Why do poeple use reef crystals?

[PirateLove]

Hi RC. If ideal reef conditions are Calcium 420 and Alk 8.5 why was I recommended to use reef crystals instead of regular instant ocean? The levels of regular IO are ideal for what BRS and the Reef Central sticky to use for sps and other coral.

[jminick2]

no clue, always wondered the same thing. I use red sea blue

[drillsar]

Reef Crystals have higher Magnesium than IO I think anyway. Instant Ocean also has lower calcium than reef crystals

[heathlindner25]

The elevated levels in the salt are a way to raise the big three during scheduled water changes

[Dkuhlmann]

I use Reef Crystals and currently I don't have to dose anything with my WC schedule and I have a lot of LPS corals in my tank. SO it's either dose what's needed or use a salt mix that has it in there.

[CStrickland]

The idea is your tank uses up those components over the week, getting deficient in them. Then on waterchange day there is enough "extra" to make up the difference and get you back to where you want to be. If the salt were set at perfect parameters, your tank levels would go down over time.

Reef crystals also has other stuff added, I think they call it "vitamins." This is supposed to be good for the tank but some people don't like it because they say it leaves a grunge in their mixing bucket after a while, and can cause some ammonia in the water. I haven't had any trouble with it, but I don't let my water sit around in big trash cans for long times, I just mix and use.

[USC-fan]

The idea is your tank uses up those components over the week, getting deficient in them. Then on waterchange day there is enough "extra" to make up the difference and get you back to where you want to be. If the salt were set at perfect parameters, your tank levels would go down over time.

Reef crystals also has other stuff added, I think they call it "vitamins." This is supposed to be good for the tank but some people don't like it because they say it leaves a grunge in their mixing bucket after a while, and can cause some ammonia in the water. I haven't had any trouble with it, but I don't let my water sit around in big trash cans for long times, I just mix and use.

That the reason i stop using it. It leave orange stuff in my mixing tank.

[Ou8me2]

Well it's supposed to have beneficial things in it and is geared for reef aquariums. Even Red Sea and HW-MARINEMIX have normal a reef versions of their salts also.

From the I.O Page:

Enriched formulation. Optimum effectiveness. Formulated specially for use in reef aquariums, Reef Crystals contains essential ocean reef elements in concentrations greater than those found in natural sea water.

Extra Calcium to help ensure the growth of large and small polyp stony corals as well as coralline algae

Extra Trace Elements to provide an additional measure of vital nutrients
Extra Vitamins to ensure vigorous growth and survival of corals, anemones and other invertebrates in a captive environment

Metal Detoxifier - to neutralize traces of heavy metal often present in domestic water supplies.

[jminick2]

So your trace elements deplete down to a certain point then u bring them back up all at once with one water change ? Sounds like a good way to kill some corals. I think I'll stick with keeping it steady all the time even during WAter changes. Just my .02

[heathlindner25]

So your trace elements deplete down to a certain point then u bring them back up all at once with one water change ? Sounds like a good way to kill some corals. I think I'll stick with keeping it steady all the time even during WAter changes. Just my .02

Sounds great.

[ca1ore]

Since I have to supplement with a reactor anyhow, I saw no reason to pay the premium. Question though - how is 'extra' trace elements in RC a good thing when dosing of same is generally frowned upon?

[CStrickland]

I'm not sure it is a good thing, but if it is it's probably something like - you need so little molybdenum that you could never dose it properly. Since a water change is removing some water rather than just adding more molybdenum, it's less likely to accumulate to dangerous levels. I think the trace elements are stuff you need a tiiiiiny little bit of, but too much is dangerous.

I'm not worried, I feed fresh chum so I bet there's enough molybdenum in there anyway. But I have read articles where the fancy salts like tropic marin were tested and they had a much wider variety of trace elements, whereas something like IO only had a whole lot of one or two kinds. People really like those fancy salts.

[jminick2]

Sounds great.


Sarcasm?

[Ebone]

because it came with a free shirt :-)

[Ou8me2]

I'm just curious because I see most people dose with reefs anyways. I wonder are we chasing some magical number in our salts, yet we still dose and are the things added to these salts minor or important to a successful reef? Do these extra added minerals they add to reef salts just save us from dosing more stuff?

I've watched videos of salts and test and this one lately had me thinking. This guy mixed and tested 4 different salts.. Red Sea Coral Pro vs Tropic Marin vs Seachem Reef Salt vs Reef Crystals. According to his test and I'm not saying it should be taken with whole 100% truth. Red Sea Coral Pro was the most consistent with what they print on the label and Reef Crystals was ...ho hum to be honest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-COeM32hmY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6kvCUS6DiM

I personally have been using Instant Ocean for close to 20 years and it has worked well for me. I have never tried Reef Crystals or any other salt.

[Rx79394]

FWIW I tested a batch of RC last night, in attempt to see what the salt mix I use is in comparison to what I would like to keep my tank at (I just started auto-dosing and wanted to know how much of an effect WCs would have on my levels)... I was quite surprised by the numbers -- alk.

Ca: 450
Alk: 10.3 dkH
Mg: 1350

This was all tested at 1.027, as I mix five gallon buckets at a time, it is a pain in the butt to always get it to 1.026.

As a result, the numbers seem to be almost exactly where I am looking to keep my tank.

[DivingTheWorld]

The only benefit I see with RC is the extra Magnesium. I prefer a cleaner salt so I just use plain old IO. Calcium tests normal for me and I have to drop the Alk with acid regardless of which salt I go with. The only negative I see with IO over RC is having to dose a bunch of Magnesium in your WC. Oh, and IO is cheap!

