

Thanks for taking the time to answer!

 

[jkcoral]

Thanks for taking the time to answer!

No problem!

Also, from what I’ve read/seen from other’s experiences, the precipitate/coating/residue that can build up in mixing containers isn’t really a problem, other than being “unsightly.”

Good luck on getting your AWC dialed in!

 

[xiaoxiy]

I've used the normal IO in my system for the past 3 years now and after mixing, it gets stored for up to two weeks in my AWC container w/o issue. After initial mixing, I do not provide any additional flow in the container or add heat.

It's also only $11 per 50 gallon bag on amazon (which mixes up to approximately 42ish gallons at 1.026).

 

[polyppal]

So I purchased a 200g box of normal instant ocean from chewy for 43$ w tax - that’s 60% cheaper than Coral Pro has been for me (109$ w tax for 200g sack)

I’ll document how bad the precipitate is in long term storage, but I get pretty bad participate with my coral pro too. I just cleaned out the barrel with citric acid and a scrub to get a fresh benchmark

I’m going to AWC 3 gallons/day at the start, which will end up being an approx 30% weekly change, so each barrel should last about 15-ish days.

 

[polyppal]

Correct me if this is not a good way of mixing salt, but i just put water in a mixing bowl, add salt, mix until there is no salt on the bottom. Let stand for a few minutes. pour into tank. (keep in mind I only mix about 1 - 2 gallons of saltwater per WC)

No that’s not a great method

• 
  Bring a bucket of fresh rodi up to temp
• Slowly add corresponding amount of salt while stirring
• Let it sit with a heater and small power head for a few hours at least (most go overnight at a minimum)

This is why getting a large barrel or something to mix water in bulk is a game changer compared to buckets

 

[Unitylover]

No that’s not a great method

• 
  Bring a bucket of fresh rodi up to temp
• Slowly add corresponding amount of salt while stirring
• Let it sit with a heater and small power head for a few hours at least (most go overnight at a minimum)

This is why getting a large barrel or something to mix water in bulk is a game changer compared to buckets

i dont use rodi ( cant afford yet )ok so its not s good way, but will it hurt my fish or inverts?

 

[jkcoral]

i dont use rodi ( cant afford yet )ok so its not s good way, but will it hurt my fish or inverts?

You would be better off getting a gallon jug of distilled water from the grocery store/Walmart for mixing until you get Rodi. Or even those large 5g blue distilled water jugs you can refill.

Any types of things in your water can impact your aquarium. The types of metals/solids/chlorine/etc. in your tap water will vary from city to city. Some are worse than others, but at a minimum, can cause/fuel algae and bacterial blooms.