Salt suggestion

[rongy]

Hi reefers, I’m running a nice mix reef tank with LPS and SPS. I’m currently using IO reef crystal salt, but thinking of switching. I usually keep Alk around 7-8, Calcium around 420, Mag around 1290. I’m dosing two parts with Magnesium.

I have no problem with reef crystal salt at all, but its parameters are much higher than what I keep, so I expect Alk spike every water change.

I was looking at Red Sea regular bucket and the IO regular salt. Is RS salt really worth it? It’s almost double the price of IO salt. Any suggestion is appreciated!

 

[exnisstech]

I use IO and RC in a 50/50 mix. No real reason other than I found them both on sale and loaded up about a year or so ago. I was running just IO prior to that. I only tested fresh mix once and alk was 10. I run my tanks at 8ish alk. New mix being at 10 has caused no issues that I'm aware of. I'm of the mindset if it's working why change? The only gripe I have is it mixes dirty but I don't really care that my mixing brute has a layer of stuff in the bottom.

 

[rongy]

I use IO and RC in a 50/50 mix. No real reason other than I found them both on sale and loaded up about a year or so ago. I was running just IO prior to that. I only tested fresh mix once and alk was 10. I run my tanks at 8ish alk. New mix being at 10 has caused no issues that I'm aware of. I'm of the mindset if it's working why change? The only gripe I have is it mixes dirty but I don't really care that my mixing brute has a layer of stuff in the bottom.

I have a relatively small tank (~70gal), and I don’t have a mixing station. Everything is done manually, so residue is not an issue for me.
How often have you seen bad batches for IO? Wondering if regular IO is better than reef crystal since I’m already dosing two parts

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi reefers, I’m running a nice mix reef tank with LPS and SPS. I’m currently using IO reef crystal salt, but thinking of switching. I usually keep Alk around 7-8, Calcium around 420, Mag around 1290. I’m dosing two parts with Magnesium.

I have no problem with reef crystal salt at all, but its parameters are much higher than what I keep, so I expect Alk spike every water change.

I was looking at Red Sea regular bucket and the IO regular salt. Is RS salt really worth it? It’s almost double the price of IO salt. Any suggestion is appreciated!

How large of water changes do you do at once?

 

[rongy]

How large of water changes do you do at once?

10% weekly

 

[exnisstech]

I have a relatively small tank (~70gal), and I don’t have a mixing station. Everything is done manually, so residue is not an issue for me.
How often have you seen bad batches for IO? Wondering if regular IO is better than reef crystal since I’m already dosing two parts

I have never had bad batch of either that I'm aware of but I rarely test the fresh mix. I'm kinda a keep it simple lazy type of reefer. I only mix 28g at a time just in a brute container with old powerheads. All manual, nothing fancy. I still dose 2 part in two tanks that are heavy with growing sps frags. I drip kalk in my larger system 180g display but add a little 2 part once in a while as I'm still getting the kalk dosage dialed in.
If IO is working for you and you have your 2 part dosing dialed in is there really a reason to change if everything is doing well?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

10% weekly

If the tank is 8 dKH and the salt mix is 12 dKH, a 10% change boosts alk to 8.4 dKH.

That does not seem like a problem to me.

FWIW, I prefer normal IO to Reef Crystals since RC has vitamins and other materials in it that i do not think are useful in a salt mix.

 

[rongy]

If the tank is 8 dKH and the salt mix is 12 dKH, a 10% change boosts alk to 8.4 dKH.

That does not seem like a problem to me.

FWIW, I prefer normal IO to Reef Crystals since RC has vitamins and other materials in it that i do not think are useful in a salt mix.

Does reef crystal contain more trace elements than normal IO? I don’t dose trace elements, so they need to be replenished via water change.

If the difference between reef crystal and normal IO are higher Mag, Alk, Cal and other useless materials like vitamin, I might consider switch to normal IO as they’re closer to my parameters

 

[rongy]

I have never had bad batch of either that I'm aware of but I rarely test the fresh mix. I'm kinda a keep it simple lazy type of reefer. I only mix 28g at a time just in a brute container with old powerheads. All manual, nothing fancy. I still dose 2 part in two tanks that are heavy with growing sps frags. I drip kalk in my larger system 180g display but add a little 2 part once in a while as I'm still getting the kalk dosage dialed in.
If IO is working for you and you have your 2 part dosing dialed in is there really a reason to change if everything is doing well?

No real reason I guess. I just think that spike in Alk (~0.4) weekly after WC can be bad. There are times when I don’t have time for WC (e.g. vacation) and have to do 20% biweekly which leads to higher spike.
What’s your thought on switching to normal IO salt?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Does reef crystal contain more trace elements than normal IO? I don’t dose trace elements, so they need to be replenished via water change.

If the difference between reef crystal and normal IO are higher Mag, Alk, Cal and other useless materials like vitamin, I might consider switch to normal IO as they’re closer to my parameters

IMO, that is a false assumption of the hobby. Foods are likely a substantial source of trace elements.

 

[rongy]

IMO, that is a false assumption of the hobby. Foods are likely a substantial source of trace elements.

Sounds like I should change to IO normal bucket. Thanks for the advice!

 

[exnisstech]

No real reason I guess. I just think that spike in Alk (~0.4) weekly after WC can be bad. There are times when I don’t have time for WC (e.g. vacation) and have to do 20% biweekly which leads to higher spike.
What’s your thought on switching to normal IO salt?

Personally I would still be using just IO but the deal I got on RC at the time was too good to pass up and I wanted to stock pile some salt. I'll most likely start increasing the IO to RC ratio when my supply starts getting low and eventually be back on just IO. IO just works. I've never dosed anything but 2 part and kalk and my oldest tank is going 8 years old and has never looked better.
From the reading I've done it seems like the biggest complaint folks have about IO is the residue left behind. Personally I couldn't care less as long as the corals and nems are happy. I just pump the water through a sock when I'm doing water changes.
But like most things in the hobby some folks love something while others hate it. Makes it tough for newcomers to get info, just too many varying oppinions.

 

[KÜRŞAT]

IMO, that is a false assumption of the hobby. Foods are likely a substantial source of trace elements.

What salt do you use in your tanks?