[Rx79394]

The only benefit I see with RC is the extra Magnesium. I prefer a cleaner salt so I just use plain old IO. Calcium tests normal for me and I have to drop the Alk with acid regardless of which salt I go with. The only negative I see with IO over RC is having to dose a bunch of Magnesium in your WC. Oh, and IO is cheap!

Just to take a look at this on amazon...

IO costs 20 cents per advertised gallon.
RC costs. 26.4 cents per advertised gallon.

better yet -- for a small 30 gallon tank (my size) a 5 gallon water change will cost:

IO: $1.00 per change * 52 weeks = $52 year
RC: $1.32 per change * 52 weeks = $68.64 year

100 gallon tank (20 gallon WC) prices:
IO: $4.00 per change * 52 weeks = $208.00 per year
RC: $5.30 per change * 52 weeks = $275.60 per year

I was interested in estimated costs, for both, as I do plan on upgrading at some point. Keep in mind, advertised gallons don't equal produced gallons as that value is typically mixed at a lower SG.

[Sully72]

Love reef crystals!

[d0ughb0y]

Just to take a look at this on amazon...

IO costs 20 cents per advertised gallon.
RC costs. 26.4 cents per advertised gallon.

better yet -- for a small 30 gallon tank (my size) a 5 gallon water change will cost:

IO: $1.00 per change * 52 weeks = $52 year
RC: $1.32 per change * 52 weeks = $68.64 year

100 gallon tank (20 gallon WC) prices:
IO: $4.00 per change * 52 weeks = $208.00 per year
RC: $5.30 per change * 52 weeks = $275.60 per year

I was interested in estimated costs, for both, as I do plan on upgrading at some point. Keep in mind, advertised gallons don't equal produced gallons as that value is typically mixed at a lower SG.


you do a lot of water change. I have a 60 and I only do 5 gallon WC every 2 weeks. One bucket lasts me a year. Every October (at least for 2014 and 2015), Petsmart sells the bucket RC and IO at 50% off, and every time, it comes with $10 rebate, so the bucket of RC comes to about $28. I believe the IO ends up about $17 for the bucket.

I don't like the way Reefcrystal gallon specification.
It is advertised as reef salt but yet the gallon calculation is based on SG for non reef mix.

[brianr24]

I have never seen a bucket of salt match parameters that are on bucket yet. Not even close either. I used IO and coral pro. I have to dose water change water to match tank. Or I would actually be lowering parameters in the tank when doing WC. Frustrating to say the least.

[hogfanreefer]

IO is closer to where I want things to be. I have used HW Reefer and RC in the past but my tank does just as well with IO and my dosing expense is not any different that I can tell.

[ca1ore]

Does anyone actually think using RC versus IO is the difference between a successful tank and a failed one?

[Dkuhlmann]

No Simon, not at all.

[leviburns89]

Here's my .02

IO will provide you with the basic nutrients for successful growth.

If your tank is lacking a certain supplement, it is far easier (and cheaper) to add that specific nutrient with dosing.

That being said, if you use RC, you guarantee that you will be adding X amount of nutrients with every water change, and in most cases, you don't need all the nutrients that the RC is providing, thus leading to an overabundance in a certain nutrient.

From what I have heard in person.. it is far easier to add the nutrients you are lacking via dosing, rather than taking out all the buildup of stuff you don't need.


Plus RC is like 2X the cost of IO.

[CStrickland]

Does anyone actually think using RC versus IO is the difference between a successful tank and a failed one?

Does anyone actually think any single point of reference is the difference between a successful tank and a failed one?
I mean, besides the presence of water, salt, light, and flow... it's all debatable, man.

[RedStangGA]

I think if you will be relying on water changes to keep parameters in line then a salt with higher levels of cal, mag, and alk may be worth the money. Maybe lol! I'm switching to plain IO on my 220 build. I have a calcium reactor and can dose kalk if necessary or wanted.

Important thing is to know your parameters and check them regularly. Which I'm awful at...

[Dkuhlmann]

RedStangGA that is the reason that I'm using RC now. It's still not to the point of dosing to be cheaper than the RC. Besides a WC is much easier than playing with all of the extra reactors etc.

[homer1475]

Exactly why I use RC over regular IO. A year into my tank and I only need to sparingly dose anything(heavily stocked LPS's). Weekly WC's keep my parameter in check. I do on occasion have to top up calcium or alkalinity, but that's like once a month.

[cardiffgiant]

I was never comfortable with the Ca and Kh swing of doing a 20-25% water change with RC. But now that I do continuous automated water changes, I like the higher parameters of RC.

[ca1ore]

Does anyone actually think any single point of reference is the difference between a successful tank and a failed one?
I mean, besides the presence of water, salt, light, and flow... it's all debatable, man.

I actually think there are a lot of things that can spell disaster for a reef tank -I'm just not convinced that the salt mix one chooses is one of them. Just my opinion, of course.

[leviburns89]

Has anyone ever mixed rc and io?

They both measure at .5 cup to 1 gal water.

Couldn't you just tone down the params levels by adjusting the ratio as needed?

[DivingTheWorld]

Has anyone ever mixed rc and io?

They both measure at .5 cup to 1 gal water.

Couldn't you just tone down the params levels by adjusting the ratio as needed?

I guess it depends on what you want to tone down. AFAIK the only parameter which is generally too high is Alk, and I find them both to be way too high in Alk so mixing wouldn't help.