No more instant ocean online?

[BoomCorals]

They all say that you don't need to mix them, but I have never found that to be true. Tropic Marin is an awesome salt, but it needed the most mixing... perhaps since it had to be shipped the farthest and bounced around the most. I would mix every salt unless you use the whole bag/batch - uniform particle size is only part of the issue... I guess that weight and polarity can matter too, but I mostly forgot why Dr. Holmes Farley said that this happens.

Hmm interesting stuff, I'll have to try that! Thanks!

 

[Kyl]

I run a pretty high alkalinity (9.5-11 dKH, with an average around 10.5), and I don't think that was it. I think it's something in the salt. I would've never questioned the salt except that one of my reefer buddies at work had the same thing happen, and he mentioned the possibility to me.

A local forum I'm on are pretty much all convinced that cyano and dinoflagellate issues they're getting out of nowhere in established tanks is from changing from IO to AF reef salt, and have all gone back to IO/RC (myself somewhat included). I think you'll find that all over the salt brands areas get a reputation and people go with an often general, localised opinion. Maybe bad batches, or just different RO water profiles, etc. Nothing is 100% for everyone in this hobby, even something as simple as salt.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

A local forum I'm on are pretty much all convinced that cyano and dinoflagellate issues they're getting out of nowhere in established tanks is from changing from IO to AF reef salt, and have all gone back to IO/RC (myself somewhat included). I think you'll find that all over the salt brands areas get a reputation and people go with an often general, localised opinion. Maybe bad batches, or just different RO water profiles, etc. Nothing is 100% for everyone in this hobby, even something as simple as salt.

Probably true, but I can tell you that the response of the corals to the switch back to Instant Ocean was quite dramatic. All of my montipora had stopped growing, and each water change with Reef Crystals seemed to further aggravate the situation. Within a week of going back to Instant Ocean, all of my corals began to grow again, and by the second or third water change with Instant Ocean, they were growing rapidly again. All other water parameters were the same this time (from what I can tell by measuring alk, pH, temp, nitrates, phosphate, iron, potassium, magnesium, and iodine).

 

[jda]

I use about 30-40 boxes of IO a year. Salt amazes me. This is the one instance where perhaps the most consistent salt is also a one of the least expensive.

Here is my recipie for IO. 50G bag in 44G brute of COLD RO to the absolute top. Mix. 2 heaping TBSP of Dowflake - I should do this by weight, but I don't. Heat. 20mls of Mutraic Acid. Mix for 2 days with lots of surface agitiation. Comes out 1.026, 440 calcium and 7.1 alk every time with no residue.

 

[Kyl]

Probably true, but I can tell you that the response of the corals to the switch back to Instant Ocean was quite dramatic. All of my montipora had stopped growing, and each water change with Reef Crystals seemed to further aggravate the situation. Within a week of going back to Instant Ocean, all of my corals began to grow again, and by the second or third water change with Instant Ocean, they were growing rapidly again. All other water parameters were the same this time (from what I can tell by measuring alk, pH, temp, nitrates, phosphate, iron, potassium, magnesium, and iodine).

Dang that sucks, hope everything bounced back 100%. I can empathise with the 'what the heck' feeling when things start going south, quickly.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Dang that sucks, hope everything bounced back 100%. I can empathise with the 'what the heck' feeling when things start going south, quickly.

Everything that survived bounced back except my bubble coral. That's why I was so upset about Instant Ocean playing these games. I have been buying my IO off of Amazon, and I really would rather not switch again. I guess if I have to switch, I'll try the Red Sea Coral Pro.

 

[saltysilverado]

FYI WORLD WIDE CORALS is selling instant ocean boxes for $29 for 200g box. Not online but if youre ever in the area they have pallets of Instant Ocean purple boxes which is what they use i was told. They just buffer the mag and calcium before they do water changes

 

[saltysilverado]

I have used IO for more than two decades and it has never had any variance from bag to bag. It is the model of consistency, IMO. I use the whole bag - if you do not, then you need to dry mix any salt.

Some of the locals had Fritz mix up to like 3000 Mag, but who knows why... maybe they did not dry mix it.

I belive the fritz salt is not worth all the hype. I've seen more and more people in the past two years talk all about it but yet when i ask how there tank is 8 times out of 10 theyve already switched back off the fritz

 

[BoomCorals]

I belive the fritz salt is not worth all the hype. I've seen more and more people in the past two years talk all about it but yet when i ask how there tank is 8 times out of 10 theyve already switched back off the fritz

I've been using it for over 6 months now.

