Salt: Reef Crystals vs H2Ocean

[Myka]

Doug, that's what drew me to H2Ocean as well, the fact that it is a natural salt and has lower alkalinity than IO. You're nuts for not dosing and testing...I think you're looking for V3, but for your sake I sure hope not!

Originally Posted by imisky

Thanks Myka for pointing out my mistake, ya I meant Mag not sodium bicarb lol..I have find IO to be fine as water change water. [...] I find when you buffer IO with MgCl first followed by the calcium chloride the alk usually falls back down to 8-9kh range due to bi carb ppting out the calcium.

I figured you meant Mg. That's an interesting observation with the magnesium. I have never tested the alkalinity afte adding the calcium and magnesium chlorides. I do use a bit of magnesium sulphate as well.

Originally Posted by daniella3d

yes of course if you have nutrient problem it's not ideal but if you don't then it is more stable that way. According to this though, it would be better to do one big water chance 40% per month??

Well, waterchanges export more than just nutrients, and import more than just clean water. You have to find the happy medium. You will get cleaner water with more minerals and such if you do bigger waterchanges, but you have to think about minimizing the changes to the tank as well as cost. As I already stated, for me this happy medium is 20% bi-weekly. A couple times a year I will do a 50% waterchange and I find my tank responds to this big change in a positive way rather than a negative way, so I don't think it is getting "shocked" by the changes.