LF: Cheap Instant Ocean Salt

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Vancity

Saving 25% is a good reason

Personally I think saving 10 bucks to support a store that you feel gave you bad advice, and otherwise avoid, is not good reason. JMO

[GoFish]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Personally I think saving 10 bucks to support a store that you feel gave you bad advice, and otherwise avoid, is not good reason. JMO

Went to JL and spent the extra $10, felt alright about it. Honestly if i was buying 2 or 3 buckets i would've gone to KE

And heres why i switched back from H2Ocean, it used to be worse but I've been slowly chipping away at it

[TimT]

That looks like a calcium buildup. Save yourself the effort and use some vinegar or diluted muriatic acid.

Do you fill the bucket and circulate it then add salt mix? Are you using RO water?

[GoFish]

I pour the dry salt in first then add either one or two 5 gallon jugs of RODI. Koralia powerhead and heater for at least 12 hours and up to 5 days before I'll throw it out
Could be calcium, I'll muraitic acid bath it tonight

[mikellini]

Originally Posted by Vancity

I pour the dry salt in first then add either one or two 5 gallon jugs of RODI. Koralia powerhead and heater for at least 12 hours and up to 5 days before I'll throw it out
Could be calcium, I'll muraitic acid bath it tonight

ALWAYS add salt to water, not the other way around. Adding water to salt means that it becomes highly concentrated almost instantly while pouring the water in, which causes precipitation of elements.

[GoFish]

Weird, not sure how 12 hours plus of mixing and heating wouldn't remedy that.
But will do from now on, thanks!

[mikellini]

Originally Posted by Vancity

Weird, not sure how 12 hours plus of mixing and heating wouldn't remedy that.
But will do from now on, thanks!

I don't understand how 12 hours of mixing and heating would do anything; unless the pH drops significantly, anything that has precipitated is probably staying that way (and ending up on the sides of your mixing container)

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Have to agree with those posting that you always should add salt to water & not the other way around. At least that's been my experience.

[The Guy]

Been using IO since I started in reefing 3 years ago, I can't really say I've had any issues with inconsistency of levels. Maybe slight differences but nothing major. I keep hearing people say they roll the barrels, I can't see how that could help unless the barrel is not full to the top, otherwise I think it's a waste of time and effort with a full new barrel.
When mixing for a water change I always add the salt to the RO water as well. I check the mixture for temp, salinity, ca & alk before adding to my system. I tune up the mg level manually every water change, and my ca & alk are pump dosed.

[Myka]

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.

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Personally I think saving 10 bucks to support a store that you feel gave you bad advice, and otherwise avoid, is not good reason. JMO

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