crystal sea!!! i use that at work for my lobster tank :D. i have heard of it having po4 and no3 reading in the past but ive never tested? so hows it working for ya ken? i am low on funds and cant even afford a box of io, and im bout 5 weeks past due on a waterchange.
Where do you work?
Ive used MEI crystal sea marine mix, either the regular grade or the bioassay grade for about 8 years now. it works for me, with supplementation. though the first 4 years i did no extra supplements, and tanks were good. but i used Seachem calcium and buffers then. they made up for it i think. now im striclty MEI and DIY calc/alk/Mag suppliments.(ie: snow melt C-FORCE CaCl and Mag Flake salts, baking soda, washing soda and epsom salts and every now and then just the tiniest pinch of 20 Mule Team Borax once a month )
DPA carries boxes of MEI crystal sea . and also Hidden Reef in Pa. and Aquarium Center in NJ. I sometimes buy over there if I’m in the neighborhood. They sell it for less, but then there is the driving, tolls, and state tax . so i get most at DPA. I rarely drive far. give em all a call.
crystal sea!!!! i use that at work for my lobster tank . i have heard of it having po4 and no3 reading in the past but ive never tested?
you might want to google crystal seas to see the kinds of experiences people have had with this salt. personally, im 99.9% sure it caused my tank to crash. some things just are worth saving a few extra bucks on.
a tip to all, age your neomarine salt 24 hours every time.
ive been making small waterchanges everyother day 5g each, and every time i test the salinity with my refractometer an hour after i mix it it comes out 35ppt… the next day about the same time it reads 38-39ppt (not evaporation, i have a water level marker and its the same)
i checked my refractometer just in case with my calibration fluid and its spot on.
i use a small fountain pump on the bottom of the bucket mixing it vertically.
also noted very small amounts of sediment on the bottom >1/2 tsp worth yet all is supposed to dissolve.
[quote=“kaptken, post:23, topic:745”]
Ive used MEI crystal sea marine mix, either the regular grade or the bioassay grade for about 8 years now. it works for me, with supplementation. though the first 4 years i did no extra supplements, and tanks were good. but i used Seachem calcium and buffers then. they made up for it i think. now im striclty MEI and DIY calc/alk/Mag suppliments.(ie: snow melt C-FORCE CaCl and Mag Flake salts, baking soda, washing soda and epsom salts and every now and then just the tiniest pinch of 20 Mule Team Borax once a month ) [/quote]
Pretty much spot on what I’ve been doing for the past year as well minus the borax, works nice. Cheers Ken
Yup, i always have a barrel of new saltwater mixing with a maxijet in the bottom. so its always mellowed. I wouldnt reccomend the borax without testing for it. it need only be a few ppm and gets toxic at slightly higher levels. but is a part of the buffer system. actually, most salt mixes are over NSW levels of borates anyway. i just try it now and then. its almost a trace element.
That is a big change Tim, you sure you weren’t under the influence of anything when you were adding before? lol At work we typically mix salt for less then 30 seconds and then let it sit for 20 minutes or so and that is it.(Would highly recommend not doing so) We haven’t noticed any significant changes in salinity at all and I just don’t get chemically how that would be possible. Also when we do water changes they are typically VERY large compared to what most reefers do as the systems we maintain are typically kept with a large amount of live stock, over fed, and under filtered.(so if this salinity change were to occur using this salt you would think an even large swing would be noticed in the tanks we maintain)
I think something other then the salt was to blaim for those funky readings. Though I do have to agree mixing salt for at least 12 hours is a very good idea.
i dont know, i thought it was strange too. though if particles of salt do not dissolve than it wont count toward the salinity of the water and perhaps it takes longer for this salt to dissolve? i know some brands boast instant usability which i take means others you can not use instantly.
here is a great article to read about water changes that suggests no less than 48 hours of mixing times and better to let it mix for a week.
I been in this hooby for quite a while and therefore have tried many different salts. I think they can all work well as every tank is different, but I have always had the best most consistent results with tropic marine. It has never let me down. It mixes very fast with zero residue. I usually let my salt mix overnight, but there have been times when I have used it after only 2-4 hiours with no problems at all. JMHO.
