Hello!

Hello 3reef! I'm not new to this hobby but I still have a lot of learning to do. I have a 55g tank with a few minor corals and 3 fish. A overflow box and a 12g (or so) sump. I use T5 lighting with ATI bulbs. I'm currently using reef crystals but thinking about coral pro salt.

 

What kind of fish? Post some pics

 

I haven't figured out how to post pics but I will soon. Still getting the hang of the site on my phone. I have an angel, file fish and I have a watchmen goby. Going to be trading in one fish that I have to get more coral, And so I can keep my watchmen.

 

welcome aboard!

 

As promised pics of my tank. Not much but one day it will be an amazing reef! Probably in a much bigger tank too My husbands reef is way nicer then mine. The puffer is the fish I'm trading so I can have other types of corals since he really enjoys acans. I will miss him.

 

welcome to 3reef! I think your tank looks pretty darn good! It's always nice to meet other girl reefers

 

Welcome and good luck.
I used both salts and basically I still combine them (one bucket of reef crystals, next one of RS pro). I found them both great salts, especially good as have high level of Ca and Mg in them and practically I dont have to supplement too much in tank after. As I see, you have more softies / zoas - I think is recommended for such lower levels of Ca/Mg/Kh than what those salts offer. I dont have any soft coral, but zoas, SPS and LPS and all are doing great with higher Ca/Mg/Kh level thou.
The main difference I noticed between salts is how fast they dissolve in water - for reef crystals water is clear and ready to be used after couple of hours, for RS Pro is better to mix a day before use as water looks a bit cloudy.
The reason I alternate them is minor trace elements - I am not sure about range of each trace element in each salt, but by combining them I increase the chances to offer all of them to the tank.
But, if for softies you need lower levels of Ca/Mg/Kh you may consider the other salt from RS (forgot its name, but is the one without Pro ).

 

Coral pro mixes in less than hour and reef crystals we make a day in advance. I've been using coral pro for over 6 years and it's always mixed quickly. I started using coral pro in this tank as well. She has some montipora and our zoas have always done better with elevated alk, calcium and magnesium so I have to disagree with those corals not needing as much of the big 3 as others.

 

According to RedSea... Coral Pro salt is for SPS coral accelerated growth (high 3s).



Also other tons of forums threads regarding RS cloudy saltwater. Due to very high level of minerals in, small mistakes can cause precipitation of them. You may do it right, but other salts are less sensitive to this mixing process.

 

Coral Pro was specially designed for enhancing the calcification process in all corals. It contains elevated levels of the foundation elements (calcium, magnesium and the carbonate alkalinity components) and is recommend to be mixed to a salinity of 35ppt. The combination of high levels of foundation elements and salinity makes the elements close to their natural saturation levels in seawater enhancing the possibility of precipitation.

Rather small mistakes in mixing this salt can cause precipitations. This is what I am referring to.

 

I'm well aware of coral pro and it's specs as I already said I've used it for 6 years. I'm not going to argue semantics, I'll let my reef tank speak for itself. Plus, your not supposed to mix coral pro for over 4 hours PER RED SEA so again, I disagree with you saying to mix it for 24 hours. The salt is recommended for faster growth on all corals. There's no precipitation what so ever. I can post what red sea has put on there site as well, lol. We also have tried many diffetent salts and nothing compares to coral pro and we have never had an issue with cloudy water. Im speaking from actuall knowledge from using the salt not what i read on another forum. Like I said, I'm not gonna argue with you on someone's thread, my opinion is greatly different than yours and I'll leave it at that.