Instant Ocean Reef Crystals

Spcoley1 · Mar 14, 2015

I have recently switched from Instant Ocean salt to Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. I have a 180 gallon tank, and I do a 32 gallon water change monthly. I've noticed when I test for Cal now, its around 500 ppm, and doesn't come down. I used to dose BRS two part, but not so much anymore. The only things I dose now are Alk, and Mag, which are about 10 dkh and 1300 ppm respectively. Anyone else experience this, or any insight? Thanks

redfishbluefish · Mar 14, 2015

I originally use RC and had the same issue with high numbers....so I switched to plain Instant Ocean....and both my tank and I are happy.

racin2438 · Mar 14, 2015

We are noticing the similar issue but with the Alk.......

My Alk is normally low to mid 9's.

After w/c it climbs to high 13 to low 14's....

So I trim my Alk dosing till comes down.

I called IO, they ask how I do my mix. .....huh??

so I said....RODI in my barrels, mixing pump, salt, heater....ching badada...bing I have my mix...

they said No ..No..

Rodi. .bring to temp , first

then mixing/circulation pump

then pour salt in little at a time over 15--20 minutes

that way trace elements mix good and clear mix is made.

They asked me if I had a lot of build up, white/grayish residue in my barrels. ..

Me: yes I have noticed this....

Them: that is your trace elements that did not desoĺved...

Me: hum..Ok I try it again..

I made another batch and the water checked out really good.....so I guess that may be some issues you may be having too.?????

Msmith2813 · Mar 15, 2015

racin2438 said:
We are noticing the similar issue but with the Alk.......

My Alk is normally low to mid 9's.

After w/c it climbs to high 13 to low 14's....

So I trim my Alk dosing till comes down.

I called IO, they ask how I do my mix. .....huh??

so I said....RODI in my barrels, mixing pump, salt, heater....ching badada...bing I have my mix...

they said No ..No..

Rodi. .bring to temp , first

then mixing/circulation pump

then pour salt in little at a time over 15--20 minutes

that way trace elements mix good and clear mix is made.

They asked me if I had a lot of build up, white/grayish residue in my barrels. ..

Me: yes I have noticed this....

Them: that is your trace elements that did not desoĺved...

Me: hum..Ok I try it again..

I made another batch and the water checked out really good.....so I guess that may be some issues you may be having too.?????

That's good to know. Ill try doing it this way now. I mix it the same way you used to do it.

jeffp1 · Mar 15, 2015

racin2438 said:
We are noticing the similar issue but with the Alk.......

My Alk is normally low to mid 9's.

After w/c it climbs to high 13 to low 14's....

So I trim my Alk dosing till comes down.

I called IO, they ask how I do my mix. .....huh??

so I said....RODI in my barrels, mixing pump, salt, heater....ching badada...bing I have my mix...

they said No ..No..

Rodi. .bring to temp , first

then mixing/circulation pump

then pour salt in little at a time over 15--20 minutes

that way trace elements mix good and clear mix is made.

They asked me if I had a lot of build up, white/grayish residue in my barrels. ..

Me: yes I have noticed this....

Them: that is your trace elements that did not desoĺved...

Me: hum..Ok I try it again..

I made another batch and the water checked out really good.....so I guess that may be some issues you may be having too.?????

Thanks for posting this explanation. Was doing it wrong also. Couldn't figured out why calcium was always high.

Touring · Mar 15, 2015

Many thanks for this!!!!

racin2438 said:
We are noticing the similar issue but with the Alk.......

My Alk is normally low to mid 9's.

After w/c it climbs to high 13 to low 14's....

So I trim my Alk dosing till comes down.

I called IO, they ask how I do my mix. .....huh??

so I said....RODI in my barrels, mixing pump, salt, heater....ching badada...bing I have my mix...

they said No ..No..

Rodi. .bring to temp , first

then mixing/circulation pump

then pour salt in little at a time over 15--20 minutes

that way trace elements mix good and clear mix is made.

They asked me if I had a lot of build up, white/grayish residue in my barrels. ..

Me: yes I have noticed this....

Them: that is your trace elements that did not desoĺved...

Me: hum..Ok I try it again..

I made another batch and the water checked out really good.....so I guess that may be some issues you may be having too.?????

