Red Sea Blue Bucket vs Red Sea Pro

[Dom]

I've been a Instant Ocean Reef Chrystal guy for ten years. I am thinking about changing over to Red Sea. And for a guy who preaches "don't fix what isn't broken", this is exactly what I am doing.

Generally speaking, everything in the intended tank is happy and healthy. But I would like to see more growth in my corals.

The last time I tried dosing, I made a mess of things. I'm most comfortable replenishing nutrients via water changes.

I've heard some bad things about using the pro salt in a small tank. The tank I intend to us it in is about 50 gallons total water volume.

Can I use the Pro in a tank that size? Or, should I use blue bucket and then consider pro in the future?

Dom

 

[TheEngineer]

I've not heard anything about tank volume for a salt mix. That's new to me.

I switched from the Pro to the blue bucket and I'm happy with it. It mixes up to the levels I'm trying to keep my tank at so I don't get spikes during a water change. I suppose people could be talking about that when referring to a smaller tank.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

I use Red Sea Pro since day one on my 40g breeder without any issue. I have coral grow and do a 10% weekly water change. In half hour I have my new water mixed ready for a WC.

 

[ajhudson15]

I switched form the pro to the blue bucket also. the pro mixed to high on the alk for what im running.

 

[Waters]

I switched to the blue bucket from Reef Crystals but only because I wanted to mix at a lower ALK. You won't find any more growth strictly by switching salts though.

 

[miPapareef]

Which salt most closely matches your parameters? That’s the one I’d use.

I use the blue bucket.

 

[PDR]

+1 to what waters said. Changing salts, especially two with similar parameters, is not going to change anything. I would save your money and stick with RC.

 

[Dom]

I switched to the blue bucket from Reef Crystals but only because I wanted to mix at a lower ALK. You won't find any more growth strictly by switching salts though.

Then Red Sea is misleading as the their PRO is "formulated for accelerated coral growth".

 

[Dom]

This is the review posted by a user on the BRS website:

"Han wouldn't recommend this product to a friend

I had so many problems with this salt. If you have never used this salt I would not switch over, the parameters are too aggressive. 1st magnesium was always high, I'm in the 1450 range. I dose 2 part and never had to dose Magnesium. 2nd don't use this salt if you carbon dose. My alk was higher than advertised, fresh batch @1.024 was testing at 12.9. High Alk + carbon dosing = burnt SPS tips. 3rd my alk always dropped to about 10 but my calcium stayed constant while dosing 2 part. I can never track this down but I read some theories that it could be the high Magnesium. If you have a nano I do not recommend this salt. The high parameters wreck havok on a Nano. Water change causes high parameter swings. I suspect the people who have success with this salt are running 100+ gallon tanks with controllers that dose on a strict regiment to prevent swings and only do water change like once a month. The recommended salinity on the forums seem to be 1.025 to 1.026 but due to the elevated parameters of this salt, Red sea actually recommend 1.024. For average user I would just go with the regular Red sea salt or another brand. Only experts should use this salt."

 

[TheHarold]

I've not heard anything about tank volume for a salt mix. That's new to me.

I switched from the Pro to the blue bucket and I'm happy with it. It mixes up to the levels I'm trying to keep my tank at so I don't get spikes during a water change. I suppose people could be talking about that when referring to a smaller tank.

Here is the issue that he is referring to by "small tank", I believe.

Small nano reefs tend to do 30-50% water changes. The alkalinity of Red Sea coral pro is around 11-12 freshly mixed, and SPS cant handle that change all at once. So use Red Sea blue bucket instead, which has a dkh of 7-8. No spike.

On a big tank, using Red Sea blue bucket would barely supplement your alkalinity (or Ca/Mg) level if you are changing 10-15%. Therefor using Red Sea coral pro is better, to raise all your parameters slightly.

 

[PDR]

This is the review posted by a user on the BRS website:

"Han wouldn't recommend this product to a friend

I had so many problems with this salt. If you have never used this salt I would not switch over, the parameters are too aggressive. 1st magnesium was always high, I'm in the 1450 range. I dose 2 part and never had to dose Magnesium. 2nd don't use this salt if you carbon dose. My alk was higher than advertised, fresh batch @1.024 was testing at 12.9. High Alk + carbon dosing = burnt SPS tips. 3rd my alk always dropped to about 10 but my calcium stayed constant while dosing 2 part. I can never track this down but I read some theories that it could be the high Magnesium. If you have a nano I do not recommend this salt. The high parameters wreck havok on a Nano. Water change causes high parameter swings. I suspect the people who have success with this salt are running 100+ gallon tanks with controllers that dose on a strict regiment to prevent swings and only do water change like once a month. The recommended salinity on the forums seem to be 1.025 to 1.026 but due to the elevated parameters of this salt, Red sea actually recommend 1.024. For average user I would just go with the regular Red sea salt or another brand. Only experts should use this salt."

