Reef Crystals Vs. Regular Instant Ocean

[homer1475]

Just got to thinking this morning........

Since I'm going to start dosing 2 part(just the ALK part right now) since my ALK keeps dropping to 5.4 in a 7 day period, and already having a very high Kalk and MAG(470 and 1440 respectively), would it hurt anything to use regular IO?

My thinking is with RC it already has a high KALK and MAG, negating the need to dose those chemicals right now and they don't seem to be dropping any(they do drop slightly, but are brought right back up after a WC). With regular IO those levels are fairly low, which initially would drop my levels back down to reasonable levels. I then could start dosing said chemicals.

I know quite a few people around here use regular IO just for that reason, I just don't know if I should dose up the WC, or just keep dosing the tank, or both?

Thoughts from those of you who are using regular IO....

[Dkuhlmann]

I use Reef Crystals and because I do I've not had to dose anything yet in my tank. I've got an LPS dominate tank and do a 20% WC ever two weeks. This has kept my numbers in an acceptable range. Personally with my system of 50 total gallons a 10 gal WC every two weeks is pretty cheap since I get the IO RC for $49 for the 200 gal box with free shipping. But even with the IO RC I'm getting close to either having to dose or do weekly 20% WC's.

[Ron Reefman]

First, I assume you have said KALK and mean calcium and not kalkwasser? If that is so, try Ca for calcium.

If you use IO RC and it keeps your Ca and Mg were they need to be, just dose some alk every 2 or 3 days. Maybe with your top off water if you are doing that by hand. If you go back to IO it's likely that you will end up dosing alk, Ca and Mg. I use IO RC in a 180g DT with sps and lps and I dose quite a bit of all three. But then I do very few water changes.

[Pet Detective]

Like Ron mentioned, do you top off your tank daily? If you are just adding RO/DI water back to the tank it will reduce alk, especially after 7 days, I use Seachem Reef Builder, a couple of teaspoons to every gallon of top off water, keeps my alk in a good range, there are many products that would accomplish this & I don't know if you use an ATO or not, if so, you have to be careful dosing the reservoir in case it malfunctions, that's why I do it manually.

[homer1475]

I did mean CA(still a noobie ).

I do also use an ATO, I did not know RO/DI will reduce ALK(you learn something every day). For now I have been testing daily and adding randys 2 part(just the baked baking soda part as I also tend to have low PH) by hand daily according to a reef calculator to top it back up to 9dkh.

The idea of adding it to my ATO intrigues me, how do you know how much to add? I for instance use a 5 gallon jug that usually gets changed out in 5 to 6 days, how would I know how much to add?

[Pet Detective]

Originally Posted by homer1475

I did mean CA(still a noobie ).

I do also use an ATO, I did not know RO/DI will reduce ALK(you learn something every day). For now I have been testing daily and adding randys 2 part(just the baked baking soda part as I also tend to have low PH) by hand daily according to a reef calculator to top it back up to 9dkh.

The idea of adding it to my ATO intrigues me, how do you know how much to add? I for instance use a 5 gallon jug that usually gets changed out in 5 to 6 days, how would I know how much to add?

I wouldn't be concerned with PH so much, it is constantly fluctuating & it will drive you insane trying to keep it at a specific number, alk, on the other hand can be kept reasonably stable by dosing the top off water, water changes, etc.

I can't help you with the ATO dosing calculations, as I have stated, I do it manually, but I'm sure there are many here who will post an answer for you.

[inktomi]

I think a good place to start for top-off dosing would be around 1 tablespoon of an alk powder to every gallon of RO/DI water that you use for top-off. So, a 5 gallon reservoir would get 5 tablespoons mixed in. Mix it to dissolve the powder.

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by homer1475

I did mean CA(still a noobie ).

I do also use an ATO, I did not know RO/DI will reduce ALK(you learn something every day). For now I have been testing daily and adding randys 2 part(just the baked baking soda part as I also tend to have low PH) by hand daily according to a reef calculator to top it back up to 9dkh.

The idea of adding it to my ATO intrigues me, how do you know how much to add? I for instance use a 5 gallon jug that usually gets changed out in 5 to 6 days, how would I know how much to add?

Don't sweat being a noobie, I took me a few years to get a grip on the chemistry that goes on in our tanks. I'm a physics guy and chemistry is like a trying to learn to speak Mandarin!

I'd just get use to adding some soda ash mixed in some RO/DI water every so often. Daily if you have lots of sps and lps using alk and less often if the alk drop is slow enough. Once you get a good grip on how much you need, I'd consider a dosing pump rather than adding it to you ATO.

My concern is this, you add soda ash to your top off water, then winter comes and you heat the house which can increase evaporation and add more water from the ATO. But you don't need the extra soda ash so you end up pushing up your alk. A dosing pump will dose just the soda ash you want, every day no matter what your evaporation rate. Get a good doser and it can even take whatever amount you need to dose every day and evenly spread it out over 24 hours. I dose 200ml of alk and Ca every day. My doser spreads it out so I get a drip of each into my sump roughly every 30 seconds 24/7. BTW, I top off manually.

[Psychomantix]

There may be other trace elements present in the reef crystal that are not in the regular IO besides Ca and Mg. Things like Strontium for example. I don't know for sure, you gotta compare the side labels of both products to see what the differences are.

[homer1475]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

My concern is this, you add soda ash to your top off water, then winter comes and you heat the house which can increase evaporation and add more water from the ATO. But you don't need the extra soda ash so you end up pushing up your alk. A dosing pump will dose just the soda ash you want, every day no matter what your evaporation rate. Get a good doser and it can even take whatever amount you need to dose every day and evenly spread it out over 24 hours. I dose 200ml of alk and Ca every day. My doser spreads it out so I get a drip of each into my sump roughly every 30 seconds 24/7. BTW, I top off manually.

That was my thinking too. Living in the great white north(upstate NY), my tank evaps quite a bit in the winter, way more then in the summer.

For now I've been testing daily, and adding daily. I have been adding roughly 10ML of randys 2 part per day. I do have a BRS 1.1 dosing pump and apex so that will be getting set up tomorrow on my day off.

[thegrun]

I use Instant Ocean in my SPS dominated tank with great success. I agree with your thinking that since you have to dose regardless of what brand you use, you might as well use a less expensive salt and dose a little more two part. Instant Ocean mixes very consistently from one box of salt to another, I've seen a lot more variations in the "reef" salt mixes which require small adjustments to your dosing regiment when you run out of salt in one bucket or box and switch to a new one.

[jay13]

I have used instant ocean for years while watching others debate the newest greatest thing in salt. Instant ocean seems to always be the comparison. There is a reason for that. Reef crystals sounds great till the alk has to be dealt with. That is a no sale for me.