Thinking about trying these guys when I run out of Reef Crystals

[Subliminal]

http://www.gettankedaquariums.com/index_file/2.Part.Artificial.Sea.Salt.File/Artificial.Sea.Salt.2.Part.Gallon.Mix.Main.Page.ht m

Anyone ever heard of these people? I've heard a review or two, and very positive.

I do 5g a week waterchanges, and they have a special for 12 5g bags for $35.

[Grins]

No never had. What are the reviews saying about their Mg and Ca levels?

[40galreefman]

never heard of them either
No never had. What are the reviews saying about their Mg and Ca levels?

grins, says right on the site that ca is separate, so i assume there isn't much there to begin with

[Subliminal]

Yeah, read the site a bit. The calcium comes in a separate container. They say that the calcium being included is why all the other brands end up with #s that aren't perfect. Also, they say that, because the calcium is separate, this can be stored a lot longer than other brands.

Anyhow, I dunno...seems like a good idea...don't know if it's gimmicky or not, though.

[Grins]

Whoops. Well if you try it let us know how consistent the numbers are.

[Ace25]

Just an FYI on Reef Crystals. I had a reef club meeting on Sunday and was talking to a few people about salt.. and one guy just purchased a brand new bucket of Reef Crystals on Friday.. mixed up some water and Sunday morning went to do a water change. He is one of the most advanced people in our club. That is his tank at the bottom.

He tested the CA levels and Reef Crystals came out at 320! He tested 4 times.. dumped the entire batch.. made a new batch just to verify, and same results. He ended up tossing the entire bucket in the trash as it is useless for him since he runs an SPS only tank. If the CA was that far off, he didn't even want to bother with the other parameters like Mg and Alk. Just one more "nail in the coffin" for me to never ever use RC salt. I can only imagine what would have happened in his tank. His CA was 420, he was just trying to get it back up to 440 by doing a water change.. if he would have used the new batch of reef crystals his CA would have went DOWN!

I gave up on RC a few years ago when they first started having problems.. but then people started to say it was better now.. well, according the a brand new batch just purchased.. it is NOT good salt for reef tank. For a FO/FOWLR it is fine... not for a reef. Sure, you can dose the newly mixed water to get everything up to proper levels.. but why? The whole point of a water change is to replenish the lost minerals in the water.. not remove them.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2251/2264469800_473621d5b2.jpg

[Grins]

I'm not ready to suggest that people never use RC but some of the locals here have had similiar experiences. Half of them use a blended mix like I do, and the other half use IO and then add their minerals with reactors and drips.

[Catpicklesdog]

I'll chuck the argument for Reef Crystals in:grinyes:

I usually do a 20% water change every other Saturday, but the last change I did 2 days early, on the Thursday whilst re-scaping the rockwork. Saturday (just gone) morning I tested my water and my CA levels were down to 420 - mine are usually above 500 but since I've added some more hard corals I've noticed the levles dropping to 480.

So I did my usual water change.

This thread just reminded me to re-test my water. I just did. My CA is back up to 480. I'm sticking to Reef Crystals.:grinyes:

[Fishieness]

i used to use only reef crystals. But i got a bad batch once where only a 10% water change turned my tank into have .3 phosphates.... no, not .03.... point-three... not good at all... you can imagine how my sps reacted...
never again.