Anyone can write a review, doesn't mean it's reliable information. I agree that this salt mixes too high in some elements. The nano comments are just wrong, it all depends on how you plan to implement it.

Then Red Sea is misleading as the their PRO is "formulated for accelerated coral growth".

There are some studies that show that elevated parameters will increase calcification of certain corals. That's all they are talking about. The same results can be achieved by using any salt mix and elevating the major elements through dosing.

 

[Waters]

This is the review posted by a user on the BRS website:

"Han wouldn't recommend this product to a friend

I had so many problems with this salt. If you have never used this salt I would not switch over, the parameters are too aggressive. 1st magnesium was always high, I'm in the 1450 range. I dose 2 part and never had to dose Magnesium. 2nd don't use this salt if you carbon dose. My alk was higher than advertised, fresh batch @1.024 was testing at 12.9. High Alk + carbon dosing = burnt SPS tips. 3rd my alk always dropped to about 10 but my calcium stayed constant while dosing 2 part. I can never track this down but I read some theories that it could be the high Magnesium. If you have a nano I do not recommend this salt. The high parameters wreck havok on a Nano. Water change causes high parameter swings. I suspect the people who have success with this salt are running 100+ gallon tanks with controllers that dose on a strict regiment to prevent swings and only do water change like once a month. The recommended salinity on the forums seem to be 1.025 to 1.026 but due to the elevated parameters of this salt, Red sea actually recommend 1.024. For average user I would just go with the regular Red sea salt or another brand. Only experts should use this salt."

I have been using Red Sea Blue for over a year and have not experienced any of this. It actually mixes up to 8.4 ALK every time (I test) and magnesium actually mixes low (I dose 1/2 cup of Mg into every fresh batch of salt water). Red Sea blue is actually formulated for low nutrient systems. Again, it really doesn't mean anything though.....you buy and use a salt that mixes up closest to the parameters you are trying to keep. There are hundreds of thousands (yes, I am guessing lol) of successful tanks using every brand of salt out there. If Red Sea claims it produces more coral growth, it is only because it contains the necessary elements for coral growth....like every other "coral" brand.

 

[Dom]

Here is the issue that he is referring to by "small tank", I believe.

Small nano reefs tend to do 30-50% water changes. The alkalinity of Red Sea coral pro is around 11-12 freshly mixed, and SPS cant handle that change all at once. So use Red Sea blue bucket instead, which has a dkh of 7-8. No spike.

On a big tank, using Red Sea blue bucket would barely supplement your alkalinity (or Ca/Mg) level if you are changing 10-15%. Therefor using Red Sea coral pro is better, to raise all your parameters slightly.

That makes sense to me. Thank you.

I do weekly 10% water changes on the system in question. Based on your reply, I'm inclined to try a small bucket of pro and see how this works out.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I use blue bucket. Mixes to exactly what the picture says in minutes. Black bucket is a little high for my tank.

 

[TheHarold]

That makes sense to me. Thank you.

I do weekly 10% water changes on the system in question. Based on your reply, I'm inclined to try a small bucket of pro and see how this works out.

Right, so when you do a 10% change with RSCP, you are changing it by 10% of the difference of your parameters. For example if the different between an DKH of 8 and a DKH of 12 is 4, you are changing it by .4.

You can also look at it like this, by mixed concentrations:

So if your Alk is 8 and RSCP is 12:

90% * 8 + 10% * 12 = 8.4.

(Ninety percent of the volume will be your 8 dkh water and 10 percent will be 12 dkh water).

8 to 8.4 is A small difference that corals will not mind.

Of course the closer you are to the parameters of the replacement water, the smaller the change will be. But 10% is pretty much always safe. I do 25% with RSCP when my dkh is 9- which raises it from 9 to 9.75. I haven’t noticed any bad effects from that.

 

[Dom]

I use blue bucket. Mixes to exactly what the picture says in minutes. Black bucket is a little high for my tank.

What mixes high and why is this not good for your tank?

 

[TheEngineer]

The pro mix has higher Alk, calc and mag.

 

[Art2249]

I switched from the blue bucket to HW MARINEMIX REEFER because I was having to add a lot of mg. It has alk around 8.6 which is a little higher than I want, but i noticed increase in PH and less of a dip at night

 

[Ffelrod]

Interesting convo. Been using the Blue bucket for just under a year now and I feel like I’m always chasing Alk and Mag. Just bought a black bucket in hopes of not having to chase parameters. We’ll see how it goes I guess.

 

[Tankkeepers]

No great input from me but I have been running the pro for along time now and have seen my coral growth when I changed over almost double this is a softy only tank tho so cant say as to anything other then that
And most certainly not scientific in any way just stating observations when I switched