Quote:
Originally Posted by Arok3000
Here is my take on many matters related to our hobby, including choice of salt brand.
In the industry that I work in, we have a failsafe procedure for every major equipment in use. They are always a similar model from a different manufacturer. If for some unseen circumstance the first unit fails due to internal fault or programming, the second unit has a significantly lower chance of failing in the same scenario.
Let's say there's a zombie virus outbreak on Vancouver Island, and there is a newfound cure for the virus in Winnipeg of all places. To send the antidote securely, we would send a batch by air on a Boeing, and another batch on an Airbus, then we would also send two batches via ground, one pulled by a Freightliner and one pulled by a Kenworth. This would give us the best chance of at least one shipment arriving.
Okay that scenario was a little extreme, but it gives you the idea.
Back to reefing, in my tank, I run two similar heater cycles on my controller, one runs an jager, the other runs a hydor. I dont necessarily trust either brand of these heaters on their own, but I trust the pair of them to not fail simultaneously more than I trust any single heater. Same thing goes with salt, I am not certain that reef crystals offers my tank everything it needs, so I also use h2ocean at the same time to mix things up a little. I may even add salinity in there as I like to try new products occasionally.
It can be debated that I am increasing the risk of mixing in a bad batch of salt, but that risk isn't great, and by not running one salt exclusively, in the case of a bad batch I am actually diluting that batch by 50% by including another brand.
I might be mistaken, but I believe Dez was a fan of running multiple salts also.
So not only does this allow wiggle room for potential model specific problems, but this also helps eliminate those long, sleepless nights of mentally debating which product you want to go with.
That said, I have always had a bucket of Reef Crystals on hand. ;-)
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The failsafe game is a tough one. On one hand, diversification limits the extent of any disaster and on the other, you may be doubling your chance of failure with the worst of each technology.
I don't trust heaters either. It isn't a matter of if, but when they will fail. The bigger mystery is whether they will fail in the off position or fatal on position. The same is true of solenoids and actuator valves on auto top off systems; will the ATO jam in the "kill the tank" mode or "kill your marriage/flood" mode
I prefer titanium heater construction, but I do like the double fail safe of glass heaters with built-in thermostat. I set the secondary thermostat of an aquarium controller to a higher temp (80f) so it overrules the built-in thermostat (78f) should it jam in the on position.
Using multiple salts isn't a bad idea. You are more likely to encounter a salt with a deficit than surplus, but anything is possible. As salt prices become more competitive, salt manufacturers will be looking for ways to cut costs. If using magnesium sulphate is cheaper than magnesium chloride we would pay the cost.