Reef crystals.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 27, 2020

Jeeperz said:
Nope, that's at 1.026 with a clean mixing barrel with a calibrated refractometer. My first bucket of reef crystals also never mixed above 8 dkh but my last box mixes around 11dkh

It is the norm for folks to complain the alk in IO is too high, typically in the 11-12 dKH range.

I think you are the first person that I have seen in 20 years that complained it was too low. lol

artieg1 · Aug 27, 2020

To answer the question, in my experience you can just switch starting with your water changes. I recently switched *back* to Reef Crystals after using Fritz for a year. And I just switched over after Fritz was out. I found Fritz was more expensive, harder to find and, oddly, had super low dkh that I had to supplement constantly. With weekly water changes using Reef Crystals, my dkh is right where I want it (8-9) without much dosing. But I am very intrigued with reports that IO works fine, and maybe I just go with that someday.

Jeeperz · Aug 27, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
It is the norm for folks to complain the alk in IO is too high, typically in the 11-12 dKH range.

I think you are the first person that I have seen in 20 years that complained it was too low. lol

I'm not complaining it's too low. It works out perfectly as I can mix io regular and reef crystals and it comes to the parameters I find easier to keep as stated above. Two buckets of io both mix near identical, not purchased anywhere close to each other. I have noticed the first bucket of reef crystals mix low in ALK and over 1600 mag, this bucket mixes around 11 dkh and 1500 mag. So unless a red sea test kit double checked with a Hanna checker are both wrong. That is what I'm getting

rmurken · Aug 29, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I do not see any reason to switch. I used normal IO for my reef tank for 20 years, and do not prefer Reef Crystals.

I’m with you and am a little sheepish about having moved to RC. I think it disappointingly comes down to “why not throw the amino acid pixie dust in, maybe it doesn’t hurt.” Do not care about the modest Ca/Alk/Mg difference since those are easy to control.

JMetaxas · Aug 29, 2020

I buy a 50 gallon bag of Reef Crystals for under $12. It's a no brainer to use it. Mine usually mixes us around 8dKH.

blasterman · Aug 29, 2020

I use both RC and IO...mostly IO. One product is not better than the other and they have different intended applications.

Biggest difference is RC has higher mixing alk levels...12-13 in my experience vs IO with ~9 dKH. RC has higher calcium and mag, but not dramatically higher. The alk difference is the biggest consideration.

You use RC when you want your salt mix and water changes to replenish alk and calcium. The idea being you are smart enough to schedule your water changes to keep these levels and amount of water changes at the proper maintenance levels.

Instant ocean is intended for tanks that have dosing, or very low alk consumption between water changes.

The controversial part is hardcore SPS keepers either don't want the higher alk levels of RC, or the bouncing around of resetting alk with water changes, yet RC kinda markets itself in a subtle way as being an upgrade if you want to keep corals. The choice is really if you are dosing or not and if you want your salt changes to replenish alk (and calcium).

Borg · Sep 18, 2020

any one ever use reef crystals on a fowlr tank with good or bad results after using io ( purple)

rmurken · Sep 20, 2020

Borg said:
any one ever use reef crystals on a fowlr tank with good or bad results after using io ( purple)

I’ve never heard anything one way or the other. Seems unlikely that it would cause an issue. If you have a level of coralline algae that takes up large amounts of Ca/Alk and you want to keep growing it, something like RC might have benefit. But otherwise I don’t think it’s “better” for a FOWLR.

Even for a reef tank, RC doesn’t do much more than start you off at a somewhat higher level of Ca/Alk.