Yes, I agree Tropic Marin is an excellent salt! There is nothing in any salt mix that is not soluable. its all salts. but what can happen is short term hyper akalinity or PH and the varialbe rate at which each of the salts in the mix disolve. some chemical imbalances can occure which may cause some precipitation of insoluable byproducts. over time , my salt water mixing/storage barrel gets a layer of brown , deposits on the bottom and sides. some of this can come from reacting with CO2 in the air. I believe. but compared to the pounds of salt mix we add, these deposits are small potatoes and dont seem to make much difference to the final mix. like maybe a cup full of deposits over a year, compared to the 500 pounds of salt i mixed in the barrel over the year. a bucket of salt a month? uh , yeah, that’s about 500 pounds of salt. oh, and some of that crud might be impurities being forced out of solution. so it can be a good thing to have some crud build up in the barrel.
Not sure, but thats what i figure~~~?
crystal seas sucks. tried it and had algae bloom like crazy for a while… p04 was nuts. so whats the consensus on the brightwells? almost picked up a bucket today. I can personally say i did enjoy using the Red Sea Coral Pro salt but i do not like the normal Red Sea salt in the Square buckets. it just doesnt do it for me and coral growth has seemed to slow considerably so i picked up some Reef Crystals to try out. Tried Oceanic in the 220 and all the Calc precipitated out and coated everything white so dont use that anymore.
i use to use IO and mix the salt right in front of the tank 1 gal at a time a dump it right in after a good stir never had any problems… I’d wait 20min or so and check the SG if it was a little low i’d dump some salt right in the tank and it was gone before it hit the bottom.
i don’t belive you can judge ANY algae bloom or po4 on salt its just silly, salts don’t come with extra nutrients. the most likely case is that the reefer changed salts mid-crisis and did not see improvement so blamed the new salts. The likely cause is higher TDS even post RO/DI. i have had my RO/DI for over 3-3 1/2 months and already my TDS is 22 and causing me slight issues.
Also, i it may be an opinon but i am for the suggestion of mixing salts for more than 48 hours, i mix mine a minimum of 24 hours, and really the brightwell is leaving a significant amount of dis-colored residue on the buckets which makes me unhappy,
Nothing changed in my tank or water ( i use straight well water) escept the salt and the algea bloom started within a day or two of doing a 35gal water change with said cheap salt and lasted pretty good through out its use. Once i started using the Red sea again the algae started to disapear. Nothing was “mid-crisis” just a a test of the cheap salt and it failed.
not to excited to hear about the gunk on your buckets either… :-?
ds4x4, I’ve found my filtered well water to be fairly high in phosphates and have since switched to RO/DI. I have a deep well and I’m assuming you are on the same aquifer, something you might want to look into.
Nothing changed in my tank or water ( i use straight well water) escept the salt and the algea bloom started within a day or two of doing a 35gal water change with said cheap salt and lasted pretty good through out its use. Once i started using the Red sea again the algae started to disapear. Nothing was "mid-crisis" just a a test of the cheap salt and it failed.
I had a similar experience. Used an entire box of crystal seas with no problems. First water change with second box things started to look bad. Continuted to look really bad until i did a massive waterchange with TM a couple of weeks later. DS4X4 and I are not alone. There are a LOT of similar experiences with this brand salt.
[quote=“IanH, post:35, topic:745”]
ds4x4, I’ve found my filtered well water to be fairly high in phosphates and have since switched to RO/DI. I have a deep well and I’m assuming you are on the same aquifer, something you might want to look into.[/quote]
only if the aquifer runs under the Delaware River and 15 miles north
water tables around here are shallow. the nitrate and phosphate levels in the water vary by season. in the rainy season, all the rotting compost and fertilizer and stuff seaps down to the aquifer pretty fast and levels go up. winter time is a bit purer. its even worse if your water company uses river water. it will be loaded with farm runoff and sewage treatment plant nitrates and phosphates. especially after a rain. water purification doesnt remove nitrates and phosphates. just the pathogens by adding bleach. You should still use an RO unit on the well water.
Ive found the only problem with MEI is it always tests low in Ca and Mg for me. Ca 390 ppm and Mg 1000 ppm. but like i said, thats easy and cheap for me to make up with snow melts.
Now if you use a calcium chloride snow melt for calcium makeup, you have to first test your brand of snowmelt CaCl for ammonia. disolve a spoon full in a bit of RO water and test for ammonia. According to Randy Farley, there are a couple industrial methods to make CaCl. and one leaves a strong ammonia residue in the process. which is why we cant use all brands of snow melt for Ca makeup. diferent processes. a bad CaCl mix would grow lots of algae.