Salt mix preference?

[ripped tide]

I've been using Red Sea coral pro for about 6-7 months. I like it.

I am about to give salinity a try. No particular reason other than seachem supports the Atlanta reef club in SO many ways. When I asked Red Sea to get more involved, I was a little heart broken by the answer.

 

[jennm]

wmboots;803622 wrote:
I will say I used reef crystals and seachem reef salt for years without any problems and consider them both very good salt which if truth be known probably come from the same source just a short break in the filling line while they change out buckets

There's a bit more to it than that, Bill. Seachem provides its proprietary compounds to the entity that packages the salt on their behalf.

Back in the day, Kent Marine (when it was owned by Jack Kent) did the same thing, with the same entity. Kent salt is not packaged there anymore...(Kent Marine isn't what it used to be, IMO).

As for the "salt you love to bad-mouth"... that is done in the company's own facility, not too far from here.

Jenn

 

[guerry]

rdnelson99;803642 wrote: From my experience, this is somewhat of a contridiction. You say you don't like RSCP because you want you Alk a bit lower. Since I started using it, my Mag and Cal are always dead on without dosing. The only thing I have to dose is Alk. So, seems to me the RSCP would be exactly what you are looking for. But I could be wrong. :shades:

My SPS system is 325 gal and I run both cal. reactor and dosing pumps to maintain the base levels of alk and cal. It's the trace elememts that I feel make the diffence. What i don't want is a sudden swing in alk when doing water change, I maintain alk @ 7.8 and cal @ 400 and to keep these levels I dose 187ml alk and 154ml cal dailly on top of cal reactor

 

[heathlindner25]

snowmansnow;803587 wrote: sachem reefsalt

+1 !!!!

 

[bluespot]

Using reef crystals right now and in years past. For a long time it was really the only thing carried in my area. I found it great to use in my old tank that was mostly softies and LPS. My new tank is SPS witha few LPS and I am going to try the Red Sea that my local reefers love. I have to dose a lot of mag with the reef crystals.

 

[coolsurf]

Mines not listed. D&D H2Ocean. Works so much better than Red Sea CP.

 

[wmboots]

rdnelson99;803642 wrote: From my experience, this is somewhat of a contridiction. You say you don't like RSCP because you want you Alk a bit lower. Since I started using it, my Mag and Cal are always dead on without dosing. The only thing I have to dose is Alk. So, seems to me the RSCP would be exactly what you are looking for. But I could be wrong. :shades:

Just a good example of how tanks differ, you say your Mag and Cal are dead on where I find I'm dosing quite heavily to bring Mag up in my tank and calcium is a bit lower than I care for. Your experience with Alk mirrors what I find.

 

[coolsurf]

Just speculating but depending on corals in the tank and other creatures such as clams the calcium will be consumed quicker with some tanks than others.

RSCP stayed consistant but D&D H2O always maintained better numbers and rarely ever had to dose.

I know they say both brands are the same but they are not the same product.

 

[ripped tide]

Brought home my first bucket of salinity today. I have great expectations.

 

[thesilence87]

Ripped Tide;804410 wrote: Brought home my first bucket of salinity today. I have great expectations.

I don't think you'll be disappointed Dylan. When you mix it, try not to mix it for more than a few hours at most, and try to mix it with water that isn't frigid, just so nothing precipitates out.

 

[ripped tide]

Thanks for the encouragement! When I have mixed it in the past, I've only let it mix for 15-20mins, and then added it to the tank cloudy. Within an hour or so, it had cleared and corals were SWOLLEN. The folks that insist upon it usually have very nice tanks. I am glad to be supporting our local team. :thumbs:

This will be the first time using it in the 93

 

[rdnelson]

wmboots;804366 wrote: Just a good example of how tanks differ, you say your Mag and Cal are dead on where I find I'm dosing quite heavily to bring Mag up in my tank and calcium is a bit lower than I care for. Your experience with Alk mirrors what I find.

The other day I had a conversation with Brian at Imagine Ocean and he mentioned something that I am going to dig into a bit. He indicated that the RO water used for top off most likely has low Alk. If that is the case, that could be part of what is causing my Alk to drop. As I said, I am going to do some testing as soon as I figure out this new test kit. LOL

 

[ralph atl]

Ripped Tide;804410 wrote: Brought home my first bucket of salinity today. I have great expectations.

I always still get precip, no matter how I mix it...I usually only mix for two or three hours...last two times it was 24...

However, my tank numbers are ALWAYS spot on, always...

 

[silver surfer]

I have used most salts out there. I always seem to head back to TM bio act. Always mixes up fast and clear, always. And the corals love this salt.

 

[1mbrews8]

IO salt here! But now that I am reading all the posts, I might need to try some Salinity!

I do have most corals that are BRIGHT! But also some, most sps, that are kinda brown which maybe is caused by the salt?? ack..

 

[dr_ fish]

I have been thinking about trying out H2Ocean salt. I keep my tanks alk at 8 and on every water change with RC's which has an alk of 11 I get a bump up in my tank.

 

[swfk44]

i use morton salt :lol2:

 

[eagle9252]

when my RSCP is gone i will be going back to Salinity. if you have to heat you water before adding it to the tank. make sure you mix the salt first. then heat it as it gets real cloudy but it does clear up in the tank. after i add my new water i always let it loop in the sump for an hour or 2 before sending it to the DT. this way it mixes witht he sump water first and i normally feed the tank real good during this time some most is gone before turning on the pump.

 

[sewer urchin]

The other day I had a conversation with Brian at Imagine Ocean and he mentioned something that I am going to dig into a bit. He indicated that the RO water used for top off most likely has low Alk. If that is the case, that could be part of what is causing my Alk to drop. As I said, I am going to do some testing as soon as I figure out this new test kit. LOL

Hey Rich,

I was reading on of those Quick Tips ( I don't remember if it was Quality Marine, Mark Callahan or Melev's) but they recommended using some buffer in with the top off water. I don't think that I do all of the dosing with that method would be good because I imagine that evaporation rates differ wildly through seasons, tank temp and use of AC/ heating.
However, I think that the use of some might give a more even dosing of ALK, without the spikes that could be associated with dosing pumps.
-or I could be over thinking things again ;-)

 

[rdnelson]

Sewer Urchin;804540 wrote: Hey Rich,

I was reading on of those Quick Tips ( I don't remember if it was Quality Marine, Mark Callahan or Melev's) but they recommended using some buffer in with the top off water. I don't think that I do all of the dosing with that method would be good because I imagine that evaporation rates differ wildly through seasons, tank temp and use of AC/ heating.
However, I think that the use of some might give a more even dosing of ALK, without the spikes that could be associated with dosing pumps.
-or I could be over thinking things again ;-)

A while back I actually was thinking of doing all dosing of buffer via top off but Dylan pointed out that exact problem. LOL But, if the alk is low in the top off, it only makes sense that it would dilute the tank water.