Switching Salts, Reef Crystal Results

I believe Seano was just answering the general question relating to changing brands of salt mix

he was just recounting his experience when changing from 1 product to another

the principles are generally the same

different ratios of major, minor and trace elements ( some brands are closer to other brands then others)

always worth checking out the differences between major elements listed between salt brands, and the further apart they typically are, the longer you should take over making the adjustments

bearing in mind. the big 3, calcium, alkalinity and Magnesium are often the main reason people cite for changing to a different brand
and these 3 ions are avialable for supplementation anyway

thus if your reason for changing to a brand with increased Ca, Alk and Mag, you could just add those particular ions to your tank and add them to the water you are mixing for water changes


Steve

 

While you can get IO Reef Crystals 200g mix for $45, the $56 price tag wasn't too bad for $150g mix of RSCP, mainly because I have a small tank. So I am willing to pay for this higher concentration of elements.

However, a tank is larger, the cost per gallon of salt goes up, and you will generally need to dose for larger systems anyway. I'm not sure how large your tank is, ReeferMadness, but I do agree for large tanks it would make more sense to buy cheaper salt and dose the big three.

 

Oops, thanks for noticing that mistake! I said Reef Crystals by mistake. I was using Instant Ocean regular salt. I talked about my experience with switching from it (normal IO) to Red Sea Coral Pro salt. I have corrected this now in my original post.

I chose RSCP over Ref Crystals due to a steady stream of complaints about inconsistent batches from IORC salt (in addition to Red Sea having higher levels of the big three). I get constant levels of 560ppm Cal, 10.7 dKH alkalinity, and 1500ppm Mg.

 

LOL.Really complaints about Reef Crystals??Thats hard for me to believe as I have visited there salt manufacturing facility and have a good friend who works there.I have witnessed their batch testing and it is quite impressive. It really is hard to know what to believe though because I just got done reading a thread about people complaining about RSCP being inconsistent and I have first hand knowledge of that.

 

Ya I got a little off topic just from him asking if he shouldnt be looking at RSCP. I just thought I would put in my .02 since the subject came up. Back to topic, Whichever salt you chose, If you have any of your old salt left I would mix it like stated before 25/75 50/50 75/25 just to be safe. If not just start with a smaller WC at first then increase every week.

 

About a month ago was the first time I ever heard someone complain about the new mix for Red Sea Coral Pro salt mix. I was surprised. I know the old recipe/mixture was bad, but when they released the new kind, I bought a whole bucket because of how good people were saying it was.

One example, here on 3reef with many testimonials.

 

Ive never had personel experience with it, i've been researching salt for quite a while because I was goin to switch to reef and was considering RSCP. I've read good but more bad about it, then I was talking to an lfs about 3 weeks ago and they just got done using 5 buckets in a row that were bad and the had to add CA, ALK or MAG to each one. That pretty much made my mind up. To each their own, I just like giving my .02 in my experience because that is what this hobby is about.

 

Sorry for not responding guys, I didn't receive any email updates for this thread. :-/

I am def going to change salts I just have no idea what salt to choose. I really am not impressed with my Seachem salt at the moment, I really was about to pull the trigger on Red Sea until I too read about inconsistent test results, also I heard recently if I decided to switch over to Reef Crystals I would need to dose more.

I honestly don't care to much about dosing, I only use 7.7ml per day in ALK and 8.8ml per day on ca.

Looks like I need to go back to the drawing board and do a little more research.

 

IMOPE, I have experienced inconsistencies with every brand I've used. My own personal belief is that some elements settle during shipping. Stirring the salt rather than just scooping from the surface remedied the problem in every case.

As far as changing salt brands, I've never had an issue with switching from one to another with regular 10% WCs. You're not changing anything that quickly at only 10%, and as already stated, if you're dosing, you should make adjustments before you add the new water, anyway.

 

You have to be kidding... Where are you reading this. I have read probably 1000+ pages of salt threads over the last year and have found IO and RC to be the most consistent of any brand. This is a common belief even across the major reef chemists out there. (randy, boomer, and sanjay all use IO for instance)

Due to my research I swapped to IO and dose up cal/mag. The minor elements are extremely consistent with Natural Sea Water and it has no weird extras and is extremely dependable for consistency.