Reef Crystals parameters crazy high??

[eggplantparrot]

hey yall, im a newbie just getting into the salty side of things. i am slowly setting up a 75G tank, and in the mean time, have set up a 10 gallon to age some rock and get used to testing etc.

i bought a 200G mix box of Reef crystals as it was cheap, cheaper than the 160g bucket version at my lfs. i did not bother to test the parameters after mixing my first batch and filling the tank (i should have but forgot) as i did not have any corals. i bought some rubble from a tank with a couple fish in it to seed and have been dosing Seachem Stability according to instructions. i have also added a big chunk of Caribsea south seas base rock.

tonight as i sat in front of my tank watching my clown, i remembered i had bought a Red Sea Foundation Pro test kit the same time i bought the salt. i went ahead and tested the water. i have read Reef crystals has elevated parameters but the results i got were quite crazy.

i used pretty much the full 1ml of titrant for all 3 tests, which looks like:

Cal 500 ppm
Alk 14 dKH
Mag 1600 ppm

i mixed the salt in a bucket as well as i could, used a pump to turn the water and a heater to bring it up to same temp as tank (78-79F).

now the question is why the parameters are so high? i only tested each once as its night already. is it possible the brand new carribsea south seas rock is affecting the params? any help is appreciated.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I used to rock instant ocean.. mostly because Randy used to use it and to a certain extent, salt is salt.

after several batches with dkh of 12 and 11 at 1.026 salinity I used what I had left on QT fish and never looked back.

I now use rpm and it has been really consistent. maybe one of these days my mag will be below 1600

 

[JMetaxas]

My last batch of Reef Crystals measured out at 9.3 dKH

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

hey yall, im a newbie just getting into the salty side of things. i am slowly setting up a 75G tank, and in the mean time, have set up a 10 gallon to age some rock and get used to testing etc.

i bought a 200G mix box of Reef crystals as it was cheap, cheaper than the 160g bucket version at my lfs. i did not bother to test the parameters after mixing my first batch and filling the tank (i should have but forgot) as i did not have any corals. i bought some rubble from a tank with a couple fish in it to seed and have been dosing Seachem Stability according to instructions. i have also added a big chunk of Caribsea south seas base rock.

tonight as i sat in front of my tank watching my clown, i remembered i had bought a Red Sea Foundation Pro test kit the same time i bought the salt. i went ahead and tested the water. i have read Reef crystals has elevated parameters but the results i got were quite crazy.

i used pretty much the full 1ml of titrant for all 3 tests, which looks like:

Cal 500 ppm
Alk 14 dKH
Mag 1600 ppm

i mixed the salt in a bucket as well as i could, used a pump to turn the water and a heater to bring it up to same temp as tank (78-79F).

now the question is why the parameters are so high? i only tested each once as its night already. is it possible the brand new carribsea south seas rock is affecting the params? any help is appreciated.

Reef Crystals is designed with high alk. Yours is a bit higher than the usual 11-13 dKH.

I suspect the magnesium is testing error (very common) but might be a bad batch. It does not meet their specification base on last I heard what it was (I'm not allowed to say, but it is not that high).

 

[Elegance Coral]

My suspicion is that the salinity is high.
At 1.025 the numbers should be a little lower than that.

 

[Zach Mitchell]

Just wanted to chime in here and say, your not alone, i've been narrowing down an issue with the chemistry for about a year now. I'm using the Orange box of Reef Crystals and i just did a test and found it wild.
PH 8.1
Alk 240 ppm or 13.5 dKH
Calc 285 ppm
Mag 1400 ppm
Salinity 1.026

I've been trying to figure out why I cant get my calcium to increase, and finally decided to test a fresh mix of 25G...

 

[rkpetersen]

The manager of an LFS says that Reef Crystals destroyed almost everything in a recent tank setup she did, due to way-off parameters. Just hearsay and I didn't get the specifics, but she's been at this for awhile and has 10 systems at home, so I can't discount what she says.

 

[eggplantparrot]

Thx for the feedback guys. I am calibrating my refrac with brightwells.

For the magnesium test, how do i scoop the powder? Should i take card and level it off with the top of the spoon or conpress or just use 1 full pile?

I am also using a 3d printed magnetic stirrer with my own designed stiring bar, the bars are made of PLA (PolyLactic Acid or something like that), would that have interfered with the results? Each test has it own stiring bar.

