What can influence a tank's Mg reading

[Myka]

Hmmm...that's interesting that the two kits are so far off from eachother. I "hate" it when that happens. Could it be that the kits are only off by like 30 or 40 from eachother, but because the Elos jumps by 75 per drop it's showing 105 off?

[Delphinus]

Yeah, I'm not too pleased with the disparate readings. I don't think I've ever had the two read exactly the same but it's never been this far apart. I wonder which one is slipping. Ugh, I hate test kits. Although at least they give me a rough ballpark if nothing else.

[Delphinus]

So I've confirmed now that Elos simply can't tell you anything less than 900.

And I've confirmed that my RBS salt has very low Mg at 825.

Ugh, well, at least that mystery is solved.

[RuGlu6]

So i guess we are now back to a question:
What is the best reef salt out there

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

So i guess we are now back to a question:
What is the best reef salt out there

IO

Steve

[RuGlu6]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

IO

Steve

Ah, sorry no IO for me:
To much dirt and still need to supplement, this means more testing, more time and more money involved.

[tang daddy]

I love IO.....

so much so that I've even made my own song IO IO it's off to the salty shops I go.......

I've been using it from the day I started and will until the day I stop reefing, adding abit of Ca and Mg costs pennies compared to spending $20 more per bucket.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

Ah, sorry no IO for me:
To much dirt and still need to supplement, this means more testing, more time and more money involved.

Too much dirt? Say what?

To quote myself:

Originally Posted by Myka

I use Instant Ocean salt. When mixed up to 1.026, IO usually has readings of 365 ppm calcium, 11 dKH alkalinity, and 1280 Magnesium. This means that you will need to bump up the Calcium and Magnesium to the proper levels before doing your waterchange. Even though I have tried many different brands of salt I always go back to IO because I haven't seen a difference using "better" salt, and IO costs WAAAAY less, even after supplementing.

To get the proper readings, for every 5g of water change water I make with IO salt I dose:

15mL Kent Liquid Calcium (everyone knows liquid is expensive to supplement)
1 tsp SeaChem Reef Advantage Magnesium
Alkalinity is ok

So, if my calculations are right I will go through 1 1/2 of the 16oz Liquid Calcium jugs (about $15), and about 1/2 of a 600g container of the SeaChem Magnesium (about $4) for each bucket of salt. So that's a total cost of about $19 of additives for each 160 gallon bucket of IO salt. So that makes each bucket of IO cost me about $59. Any other $59 bucket of salt you have to put additives into it too, so that makes it cost more. SO...at $59 per 200g bucket of salt with additives included, IO is the cheapest.

Plus, if you use cheaper additives (which would be smart!) it could cost 1/4 of what it costs me to supplement the IO.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

Ah, sorry no IO for me:
To much dirt and still need to supplement, this means more testing, more time and more money involved.

what dirt? 7 years of using IO I have never seen any dirt.
and all you need to do is bump up Ca a tiny bit.. 360 to 380 isn't much.. I just let my Ca reactor do it.

Oh and did I mention in those 7 years, I never had any salt related problems either

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Myka

Plus, if you use cheaper additives (which would be smart!) it could cost 1/4 of what it costs me to supplement the IO.

why are you increasing Ca if you are getting a NSW level of 380?

Steve