Daniel@R2R · Mar 15, 2015

Good info. Odd that they don't include these instructions on the salt.

glb · Mar 15, 2015

Wow. I've been mixing it wrong too but my water hasn't fluctuated that much. But pouring salt in for that long seems very tedious!

glb · Mar 15, 2015

mdbannister said:
Good info. Odd that they don't include these instructions on the salt.

They don't. I've read them very carefully.

redfishbluefish · Mar 15, 2015

racin2438 said:
............I made another batch and the water checked out really good.....so I guess that may be some issues you may be having too.?????

So what you are saying is that by first heating the water your high ALK number is no longer problematic?

What do you mean by, "the water checked out really good." What did you check.....could you provide numbers?

Daniel@R2R · Mar 15, 2015

glb said:
They don't. I've read them very carefully.

No. I know they don't. I just think they ought to put them on there.

miyags · Mar 15, 2015

When I mix for more than a day,the residue is orange/brown. I haven't checked for alk and cal levels, afterwards.

Reefcrazed417 · Mar 15, 2015

It's just organics

racin2438 · Mar 15, 2015

redfishbluefish said:
So what you are saying is that by first heating the water your high ALK number is no longer problematic?

What do you mean by, "the water checked out really good." What did you check.....could you provide numbers?

The new mix had all good numbers consistent with current tank water parameters

Cal.....445
alk...8.4
mag...1375
sal...1.025

There 200g, mix box each bag says for 50g, mix. My brute buckets are 46g, total capacity. . So I thought were is the other 4g, at.

I/O, said thry obtain the 50g mix by mixing is at 1.021....but since reefs are kept at 1.025--1.026 that is the difference that I am not seeing of the 4G missing.

I made 20g, mix last night for my frag tank and followed their routine and water came out nice and clear and left no residue in my barrel.

The one barrel I used before is just covered in residual trace elements, I tried to scrub off and they don't come off...

So now it's working out better for me.

redfishbluefish · Mar 15, 2015

Racin, thanks for suppling the numbers.....most interesting.

So cold water mixing, (and then heated), resulted in a tank alk increase from 9 to 13/14 dkh, while a warm water mix resulted in an alk of 8.4 dkh (of just the new water). That is absolutely facinating.

We're not actually comparing apples to apples in that one number is for tank alkalinity (after X percent water change) while the other number is just the new saltwater. However, with such a relatively large increase in tank alkalinity, that new water (from cold water mixing), had to have been high in alkalinity.

Not sure how to explain this. I currently do it "wrong" by mixing in cold water (ca 68 F) and then heating the following day. I think I'll test both ways and see what I get.

Thanks again.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 15, 2015

Spcoley1 said:
I have recently switched from Instant Ocean salt to Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. I have a 180 gallon tank, and I do a 32 gallon water change monthly. I've noticed when I test for Cal now, its around 500 ppm, and doesn't come down. I used to dose BRS two part, but not so much anymore. The only things I dose now are Alk, and Mag, which are about 10 dkh and 1300 ppm respectively. Anyone else experience this, or any insight? Thanks

The RC is quite high in calcium, and if you want the tank lower, you'll need to reduce to stop dosing until it drops to that level.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 15, 2015

jeffp1 said:
Thanks for posting this explanation. Was doing it wrong also. Couldn't figured out why calcium was always high.

Mixing in any way that isn't optimal will never result in high calcium. Where would it come from? It must be in the mix to start with.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 15, 2015

FWIW, it is perfectly fine to mix in cold water. Calcium carbonate is actually more soluble in cold water.

Some precipitation may happen on the heater if it heats a lot after mixing, but that's no different than in your tank.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 15, 2015

redfishbluefish said:
Racin, thanks for suppling the numbers.....most interesting.

So cold water mixing, (and then heated), resulted in a tank alk increase from 9 to 13/14 dkh, while a warm water mix resulted in an alk of 8.4 dkh (of just the new water). That is absolutely facinating.

We're not actually comparing apples to apples in that one number is for tank alkalinity (after X percent water change) while the other number is just the new saltwater. However, with such a relatively large increase in tank alkalinity, that new water (from cold water mixing), had to have been high in alkalinity.

Not sure how to explain this. I currently do it "wrong" by mixing in cold water (ca 68 F) and then heating the following day. I think I'll test both ways and see what I get.

There's no reason to have to heat first, except the heater itself may get some precipitation. Calcium carbonate is more soluble in cold water than heated.