Instant ocean sea salt

johnny4491 · Jun 21, 2015

Is it true that this salt is for fish only tanks and bad if you have corals that's what someone told me today? Is this true

dave171 · Jun 21, 2015

Well this is true If you are using instant ocean salt. But if you are using instant ocean reef crystals salt you are fine. The price isnt much of a difference so if you are using regular and not reef crystals you need to switch.

kschweer · Jun 21, 2015

I use instant ocean in my reef and I have no issues. I know many people that do as well.

johnny4491 · Jun 21, 2015

dave171 said:
Well this is true If you are using instant ocean salt. But if you are using instant ocean reef crystals salt you are fine. The price isnt much of a difference so if you are using regular and not reef crystals you need to switch.

Yes because I just started to make my own water and I was at the fish store and some guy told me this info and I didn't know if it was true or not so u think I should change to reef Crystal

dave171 · Jun 21, 2015

Yes change to reef crystals for sure. I don't know how new you are but all reef tanks need things like calcium magnesium etc. And you need to be using the salt that has these in it. And if you are making your own water are you using a ro/di system?

johnny4491 · Jun 21, 2015

dave171 said:
Yes change to reef crystals for sure. I don't know how new you are but all reef tanks need things like calcium magnesium etc. And you need to be using the salt that has these in it. And if you are making your own water are you using a ro/di system?

I'm pretty new to this but right now I don't have corals but I'm going to add some pretty soon but now that I know I'm going to buy that type of salt it's the orange reddish looking bag right and yes I'm using that type of water I buy it at my LFS

dave171 · Jun 21, 2015

Yes it's orange and says reef crystals on it. And only use ro/di water from your lfs. But in a time of need a bucket of tap water won't kill ya. Just don't wanna use it 24/7

johnny4491 · Jun 21, 2015

dave171 said:
Yes it's orange and says reef crystals on it. And only use ro/di water from your lfs. But in a time of need a bucket of tap water won't kill ya. Just don't wanna use it 24/7[/QUOTE
Ok sounds good thanks for the help I appreciate it

dave171 · Jun 21, 2015

No problem and happy reef keeping!

johnny4491 · Jun 21, 2015

dave171 said:
Yes it's orange and says reef crystals on it. And only use ro/di water from your lfs. But in a time of need a bucket of tap water won't kill ya. Just don't wanna use it 24/7

At what salinity should be good for my corals and fish so when I do decide to add coral

kschweer · Jun 21, 2015

Do a quick search on this site and you will see many people successfully use regular IO and prefer it. Any salt mix you get will contain Cal, Alk and Mag just in different concentrations. As your tank matures you will need to supplement these any way so I do not see the need to use reef crystals. Reef crystals also has things in it that many do not want in those tanks. Maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley can chime in as well. Also to add I wouldn't recommend putting any tap water in your tank ever. If you're in a bind the only other thing besides rodi I would use would be distilled water. It's not a bad idea to keep a few gallon containers around just in case.

dave171 · Jun 21, 2015

Salinity should be around 1.024 that's what mine is. And I guess you can use regular instant ocean... but I have can not say personally and can't say it will yield good results. Corals live off of light and supplements so why not buy salt with what they need? I use Red Sea Coral pro salt simply because it's one of the best salt mixes for reefs. And my reef has flourished in a short amount of time. And what does reef crystals have that many do not want in their tanks?

kschweer · Jun 21, 2015

johnny4491 said:
At what salinity should be good for my corals and fish so when I do decide to add coral

Salinity should be kept around 1.026. Try to use a refractometer over a swing arm hydrometer. They are more accurate.

glb · Jun 21, 2015

I'm actually changing back to regular IO after using Reef Crystals for several years. I had trouble getting the RC to dissolve and the parameters were often out of whack. My Ca/mg were always super high and alk/Ph I control with kalk. I used IO until I got coral, but I've heard so many people who stayed with it and are happy that I'm going to give it a try.

dave171 · Jun 21, 2015

How do you dissolve your salt mix?

kschweer · Jun 21, 2015

dave171 said:
Salinity should be around 1.024 that's what mine is. And I guess you can use regular instant ocean... but I have can not say personally and can't say it will yield good results. Corals live off of light and supplements so why not buy salt with what they need? I use Red Sea Coral pro salt simply because it's one of the best salt mixes for reefs. And my reef has flourished in a short amount of time. And what does reef crystals have that many do not want in their tanks?

dave171 · Jun 21, 2015

That's his opinion and it's respected. If you wanted to know mine I think everyone should use Red Sea Coral Pro salt but hey that's just me. So if you want to use regular instant ocean by all means go ahead. But if you want to see more results and faster coral growth I would suggest reef crystals or red sea coral pro salt. But I can only stand by red sea and not instant ocean since I have never used it in my reef.

kschweer · Jun 21, 2015

You are correct these are just opinions and their are many ways to run a tank. This is why we have this forum, to get as many opinions as we can to come to our own decisions. This is why I preface things with "in my tank" or "this works for me" because not every tank is the same and not everything will work in every situation. To the OP, best of luck with get timing corals in your tank. Welcome to the addiction..lol

dave171 · Jun 21, 2015

kschweer said:
You are correct these are just opinions and their are many ways to run a tank. This is why we have this forum, to get as many opinions as we can to come to our own decisions. This is why I preface things with "in my tank" or "this works for me" because not every tank is the same and not everything will work in every situation. To the OP, best of luck with get timing corals in your tank. Welcome to the addiction..lol

You are right! Haha welcome to the addiction as well OP!

redfishbluefish · Jun 21, 2015

Wow! So much mis-information. IO is just fine for a reef tank. It's "ocean water," as they claim. It is one of the most popular salts. I use it, and unless anything has changed, so does Randy Holmes Farley. With any salt, including what I term the "super salts," you'll need to supplement alk and calc. But IO is a great salt....minimal swings in alk and calc when I do water changes.