Changing salt

[Kkuhar]

Hello everyone! I have a 125 gallon reef tank. Im thinking of switching from instant ocean to instant ocean reef crystals. Has anyone done that before? Thanks in advance!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hello everyone! I have a 125 gallon reef tank. Im thinking of switching from instant ocean to instant ocean reef crystals. Has anyone done that before? Thanks in advance!

Why switch?

I prefer normal IO.

That said, I'm sure thousands of people have done it without issue.

 

[saltyfins]

Hello everyone! I have a 125 gallon reef tank. Im thinking of switching from instant ocean to instant ocean reef crystals. Has anyone done that before? Thanks in advance!

just curious, why do you want to change?

 

[Rmckoy]

Find a salt that mixes to your desired parameters and stick with it .

 

[Big Smelly fish]

You won’t have any issues, but like others have asked, is there a reason why you are changing.

 

[Kkuhar]

Thank you for your replies. I'm fairly new to this. About 8 months in. You all asked a good question. Why? Ro be honest I don't kmow why. It was recommended to me. My corals are showing very little growth. I have began dosing calcium and alk. Was hoping to keep the tank a bit more stable. Maybe if there isn't a benefit may not do it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you for your replies. I'm fairly new to this. About 8 months in. You all asked a good question. Why? Ro be honest I don't kmow why. It was recommended to me. My corals are showing very little growth. I have began dosing calcium and alk. Was hoping to keep the tank a bit more stable. Maybe if there isn't a benefit may not do it.

IMO, it is not a "better" mix from any important perspective to a reef aquarium, and I do not like to have organic matter such as vitamins in a salt mix (which Reef Crystals does and normal IO does not).

It also seems to form a brown crud that normal IO lacks or has much less of. That may mostly relate to the vitamins, but I am not certain.

 

[JMetaxas]

I’m a big fan of Reef Crystals. Why? Because it works for me, plain and simple.

Fortunately, it’s a lower cost salt mix too. I can often get it for around $11/50 gal bag.

 

[bxclent]

I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystal salt. Should I not be not be using it and maybe just be using something like Reef Roids ? Not new to not new to saltwater but We are new to corals

 

[Clown2020]

Thank you for your replies. I'm fairly new to this. About 8 months in. You all asked a good question. Why? Ro be honest I don't kmow why. It was recommended to me. My corals are showing very little growth. I have began dosing calcium and alk. Was hoping to keep the tank a bit more stable. Maybe if there isn't a benefit may not do it.

I was in a similar position to you and decided to change from regular io to reef crystals thinking I would not need to start dosing for a while. and that was good for a couple of months but Now my consumption is outpacing my water changes I’m starting to see a swing in parameters and am now about to start dosing.

My suggestion would be to find a salt that mixes to the parameters you want to maintain and dose to match your consumption.

As far as changing from one to the other goes had no problems.

while Im happy with reef crystals, if I could go back in time I would have just stuck with regular io and started dosing sooner. Just got so much on hand now it’s gonna take so long to use it all may as well stick with it

ps if you get the 20kg box of io or reef crystals and stack all of the 2kg bags up under your tank it looks like your part of a drug smuggling operation

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Note sure the accuracy, but I did find this online:

Aquarium Salt Mix Guide

Learn how to properly mix saltwater with various brands of aquarium salt from the experts at That Fish Place - That Pet Place & thatpetplace.com.

www.thatpetplace.com

 

[Scorpius]

8 Months? If you started with dry rock then wait till the 18-24 month time period to see coral mortality drop off and growth increase.

 

[Spare time]

IMO, it is not a "better" mix from any important perspective to a reef aquarium, and I do not like to have organic matter such as vitamins in a salt mix (which Reef Crystals does and normal IO does not).

It also seems to form a brown crud that normal IO lacks or has much less of. That may mostly relate to the vitamins, but I am not certain.

I thought you said the brown crud is just calcium carbonate precipitating? Wouldn't that just relate to reef crystals very high calcium and alk levels? https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/instant-ocean-brown-residue.865536/

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystal salt. Should I not be not be using it and maybe just be using something like Reef Roids ? Not new to not new to saltwater but We are new to corals

It's fine. It's likely the most common mix for reefs. I just happen to prefer normal IO.

 

[saltyfins]

I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystal salt. Should I not be not be using it and maybe just be using something like Reef Roids ? Not new to not new to saltwater but We are new to corals

Reef Roids, is a food. Not a salt

 

[johnreef]

i have done the change last year, no seem big inprovement, and now i saw Randy Holmes-Farley leave his comment here said they are the same, cheaper one even better, .....just confuse of tons of the salt in the market, some of them 10 times on price to others, are they really 10 times better?

 

[Clown2020]

i have done the change last year, no seem big inprovement, and now i saw Randy Holmes-Farley leave his comment here said they are the same, cheaper one even better, .....just confuse of tons of the salt in the market, some of them 10 times on price to others, are they really 10 times better?

Based on my reasearch when I came to change salt

it seems to come down mostly to a couple of things, is it a reef salt or standard salt for want of a better description, what I mean by this is reef crystals for example is Higher in alk mg ca comapred to regular io also some salts contain other additives like Vitamins.

Other than that the quality of the raw materials, For example a salt made from pharmaceutical grade materials will be a more expensive salt.

Do either of these points make a salt better or not I don’t know.

Personally both regular IO and reef crystals have worked just fine for me. Other than the expected increase in alk ca mg is there anything better about reef crystals, no not that I have noticed.