Reef Crystals ICP

[NeonRabbit221B]

I just got back my ICP test for my box of Reef Crystals that I mixed to 1.026 via a hanna salinity checker. It seems to me that the batch is mixing far from what is typically reported. Can anyone take a look and confirm this? Recently I switch off of reef crystals because I was having issues with LPS STN. Also attached my RODI sample which showed elevated silicon and the DI resin has since been changed.

 

[blasterman]

What caught me was the high calcium. Never had RC mix higher than 440 in that dept, but I've never had it mix lower than 11 dKH. If you still have that bag it would be interesting to see what you test for calcium.

Before we knock RC to be fair we should see some competitive salt mixes given the same ICP test.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Prior to the ICP test I was maxing out on my Salifert test for both and was having alkalinity issues as a result of the elevated levels. TBH I don't need to test other salt mixes to confirm that this batch of Reef Crystals isn't mixing to spec. I was more interesting in the other Major/trace elements as major causes of my coral's STN issues. Prior to the ICP test I found a ton of Phosphates but was having trouble figuring out the source. I guess it wasnt in the salt mix or RODI though.

 

[jurgenph]

i thought RC had more like 12 dKH alk ...


J.

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

That’s a product I will not buy again. BRS did an investigates that showed that they are overestimating the quantity of water each bucket produces. Consequently, R/C is almost the same price as Red Sea Coral Pro which I am currently using as well as most other brands on a cost per gallon basis with the exception of Tropic Marin. When factoring the inconsistency of the product, higher dirty precipitates in your mixing bucket and lower DKh/calcium it’s hard to make sense spending money on it for me.

 

[Acros]

That’s a product I will not buy again. BRS did an investigates that showed that they are overestimating the quantity of water each bucket produces. Consequently, R/C is almost the same price as Red Sea Coral Pro which I am currently using as well as most other brands on a cost per gallon basis with the exception of Tropic Marin. When factoring the inconsistency of the product, higher dirty precipitates in your mixing bucket and lower DKh/calcium it’s hard to make sense spending money on it for me.

Every single salt mix in the BRS video, including Tropic Marin overestimated the quantity of water per bucket.

R/C is definitely not as expensive as red seas coral pro or blue bucket. They use inflated prices in the video and R/C prices are much cheaper than shown in the video.

If you watch the entire series, Tropic marine shows 0.5 dkh alkalinity swing (as same as R/C) when stored.

Unfortunately, it is just marketing talk from BRS.

I switched to Red Sea blue bucket as I wanted a salt that mixed closer to natural sea water levels.

Edit: I really like BRS video and appreciate all they do for the hobby.

 

[Mike konesky]

Looks like 0 nutrients and high cal/alk may be your issue, not the salt.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Looks like 0 nutrients and high cal/alk may be your issue, not the salt.

Its freshly mixed salt water, not tank water.

 

[Mike konesky]

Its freshly mixed salt water, not tank water.

Ahh gotcha. My bad

 

[Lokipsl]

My mixed RC that has been mixing for 24 hours tested alk at 10.7 dkh. I though it was a little low

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

My mixed RC that has been mixing for 24 hours tested alk at 10.7 dkh. I though it was a little low

Its also important to note that carbonate alkalinity is not 1:1 for total alkalinity we measure with a test kit. 10.7 might be within the margin but I know less than 10 caused me to raise eyebrows for a second.

 

[jeffp1]

This is right where my Reef Crystal salt mixes to. Calcium and magnesium is always real high. Thought my Hanna calcium checker might have bit the dust. Just ordered a salifert calcium kit to verify. Thanks for posting the results.

 

[blasterman]

Edit: I really like BRS video and appreciate all they do for the hobby.

They promote their own best interests and require a lot of reading between the lines. Like scaring reefers they need to dose trace elements if you correct for high salinity by switching out a couple gallons of tank water for plain RODI.

The hit counts on their videos say it all.

 

[JMetaxas]

I buy RC for around $15-$16 per 50 gallon bag. No, it doesn't make 50 gallons of 1.025 Salt water, but it still is the best bargain for water changes.

I do an ICP test every 3-4 months and my #'s are very good.

 

[Dom]

I've been using Reef Crystals 200 gallon box for a long time. And my experience with its consistency has had its ups and downs.

I've had instances where calcium was mixing low. I've had instances where ALK mixed low and other instances where MAG mixed to over 1600.

In the end, BRS has never given me a difficult time about replacing the defective mix. Perhaps this is because they know of the inconsistency of the mix.

Reef Crystals has much room for improvement in quality control.

 

[sfin52]

That’s a product I will not buy again. BRS did an investigates that showed that they are overestimating the quantity of water each bucket produces. Consequently, R/C is almost the same price as Red Sea Coral Pro which I am currently using as well as most other brands on a cost per gallon basis with the exception of Tropic Marin. When factoring the inconsistency of the product, higher dirty precipitates in your mixing bucket and lower DKh/calcium it’s hard to make sense spending money on it for me.

They state on the box 160 gallon at 1.023 if I remember correctly. Price comparison is done with the price bulk reef sells it for. I can find rc for around 42 a bucket.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Last bump but outside of the alk/cal/mag set points, does anything stick out as glaringly bad? I will likely stick to regular IO for now and maybe use the remaining RC in an auto water changer type setup

 

[62518161]

Have been using iorc for 3 years with 0 issues. Just my 2 cents.

 

[john90009]

I have used reef crystals for as long as I have reefed. I have tried tropic marine and also Red Sea and for some reason it seemed like my acros loved the mineral content in reef crystals but more recently my tanks be closer to super low nutrients and the minor spikes in alkalinity since my tank is only a 29 cube, has been too much for some of my Disney colonies which have always been my indicators . I think it may be time to try normal instant ocean and smaller waterchanges, and I’ll report back later. But every other coral is happy and
Colorful, just the Disney’s had rtnd.