I buy my salt water from LFS and they use InstantOcean. Any one using real sea water? I've read articles where people say if you can get it, use it. I'd be apprehensive because of pollution. I wonder if you go out if pollution is less. The farthest I've taken our boat out is 100 miles. I wonder how clean that water would be!
I use mosly IO, but many times have to use what I can get. Personally I've never seen too much of a difference in any of my tanks performances. I swiched to natural sea water years ago, it is more expensive, but makes up for it with the ease of use and consistency. The water I get is local too, so I've got to represent my localism. :joke:
I've tested my calcium level on a new batch of water using IO. Using R/O, heating and mixing with a pump for at least 5 days. I am only getting a reading of 150ppm using a Salifert test kit. That seems way lower than it should be. Anyone else checked their levels and come up that low?
Instant Ocean - low on calcium, PH is very low, alkalinity doesn't hold, that's what i get. Oceanic is very high in calcium, but everything else seems o.k. i don't like neither, going to go look for some other brand. last few water changes i used both at the same time so i could get something in between
Instant Ocean - low on calcium, PH is very low, alkalinity doesn't hold, that's what i get. Oceanic is very high in calcium, but everything else seems o.k. i don't like neither, going to go look for some other brand. last few water changes i used both at the same time so i could get something in between
Thanks. I was kinda wondering if my test kit was accurate. Crap, I got about 6 buckets of the stuff (got a pretty good deal a while back). Maybe not such a good deal after all . Guess that's why my tank calcium is always low.
I've used IO Reef Crystals from the beginning. Never been very low on anything. pH sometimes gets around 8, but everything else is good. Reef Crystals is an expensive salt though. If you do use use it, I recommend storing it at around room temperature and never let it sit for long periods of time. Otherwise some of the agents precipitate and create small white granules that take a while to dissolve even after you put the water in the tank. It hasn't hurt my tank, but it's annoying.
