What salt do you use ? My IO is a bit High ??
 

I've found my Instant Ocean salt is a bit Hi in Calcium
It's Alk readings are acceptable, but high in Ca, yet the Mag readings are OK

I'd like to hear from the rest of you

What brands of salt do you use that give you decent readings when you perform water changes ... ???


I mix 19g RO with 9-1/4 - 9-1/2 cups salt, give or take, and I get;

Sg 1.025
Alk 10.5
Ca 480
Mag 1400 +

What do you get ??

This is OK with me when I do water changes, but it's not so great when I need water right now

Thanks for your input

i use IO and nothing wrong with high calcium . tehcorals will soak it in soon enough you will be adding especially if you do alot of sps

I used seachem reef salt for almost a year, and I found it never really worked for me. Always mixed funny, and had very very high calcium. So I went back to IO and it's been working for me.

Yes, high calcium levels when doing a water change will help increase the low Ca levels in the display tank (since the corals have been depleting Ca).

For instance, even if you do a 30% water change, the higher Ca level in your salt probably will only help raise the overall Ca level but not to the point where it exceeds the optimal point. You end up diluting the high Ca level of the new saltwater by mixing it with the old saltwater.

ughhh i think you guys over think this shi*.....corals dont have to thrive at "perfect" parmeters...find your "zone"..build around it... maturity is the ultimate weapon..stability is "thee" most important part...****ty parameters with consistency is better than "good" parameters that change daily:)

" stability" is the key:P

Lol well said.....That's what my LPS tell me. I do weekly water changes about 10-15 percent, haven't tested for anything in months and everything is doing fine....Royal Nature salt

What exactly do they say? And do they speak with any accent? :mrgreen:

When they are happy all I hear is a big party going on in the tank, when someone is not so good they sound like little Spainards....."senoir how abouts a lille more alk i feels a lille seekly"

You know, I've kinda been having the same issues with my IO.

I hadn't check my water parameters in weeks and just tested them yesterday expecting them all to be low, as they always are with IO. They were quite higher than I expected, especially the magnesium. I haven't come up with an explanation yet but I've stopped dosing Mg for now.

Absolutely!! :razz:

However, using water in Burnaby, I'm not sure 480 is an accurate value from IO. I used IO for years and never mixed higher than 400 ppm Ca

But mix your water, do your change, keep your reef between 380 and 440 and everything will be happy.

plus IO is a mixed bag of candy its like salt roulette.....i love it!! :P

so its true...they do party:P

Even after the lights go out they party on!! I find myself going downs stairs with a flashlight and all I see are streamers from the Cats eye corals and Favia. Some of the hammers have passed out but others are going strong!!

Instant Ocean. And I still add calcium & magnesium from Ben.

Yeah It dies need to be higher, but calcium at nearly 900 is a bit high! Lol

I understand stability is important, and I realise adding a higher mineral content during water changes is beneficial
But my readings aren't stable, and the salt is adding too much Ca

The IO Salt readings aren't balanced
@ Ca 480 the Alk should be over 14dKH, not 10.5

The Ca is not being used up @ the same rate as the Alk, and it's climbing

June 19
Alk 7.5-8.0
Ca 410

July 7
Alk 7.5
Ca 440-450

I'll keep an eye on it over the next week or two and, if it keeps rising, I'll dose a little Reef Builder ( Alk ) to balance them out

And, ya, I rolled the crap out of the bucket before I opened it :wink:

Well there you go. That's the problem. You bought a bucket of crap. :wink:

Have been using IO and so have a lot of other reefers I know for years.

:lol:

I know lots use it, and that's why I buy it
I've also heard that over this last x-mas, some had batches that were out of balance

As I said, I'll just keep an eye on it and hope my Ca doesn't get too much higher

Hey Greg,
I am still having issues with IO as well. My calcium is over 500 still as I don't have a lot of corals yet to bring it down. Everything else is balanced and the corals I do have seem happy. Guess it is a good excuse to buy a clam to get my Ca down!:lol:

Leanne P


!

That's gonna have to be one helluva big clam! :)

I met my LFS guru today, and he basically told me the following;

My tank is very new and the LR is mostly cured, so it does not need weekly WCs, unless something nasty happens
Let it mature, keep an eye on the params, dose here and there to keep it balanced, and let it ride ...

Makes sense to me

I was wanting to do weekly WCs, but I guess I don't need to for now

Seems like sound advice so I'll stop worrying about the out-of-balance params and just monitor things for now :smile:

Sounds like you're having the same issues I am

I don't know what you have for critters right now, so I suggest this kinda blindly ...

Maybe try not doing some WCs for a bit ...
Let your Ca drop enough that a WC won't give you such a huge rise in Ca ...

Keep your Alk up with dosing if needed and, good luck !