Reef crystals and other salt discussion.

[TJ Merrells]

What's everyone been getting for parameters with Reef crystals?

Consistently getting
Ph- 8.2
Alk- 8.0
Calcium- 450 +/-
Magnesium- 1400 +/-

I thought Reef crystals was supposed to have an alkalinity of around 11. This is me testing newly mixed water.

I'm considering switching to a salt that more stable. I like the elevated parameters as I work away from home and I need a salt that I can keep mixing for 2-3 weeks. Any suggestions?

Been considering aquaforest or salinity and possibly red sea pro.

Any suggestions help
Thx

 

[NS Mike D]

thats what I was seeing. I just went with it as I concluded I don't need nor want a high alk tank. I switched to IO saves me money that the result is the same


Randy has a good article about the difficultly in maintaining high alk. basically it is more prone to precipitate plus it kicks up growth and thus gets used up faster so you have dose more to maintain.

I am happy with 8-9 dkh and NO3 at 1-2ppm and PO4 at 0.08 -0.12 ppm. I read that high ALk and low nutrients can lead to sps tip burning. Middle of the road for me.

 

[Cstar_BC]

I use reef crystals and my dkh is slightly north of 11

 

[TJ Merrells]

thats what I was seeing. I just went with it as I concluded I don't need nor want a high alk tank. I switched to IO saves me money that the result is the same


Randy has a good article about the difficultly in maintaining high alk. basically it is more prone to precipitate plus it kicks up growth and thus gets used up faster so you have dose more to maintain.

I am happy with 8-9 dkh and NO3 at 1-2ppm and PO4 at 0.08 -0.12 ppm. I read that high ALk and low nutrients can lead to sps tip burning. Middle of the road for me.

Ya I don't want a really high alk either. My goal is to have my tank at 9 but definitely surprised that my Reef crystals is mixing at 8

 

[NS Mike D]

Ya I don't want a really high alk either. My goal is to have my tank at 9 but definitely surprised that my Reef crystals is mixing at 8

real quick. What's your SG. The mixing formulas are for 1.022. So do you add more salt to bring the SG up to 1.025 (35ppt). If not that would also explain some of the lower ALK

One more thing. How are you testing? I use Red Sea Alk and I can never really tell when it starts to change from blue to greenish. So I figure there is at least a .5dkh error in my testing.

 

[TJ Merrells]

I fill my bucket with 5 gallons rodi water.
Put an older power head in and get that water moving.
Slowly pour in 5 half cups of Reef crystals while it's mixing. Leave overnight.
In the morning check the salinity with a refractometer and adjust accordingly to bring it up to 1.025.

Once it's been adjusted I also add an air bubbler and begin to heat

 

[TJ Merrells]

real quick. What's your SG. The mixing formulas are for 1.022. So do you add more salt to bring the SG up to 1.025 (35ppt). If not that would also explain some of the lower ALK

One more thing. How are you testing? I use Red Sea Alk and I can never really tell when it starts to change from blue to greenish. So I figure there is at least a .5dkh error in my testing.

I fill my bucket with 5 gallons rodi water.
Put an older power head in and get that water moving.
Slowly pour in 5 half cups of Reef crystals while it's mixing. Leave overnight.
In the morning check the salinity with a refractometer and adjust accordingly to bring it up to 1.025.

Once it's been adjusted I also add an air bubbler and begin to heat

 

[NS Mike D]

Ok. so calibrate the refractometer. drop some distilled or rodi and it should read zero. 5 half cups with 5 gal of water is supposed to mix to 1.022

 

[TJ Merrells]

Ok. so calibrate the refractometer. drop some distilled or rodi and it should read zero. 5 half cups with 5 gal of water is supposed to mix to 1.022

Yes I calibrate before each use

 

[TJ Merrells]

Yes I calibrate before each use

And yes overnight it's always a bit low and I need to add some to bring it up to 1.025 the next day

 

[t5Nitro]

My reef crystals mixes to a Ca around 450 and Alk to around 9.6 at SG 1.025. I'm moving to regular IO to get the alk down. I think whenever the order ships and actually arrives I will end up mixing 50/50 RC:IO until the reef crystals are gone.

 

[WiscoFishNut]

I see similar results as well. I mix to 1.025 salinity and I end up with Alk - 8.3, Ca - 415, Mg - 1400. I'm using Hanna for Alk, Aquaforest for Ca, and Red Sea for Mg.

 

[TJ Merrells]

Seeing I'm on well water after some thinking decided I might have co2 in my water. Put my bucket outside for a couple hours with a bubbler.

Tested again after and my alk was at 10.5

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Tj there are people on R2R who do this to their ro for a day then run it through their di resin. Makes the di resin last way longer.

 

[TJ Merrells]

How do you go about running it thru ro then bubbling and pumping it thru the di?

Ya I go thru resin like crazy

 

[Jenuvio]

Using Reef Crystals for almost 2 years now and my tank have kept dKH at 7.7 before and 8.6 after a 10% water change. It has been working for my tank so far, but I have have to dose some Alk soon... if I do switch salts it will be to Aquaforest for sure.

I’ve tested freshly mixed Reef Crystal water and it has given me dKH11. It is very inconsistent.