Acid bath tonight, rinse tomorrow problem solved. Instant ocean has never done this to me.

Probably because of the low calcium, less likely to precipitate.

whats your guys take on instant ocean reef crystals compared to the regular instant ocean. is it alot better? i use regular IO and i manually dose. would reef crystals reduce my doseing?

I would concur but adding the water to the salt is going to cause residues to form, especially if the parameters are near the upper ends of their ranges and you use cold water to mix.


What I find interesting is that two different people posted test results from testing their buckets of IO. I assume Rich and Greg most likely bought at JL or KE?

How long ago did you get these #'s Rich and did you roll ;) ?

If I remember correctly RC just has elevated levels of Ca and Alk. If you switch to RC your going to have to figure out a new dosing regime and your Alk and Ca will fluctuate. To my way of thinking it is better to keep doing what your doing as stability is best for reef aquariums.

Something else to consider is what Gregzz4 got from his last test.

I don't think switching is needed because his #'s are what I think I remember RC used to be.

Ideally you should be testing your parameters and then using an online calculator to figure out how much to add to get the proper levels.

Okay thank you for the quick reply :)

H20 salt
 

I have been using H20 salt for a few years and my 20 gal garbage can also has a coating but it's not very thick. I never thought it was a problem. I use to rinse briefly with fresh water but I don't even bother doing that any more.

If this is some kind of organic sludge, what stays in the water mix and ends up in the aquarium?

I always have an algae problem and have to use Io nitrate reducer and also dose with Brightwell Reef Bio Fuel to keep it under control. Yes bio lode is low: 5 small fish, 1 medium in 100 gallons, 20 gal sump because nothing bigger will fit under a corner tank.

AquaAddict

Yup Tim, I've been buying mine @ KE's
You missed it 'cause I edited ...

I'm all for supporting my LFS and do so regularly, so I have no problems buying it cheaper elsewhere

Like Tim, I've been using H2Ocean for several years now in my reef tanks for the same reason - it's derived from natural seasalt. I add Mg and K to H2Ocean and my testing has been very consistent with it. I used IO (and IO Reef Crystals) almost exclusively from 1993 to 2009 and I thought I was happy with it until I switched to H2Ocean. When I used IO I added Ca, Mg, and K. In my opinion, for the average reef aquarium IO is a perfectly fine salt to use. If your tank is PACKED with SPS corals (in particular), I think IO is sub-par. Having said that, I've seen AWESOME SPS tanks using almost every brand of salt out there. I don't think salt choice is the be all end all as long as you stick with one of the more major brands. In the end, I think it's more about parameters. If you want to keep alkalinity at 7-8 dKH, IO or IORC is a really poor choice because they have high alkalinity. If you want 9-10 dKH, then H2Ocean is not the best option.

I agree with this 100%. In my opinion, this is really the most significant part of this whole thread.

I started with regular IO, then moved to Kent marine salt from Dr foster and smith from the states as I added more corals. Now I'm onto reef crystal because I can get them locally if I need to.

How long do you guys store mixed salt water for water changes? I use a 50 gallon barrel and I'll mix it all and do about 15 gallon changes every 2 weeks. So the water is potentially in the barrel for 6 to 8 weeks. I run a powerhead and heater in there too.