Need help with some instructions

[MikeLeong]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and amaze at the amount of info available. Appreciate the sharing and support.

I have 2 questions
1) How do I use AF Reef Mineral Salt with Red Sea Ca+ powder?
AF instructions is to use it with their Ca buffer. It says to mix 25mg of their salt with 1L of water and use the "same amount" as their Ca buffer. AF Ca mixing instructions is to mix 50mg powder with 1L of water (double the weight of their RM salt).
As I am not using AF Ca but Red Sea Ca+, is the instruction also valid?
I deduced that RS Ca (powder) and AF Ca (power) are similar because using the reef chemistry calculator for Ca dosing, the calculated weight is the same.
Is the "same amount" referring to the mixed liquids (in ml after mixing) or powder weight (in mg)?

If I do not want to mix these 2 (RS Ca and AF RM salt) into solutions, can I use them based on their dry weight?
That is, if reef chem. calculator says Ca dose is 10mg to raise it by 20ppm, then I will use 5mg of the AF RM Salt to keep the ionic balance?

2) Does anyone have experience with Fauna Marine's "Coral Balance"?
I use FM salt mix and am happy with it. I was introduced to Coral Balance as it has multi benefits in controlling NO3, PO4, food for corals and "bio-polymers" (no idea what is that).
I have used it twice and it makes the water cloudy for an hour or 2 but my tank inhabitant seems to be fine. I have temporary stopped using it as I could not find any proper reviews or experiences of users. However as I do like FM's salt very much (their quality), I like to give this product of theirs the benefit of the doubt and reaching out for user's experience (results) and also if you know what's its constituents?

Your comments and advice is much appreciated. Sorry for the longish 1st post..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and amaze at the amount of info available. Appreciate the sharing and support.

I have 2 questions
1) How do I use AF Reef Mineral Salt with Red Sea Ca+ powder?
AF instructions is to use it with their Ca buffer. It says to mix 25mg of their salt with 1L of water and use the "same amount" as their Ca buffer. AF Ca mixing instructions is to mix 50mg powder with 1L of water (double the weight of their RM salt).
As I am not using AF Ca but Red Sea Ca+, is the instruction also valid?
I deduced that RS Ca (powder) and AF Ca (power) are similar because using the reef chemistry calculator for Ca dosing, the calculated weight is the same.
Is the "same amount" referring to the mixed liquids (in ml after mixing) or powder weight (in mg)?

If I do not want to mix these 2 (RS Ca and AF RM salt) into solutions, can I use them based on their dry weight?
That is, if reef chem. calculator says Ca dose is 10mg to raise it by 20ppm, then I will use 5mg of the AF RM Salt to keep the ionic balance?

The "same amount" is based on the liquid volume.

What do you mean by

"If I do not want to mix these 2 (RS Ca and AF RM salt) into solutions, can I use them based on their dry weight?"

They both should be made into solutions before adding to the tank, if that's part of the question.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

2) Does anyone have experience with Fauna Marine's "Coral Balance"?
I use FM salt mix and am happy with it. I was introduced to Coral Balance as it has multi benefits in controlling NO3, PO4, food for corals and "bio-polymers" (no idea what is that).
I have used it twice and it makes the water cloudy for an hour or 2 but my tank inhabitant seems to be fine. I have temporary stopped using it as I could not find any proper reviews or experiences of users. However as I do like FM's salt very much (their quality), I like to give this product of theirs the benefit of the doubt and reaching out for user's experience (results) and also if you know what's its constituents?

Your comments and advice is much appreciated. Sorry for the longish 1st post..

I've seen few comments on Coral Balance. It sounds like a mix of things that are not well described by the manufacturer to meet some vague claims of utility. Some of it hardly makes sense to me and I generally would not recommend such a product.

 

[MikeLeong]

The "same amount" is based on the liquid volume.

What do you mean by

"If I do not want to mix these 2 (RS Ca and AF RM salt) into solutions, can I use them based on their dry weight?"

They both should be made into solutions before adding to the tank, if that's part of the question.

Thanks Randy.

What I mean is if I do not made them into pre-mix solutions (50g RS Ca with 1L water and 25g AF RM salt with 1L water) but use the dosage according to the reef caculator (weight) - mix in some small amount of water and dose it all in the tank manually (when I need to dose the Ca, I will also dose the AF RM salt)
I think I know the answer already as you mention it should be dosed based on volume. So if I need to dose 10mg of RS Ca, then I will use 5mg of the AF RM Salt.