which is better, the instant ocean or the instant ocean reef crystals?
I prefer the Reef Crystals over the regular Instant Ocean. The calcium, alk and magnesium levels are reportedly slightly higher than Instant Ocean.
Whether or not it’s actually true - don’t know for sure.
Thats what I was thinking. I was using instant ocean then when I did my water change last week I bought a box of reef crystals (just enough for that water change) and it raised my PH a little higher ( it was running about 7.8 now it is about 8.1)
It also depends on what corals you are keeping in your tank. If you have soft corals, you can use instant ocean with no problem. Because Reef Crystals has higher levels of trace elements, people who have mainly SPS and a higher demand for calcium will use this salt. Why spend more money if you do not have to. I used IO for many years before having mostly all SPS.
I do believe the difference between the two is Reef Crystals has higher levels of Calcium, Magnesium and buffers, among other minor minerals. more suitable for reef tanks. ergo the name, REEF CRYSTALS> as opposed to instant ocean , more for fish only, softies or lightly loaded tanks.
one old study:
http://www.tanktests.co.uk/index.php?target=pages&page_id=salt_water_study
[quote=“houndsbayman, post:4, topic:6882”]
It also depends on what corals you are keeping in your tank. If you have soft corals, you can use instant ocean with no problem. Because Reef Crystals has higher levels of trace elements, people who have mainly SPS and a higher demand for calcium will use this salt. Why spend more money if you do not have to. I used IO for many years before having mostly all SPS.[/quote]
Right now I have frogspawn, hammer, duncans, zoas, mushrooms, kenya tree and xenia. I also have gsp but I think the nitrates killed it. Oh yeah I also have one acro(not sure what kind it is). I like some of the acros and will eventually get into those but not sure I am ready for it yet. Seems like a lot of extra work to keep those. I only have the one because someone gave it to me.
[quote=“kaptken, post:5, topic:6882”]
I do believe the difference between the two is Reef Crystals has higher levels of Calcium, Magnesium and buffers, among other minor minerals. more suitable for reef tanks. ergo the name, REEF CRYSTALS> as opposed to instant ocean , more for fish only, softies or lightly loaded tanks.
one old study:
http://www.tanktests.co.uk/index.php?target=pages&page_id=salt_water_study[/quote]
Thanks for the link.
Good link Ken. I have to see if I can dig up a similar one with an updated list. I have used reef crystals a while and happy with it. Consistant, good levels, mixes easy and low price. Kent reef salt wasn’t too bad, had really high calcium though (520) and left a residue. Red sea coral pro was good but expensive. I stick with reef crystals for now.
I think I am going to go with reef crystals as well!
I think over the years, I’ve tried almost every brand of salt and always keep coming back to Reef Crystals. It’s always consistent and it seems as if it’s not as harsh as some of the other mixes out there. The only other salt that I would probably use is Tropic Marin Bio Actif. I used that for a while and liked that salt as well, it’s just almost twice the price.
I’ll agree with RC. But, I started with regular IO when I didn’t have much of a need for the elevated levels of Ca, Mg and Alk. My progression was: IO until my demand increased to the point that it wasn’t keeping up with my Ca/Alk needs between WC’s, I added Kalk to my top off which helped for a while, but as I added more SPS, and my stoney corals/coraline algae grew, ultimately I started using RC. Today, I still use RC, along with fully saturated kalkwasser in my top off, and am supplementing with two part to keep up with my current demand.