 

[saltysilverado]

Like i said 8 out of 10 people have already switched back.

 

[BoomCorals]

Like i said 8 out of 10 people have already switched back.

8 out of 10 statistics are made up.

 

[bif24701]

High ALK is the only thing I can think of, but IO also has alk swings between buckets / boxes quite regularly.

Not really, IO ALK is consistent. Consistently high! That's probably why many assume it's a bad batch when in reality it's just how IO is.

My system does well with higher ALK (10-11) so fits my needs very well and been using it since start of my tank 2+ years. Not seen a problem with the ALK in that time.

 

[saltysilverado]

8 out of 10 statistics are made up.

Lol hey im all about doing what works. Im not here to argue lol

 

[bif24701]

I use about 30-40 boxes of IO a year. Salt amazes me. This is the one instance where perhaps the most consistent salt is also a one of the least expensive.

Here is my recipie for IO. 50G bag in 44G brute of COLD RO to the absolute top. Mix. 2 heaping TBSP of Dowflake - I should do this by weight, but I don't. Heat. 20mls of Mutraic Acid. Mix for 2 days with lots of surface agitiation. Comes out 1.026, 440 calcium and 7.1 alk every time with no residue.

That's my feelings on IO, love it!

I have two 55 gallon Brute in my RO/DI collecting and salt mixing station. A bag in each Brute from the 200g boxes. Then some MAG and maybe more salt if need to reach 1.025/35ppt. Iwaki 40 RLT mixes the water through both Brutes and in a few hours I can turn some valves and pump the ready water directly to my sump via a 25' braided hose attached to the station.


Water change involves a total of 5 minutes of actual work. The station fills and Stops RODI autoshut off with float valve. Dump in two bags and turn on pump. Drain tank with Python. Turn two valves and the same pump moves the water through 3/4" braided hose to my sump. Have a CPEX valve on end of hose for perfect control. I could change 100 gallons everyday if wanted too. Building a well thought out mixing station is the best investment I've made, truly. Being able to quickly and easily change ~35% of the water without spilling a single drop is the biggest leap I have made in the hobby since throwing out the wet/dry filter and live rock.

 

[BoomCorals]

Lol hey im all about doing what works. Im not here to argue lol

All in good fun!

 

[ca1ore]

Not $40 perhaps, but IO can still be had on Amazon for $46 and change.

 

[Ryan@ShelteredReef Verified Sponsor]

8 out of 10 statistics are made up.

I always say 100% of statistics are made up haha
We use regular IO and just dose a trace element supplement. It has the closest alk, Ca and Mag to what we want to run. It also allows us to do large water changes without largely affecting water chemistry(aside from NO3 and PO4). We ran Aquaforest for a while then tried HW Wiegendt. Neither gave us the growth we were looking for but that's not say they aren't viable options for others.

 

[BoomCorals]

I always say 100% of statistics are made up haha
We use regular IO and just dose a trace element supplement. It has the closest alk, Ca and Mag to what we want to run. It also allows us to do large water changes without largely affecting water chemistry(aside from NO3 and PO4). We ran Aquaforest for a while then tried HW Wiegendt. Neither gave us the growth we were looking for but that's not say they aren't viable options for others.

haha. And yea, ultimately with salt, people should use what works best for them. You really can't go "wrong" with a salt choice IMO.

 

[BoomCorals]

They all say that you don't need to mix them, but I have never found that to be true. Tropic Marin is an awesome salt, but it needed the most mixing... perhaps since it had to be shipped the farthest and bounced around the most. I would mix every salt unless you use the whole bag/batch - uniform particle size is only part of the issue... I guess that weight and polarity can matter too, but I mostly forgot why Dr. Holmes Farley said that this happens.

It's like you have some kind of magic vision. My latest boxes of fritz all have increased alk and mag. Even after mixing up the salt in the bag. UGH!

 

[Chris155hp]

My buddy Henry jumped of the fritz bandwagon and lost a good portion of his sps after switching. Nothing else was chenaged and we even ran a couple of triton test and everything showed normal. He’s switched to IO purple and everything has improved drastically. He originally ran Hw Marnine mix and was doing great.