Reef Crystals

LPS_Blasto

LPS_Blasto

Member
I just bought a bucket of Reef Crystals last weekend. I am hoping to get opinions on this brand from more experienced users.

I started out using Oceanic. Always had low alk and low pH. Switched to Red Sea Coral Pro. It was okay, but nothing to brag about. I bought the bucket of Reef Crystals because the LFS had a bucket for $55 and they are about 1 mile from my house. So far, I've done a 5g water change on my 50g system. I did notice a white or light gray powder in the bottom of the mixing bucket. Not too happy about that.

Please don't hammer me for bringing up a topic which many of you may have already discussed. I've searched RS and only found a few threads that even mention this brand. I don't visit RC at all, because I hate that site and the superior attitudes that come with it. I'm not a complete newbie. I have had my tank for about 3yrs. I'm just not all that involved in the "reefing scene" locally or on the internet, so I'm a little slow on all the newest info and discussion about stuff like salt.

I switched to Reef Crystals because I read an article that indicated it had the highest alk and mag numbers of the cheaper brands. I've always had low alk numbers and my mag could certainly stand to go up. I hate dosing and would rather just find a salt mix that delivers the correct numbers out of the bucket and then maintain a steady regiment of water changes to maintain those levels. I'm hoping Reef Crystals will deliver. I am pretty anal about changing water weekly. Usually 10% or 12% of the system volume.

Would appreciate any discussion you would care to offer about the salt. :wave:
 
steved13

steved13

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
I have been using Reef Crystals for a while now, it's the premix my LFS uses. Works well for me so far.

I have never seen anyone get "hammered" here at Reef Sanctuary, I'm pretty sure it's not even allowed.

The only thing you might get "hammered" about is worrying about being hammered LOL
 
T

TylerHaworth

Active Member
I use Reef Crystals and have not had any problems with it, I've also tried Instant Ocean and Tropic Marin Regular and Pro... I prefer RC because it has decent starting levels for WAY less cash than the Tropic Marin...

The problem with water changes alone is that it's impossible to make it back to original levels and through time you will have to do an exceptionally high amount of large water changes to get close to original amounts...

For example: if your tank uses a constant (for calculation ease) 40ppm Calcium per week (I'm about 50% SPS and 50% LPS/Soft and use almost twice that amount) and you have 50 gallons of total water with a starting Ca++ level of 420... After one week it drops to 380, and a 10% water change with 420ppm water you would only be back up to 388ppm Calcium. With a 20% water change you would only be up to a level of 396... You can see where I am going with this, and the long term effects only become more severe...

Dosing in a reef tank is almost a necessity for long term success if you choose to stock with many LPS/SPS/Clams... And in actuality, it is far cheaper to set up and maintain a two-part dosing setup than it is to do massive/constant water changes...

This kinda turned into babble but... I hope it makes sense and perhaps provides some insight/help
 
LPS_Blasto

LPS_Blasto

Member
TylerHaworth said:
I use Reef Crystals and have not had any problems with it, I've also tried Instant Ocean and Tropic Marin Regular and Pro... I prefer RC because it has decent starting levels for WAY less cash than the Tropic Marin...

The problem with water changes alone is that it's impossible to make it back to original levels and through time you will have to do an exceptionally high amount of large water changes to get close to original amounts...

For example: if your tank uses a constant (for calculation ease) 40ppm Calcium per week (I'm about 50% SPS and 50% LPS/Soft and use almost twice that amount) and you have 50 gallons of total water with a starting Ca++ level of 420... After one week it drops to 380, and a 10% water change with 420ppm water you would only be back up to 388ppm Calcium. With a 20% water change you would only be up to a level of 396... You can see where I am going with this, and the long term effects only become more severe...

Dosing in a reef tank is almost a necessity for long term success if you choose to stock with many LPS/SPS/Clams... And in actuality, it is far cheaper to set up and maintain a two-part dosing setup than it is to do massive/constant water changes...

This kinda turned into babble but... I hope it makes sense and perhaps provides some insight/help
Click to expand...

That does make sense. Makes perfect sense.

I used to dose B-Ionic. Just got sick of chasing my tail all the time. I always ended up with too high alk and low pH. Some folks told me I had low dissolved o2 in the water, so I bought a test kit for o2. That wasn't the problem. o2 levels have always been 6.5ppm - 7ppm.

Might be time to look into a more sophisticated dosing system. I would really prefer an automatic system. It's probably going to end up being some kind of system with dosing pumps.

I love automation. I realize that as the system gets more complicated, there's more chances for failure. But like anything in life, there's always a trade off. Pros and Cons to every system. The pros for me are the ability to leave it alone for days at a time. I work very long hours and travel 130 miles a day for work. At the end of a long day, I have no energy for water changes or chemistry.

I've just finished making my own auto top-off system using floats and a few relays. I'm kinda proud of it. My daily top-offs, RO storage tank and RO unit are all automated now.

I'm planing to automate (as much as possible) my water changes. I plan to drop a "waste pump" into my sump and run a vinyl hose to the washing machine drain. I'll control it with a few floats and relays to turn it on and off. Then I'll need a "fill er up" pump in my mixing bucket, along with a few more floats and relays. I'm going to put the whole water change system on a 7-day timer that only comes on for 1/2hr , once a week. Thats more than enough time to drain 5g or 6g out of the sump, replace it with new salt water and then refill the mixing bucket with fresh RO.

I need a bigger RO storage tank and a bigger mixing bucket. I found a neat thread that BigAl started a few years back. "Show me your water change stuff" It's given me a few more ideas.

I'm going to begin diverting my RO waste into a 100g tank. I want to put a demand pump (well water pump) on the waste tank and run that over to my washing machine. I figure, I'm paying for all that water. No sense in running RO waste down the drain when it's perfectly fine for washing clothes or watering the grass.

I'm rambling off into DIY land in my own thread about salt. :LOL:
 
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TylerHaworth

Active Member
I have actually been calibrating my dosing setup to match my systems demand here for the past couple days... Nearly have it dialed in!

A couple dosing pumps such as the ones BRS sells and a couple timers from your local hardware store are all you NEED, although I chose not go automated dosing (been manually dosing two-part for a couple months... EXHAUSTING) until I got my Apex Lite system, as I feel the timers are more accurate and consistent than the cheap timers I used for my lighting in the past

Also - you said you had been suffering from low pH - just exactly how low was it?
 
T

TylerHaworth

Active Member
Quick video of my dosing pumps/lines and a lot of random aquarium junk sitting around... It was quite simple to put together. Note: the Aqualifter is not involved in the dosing process, I just needed somewhere to stick the ATO pump =)

 
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TylerHaworth

Active Member
7.8 to 8.0 is really fine as long as it's stable from day to day... Two-Part solutions that use soda ash will actually raise your pH, the solutions that use baking soda will lower it... Mine fluctuates between 8.15 and 8.3 throughout the day (lower at night) using the soda ash solution. I've got a LOT of flow though...
 
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