Fritz rpm vs instant ocean reef crystals

[wtusa1783]

Which one is better? I’m starting my first reef. 40 breeder. Fritz is more expensive so is the instant ocean worse or I’m just saving money getting the instant ocean over the fritz?

 

[scabbedwings616]

Depends on what you are doing. If you are doing fish only I would do just the purple instant ocean. If it were to be a reef tank, I would use instant ocean orange, reef crystals. I’ve used both in my tank (fritz and instant) and after the fritz I went to tropical marin pro reef. I followed the instruction with it and I struggled to get my acros to survive more than a month. I switched back to instant ocean reef crystals and now my acros are doing much better. The only issue I have is, it mixes dirty and stains the container I use for mixing. Other than that I love it cause the parameters are not inconsistent within the batches. Fritz I’ve heard you have to test all batchs and can lead to issues. When I used the fritz, it was within their range of acceptance but was low for my tank. Match your tanks needs to the demand of your tank and budget.

 

[wtusa1783]

Depends on what you are doing. If you are doing fish only I would do just the purple instant ocean. If it were to be a reef tank, I would use instant ocean orange, reef crystals. I’ve used both in my tank (fritz and instant) and after the fritz I went to tropical marin pro reef. I followed the instruction with it and I struggled to get my acros to survive more than a month. I switched back to instant ocean reef crystals and now my acros are doing much better. The only issue I have is, it mixes dirty and stains the container I use for mixing. Other than that I love it cause the parameters are not inconsistent within the batches. Fritz I’ve heard you have to test all batchs and can lead to issues. When I used the fritz, it was within their range of acceptance but was low for my tank. Match your tanks needs to the demand of your tank and budget.

Ok cool! How long does it take for the io to mix before adding to the tank?

 

[Alchameth]

Their buckets don't list a time. I usually mix mine the night to 2-3 days before I need it. If I need it in a hurry, typically let it mix for 2-3 hours at least with a good pump and power head mixing it up hi-flo style...

 

[PatW]

Instant Ocean is fine. If you want to use it for a reef tank you can add Ca, ALK and Mg to the levels you want. Yeah, Instant Ocean leaves a bit of the brown cruddy residue when mixed. But that can be cleaned with dilute muriatic acid.

Really, you see people post photos of their tanks chock full of eye popping acrophora corals and all sorts of salt mixes are used including instant ocean. So if $$$ is an issue, use it.

 

[wtusa1783]

Their buckets don't list a time. I usually mix mine the night to 2-3 days before I need it. If I need it in a hurry, typically let it mix for 2-3 hours at least with a good pump and power head mixing it up hi-flo style...

Ok. I got a pump to mix it

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

Standard IO fan here.

 

[Alchameth]

BRS did a salt comparison, cost per gallon there isn't much of a difference across the board. Chart here

BRS TESTS--Cost Of Salt Per Month.

I'm happy the BRS ran these tests, as I've always looked at the cost's of buying salt, believing that their about the same. For a reef,...salt, I've always used Reef Crystals and we are setting up a new 125g mixed reef, but I'm looking to different brands of salt. When I watched BRS's salt test...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[h2so4hurts]

BRS did a salt comparison, cost per gallon there isn't much of a difference across the board. Chart here

BRS TESTS--Cost Of Salt Per Month.

I'm happy the BRS ran these tests, as I've always looked at the cost's of buying salt, believing that their about the same. For a reef,...salt, I've always used Reef Crystals and we are setting up a new 125g mixed reef, but I'm looking to different brands of salt. When I watched BRS's salt test...

www.reef2reef.com

The trick to IO is to buy the 50 gallon bags on Chewy or Amazon. $62.99 for a 125 gallon bucket when you can get 3x 50 gallon bags of RC for $11.30 each? Don't buy the bucket, don't buy the box...get the bags, it's $0.22 per gallon. That's less than half what's listed as the cost in your little chart.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

I’ve thought about switching to RPM because it’s closer to my Alk level of 8.5. I dunno though. Changing anything is a massive gamble. Haha.

 

[wtusa1783]

The trick to IO is to buy the 50 gallon bags on Chewy or Amazon. $62.99 for a 125 gallon bucket when you can get 3x 50 gallon bags of RC for $11.30 each? Don't buy the bucket, don't buy the box...get the bags, it's $0.22 per gallon. That's less than half what's listed as the cost in your little chart.

Ok thanks for the tip

 

[h2so4hurts]

I’ve thought about switching to RPM because it’s closer to my Alk level of 8.5. I dunno though. Changing anything is a massive gamble. Haha.

You can dial in the ALK of any High salt like IO with HCl. I mix up 60 gallon batches for water changes and it's 7mL/dKH. IO RC runs about 11, I have my tank at 8.2-8.5 so that's ~20 mL of 33% HCl (Jasco brand Muriatic acid from Lowes) and bubble air into it with an airstone overnight to bring the pH back up.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

You can dial in the ALK of any High salt like IO with HCl. I mix up 60 gallon batches for water changes and it's 7mL/dKH. IO RC runs about 11, I have my tank at 8.2-8.5 so that's ~20 mL of 33% HCl (Jasco brand Muriatic acid from Lowes) and bubble air into it with an airstone overnight to bring the pH back up.

correct. I’m not doing all that though. Just more variables in a variable heavy system. I just do frequent small changes, but...if I have to ever to a massive one ASAP. That’s a problem.

 

[92Miata]

The trick to IO is to buy the 50 gallon bags on Chewy or Amazon. $62.99 for a 125 gallon bucket when you can get 3x 50 gallon bags of RC for $11.30 each? Don't buy the bucket, don't buy the box...get the bags, it's $0.22 per gallon. That's less than half what's listed as the cost in your little chart.

Or just buy the RC bucket off Amazon. Its $34.84 with free shipping, *AND IS ELIGIBLE FOR SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE DISCOUNTS*

I use RC. It works great.


And more importantly - every petsmart and petco and LFS around me has it in stock - so if I have an emergency need for a bucket - I can get one.

 

[Bryknicks]

I’ve thought about switching to RPM because it’s closer to my Alk level of 8.5. I dunno though. Changing anything is a massive gamble. Haha.

I switched from reef crystals to Fritz RPM. Just do it slowly and you won't have any problems. If you dose that's even better as you can lower your parameters over time to match fritz and then make the switch.

 

[kpoj9]

I switched to Fritz RPM from Red Sea bc of cost. The only issue I’ve had with RPM is holding a consistent salinity. My ppt seems to fluctuate a lot more than Red Sea.

 

[scabbedwings616]

Ok cool! How long does it take for the io to mix before adding to the tank?

I always do 24 hours. It does make a little more or a film on the container but it cleans up quickly. If you get the bucket a tip I learned is put it on its side and roll it around a little. Makes the mix a little more consistent with parameters.

 

[Not an IT guy]

Just ordered two buckets. Thanks for the heads up

 

[scabbedwings616]

Just ordered two buckets. Thanks for the heads up

Just test to make sure the batch is right on with their parameters. They can run up to 12-13dkh and as low as 11dkh. Match it to your tank. Good luck with it. Keep asking questions and this community will always listen and help.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

The trick to IO is to buy the 50 gallon bags on Chewy or Amazon. $62.99 for a 125 gallon bucket when you can get 3x 50 gallon bags of RC for $11.30 each? Don't buy the bucket, don't buy the box...get the bags, it's $0.22 per gallon. That's less than half what's listed as the cost in your little chart.

Found this which is in a bucket and is almost 1 cheaper than three bags