 

[hatfielj]

I personally decided to stop using reef crystals for this reason as well. I don't like alk spikes and neither do my corals. I switched to blue bucket red sea sal

 

[Zach Mitchell]

Is there anything that meets the price point of Reef Crystals $45-50 per 200 gallons of mix?
The price for Red Sea seems double that. I know you get what you pay for but... shouldn't Instant Ocean be accountable for the mix quality or false specs on the box?

 

[rkpetersen]

For the magnesium test, how do i scoop the powder? Should i take card and level it off with the top of the spoon

This is the right way to use a measuring scoop.

I am also using a 3d printed magnetic stirrer with my own designed stiring bar, the bars are made of PLA (PolyLactic Acid or something like that), would that have interfered with the results? Each test has it own stiring bar.

I doubt PLA is soluble enough to interfere with these tests, but it's not really necessary to use a stir bar for brief tests like these, so why introduce another potential source of error? Also, if you think your test result might be in error, try the Salifert Mg test. It has a very clear endpoint and seems to be the most consistently accurate hobbyist kit at present.

 

[eggplantparrot]

I have

This is the right way to use a measuring scoop.



I doubt PLA is soluble enough to interfere with these tests, but it's not really necessary to use a stir bar for brief tests like these, so why introduce another potential source of error?

Mostly laziness, i also have injuries in my wrists and the swirling action gets painful.

 

[rkpetersen]

Mostly laziness, i also have injuries in my wrists and the swirling action gets painful.

Ah, that's a different matter! I should have considered that.

 

[eggplantparrot]

Aw man, i just returned a pump yesterday and got 3 test kits with the credit, nitrate, phosphate and ammonia, all salifert, should have gone for the Mg instead lol.

 

[Zach Mitchell]

If you have an instructables or stl of the stirrer that would be awesome, i would love to take a look at it.
Salifert Mag seems to be the most consistent to me. Red Sea is difficult to read.

 

[eggplantparrot]

If you have an instructables or stl of the stirrer that would be awesome, i would love to take a look at it.
Salifert Mag seems to be the most consistent to me. Red Sea is difficult to read.

Pm me your email, i made the thing to have modular inserts for different brands of vials, but only have Red Sea vials right now. The body was a modified version of one i found on Thingiverse. The bars are printed standing up and has a hole for a small piece of music wire inserted afterwards.

 

[Strawberry]

I am following this thread because I also use reef crystals and have been having issues with high alkalinity 12-13dKh and PH that won’t raise. Also calcium 450-480. I haven’t tested for magnesium or trace elements.

 

[GThompson]

I’m also using Reef Crystals and having to dose to raise my alk Mag consistent at 1350 , calcium hangs around 440. Maybe I got a good box.

 

[Sabellafella]

hey yall, im a newbie just getting into the salty side of things. i am slowly setting up a 75G tank, and in the mean time, have set up a 10 gallon to age some rock and get used to testing etc.

i bought a 200G mix box of Reef crystals as it was cheap, cheaper than the 160g bucket version at my lfs. i did not bother to test the parameters after mixing my first batch and filling the tank (i should have but forgot) as i did not have any corals. i bought some rubble from a tank with a couple fish in it to seed and have been dosing Seachem Stability according to instructions. i have also added a big chunk of Caribsea south seas base rock.

tonight as i sat in front of my tank watching my clown, i remembered i had bought a Red Sea Foundation Pro test kit the same time i bought the salt. i went ahead and tested the water. i have read Reef crystals has elevated parameters but the results i got were quite crazy.

i used pretty much the full 1ml of titrant for all 3 tests, which looks like:

Cal 500 ppm
Alk 14 dKH
Mag 1600 ppm

i mixed the salt in a bucket as well as i could, used a pump to turn the water and a heater to bring it up to same temp as tank (78-79F).

now the question is why the parameters are so high? i only tested each once as its night already. is it possible the brand new carribsea south seas rock is affecting the params? any help is appreciated.

Yea this is definitely not the right salinity, at 35 it usually checks out 10.5 11 all, 450 480 calcium, 1300 1350 mag

If you lower your sg 2 ppt, should put you in range of what reef crystals is supposed to be.

 

[jordan10]

What's up with every one saying bad batch of salt every other day I hear some one talking about ” I got a bad batch of salt” it's either RPM or IO is it really that common to get a so called bad batch? I used RPM cuz it was 50$ for 200G I got a frag swap had no problems. Now that it is gone I am using reef crystal because it's cheap on Amazon. But everything looks good.