is this salt better...

[Tuna]

http://www.seachem.com/products/prod...eefSalt05.html
says its special for reef tanks, i found it here for a decent price. will this salt be better for my reef? ive been using oceanic and have no problems,but id like my guys to have the best my calciums always high...actually ill check right now. but alk is ok too other than that i only check nitrate. i add kents essential elements about 2x a month usually after a water change

[Woodstock]

I have used both Oceanic and Seachem Reef Salt... I prefer Seachem RS over Oceanic. As always, test the newly made salt water for salnity, temp, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. I always had to add magnesium to Seachem RS and alkalinity to Oceanic....

[Tuna]

i havent found a magnesium test yet and can you buy a magnesium suppliment? i havent seen that either :S ive heard of using epson salts but idk.

[aquaticimports]

Seachem has a complex magnesium test it works well. We use it at the store.Here is one site I found it on http://www.brooklands.co.nz/seachem/reefst.htm

[Woodstock]

I use Salifert's mg test kit and for supplementing I use Randy Holmes Farley's recipe:

Recipe #1, Part 3A
Dissolve Epsom salts (3 cups) and magnesium chloride hexahydrate sold by the Dead Sea Works company (5 cups) in enough purified freshwater to make 1 gallon total volume. There will likely be a precipitate that forms even if you fully dissolve both ingredients separately. That precipitate is calcium sulfate (calcium as an impurity in the magnesium chloride and sulfate from the Epsom salts). It is fine and appropriate to dose the precipitate along with the remainder of the fluid by shaking it up before dosing.
This solution is added much less frequently than the other two parts. Each time you finish adding a gallon of both parts of Recipe #1, add 610 mL (2 ½ cups) of this stock solution. You can add it all at once or over time as you choose, depending on the aquarium's size and set up. Add it to a high flow area, preferably a sump. In a very small aquarium, or one without a sump, I suggest adding it slowly.
The first time it's added, I recommend adding just a small portion and making sure there isn't any problem (such as corals closing up due to stress) before adding the remainder. Make sure corals and other organisms don't get blasted with locally high concentrations of the main ingredients or impurities, or else they may become stressed. This solution contains about 47,000 ppm magnesium, 70,000 ppm sulfate and 86,000 ppm chloride.

OR... you can buy the magnesium supplement online or at your lfs.

[prow]

i thought seachem contains borate which will give you false reading on most alk kits?

[lcstorc]

I've become a recent convert to Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt. It tests out great, but I have never used the salt you refer to so it may be good as well.

[sokimnod]

I've always used Instant Ocean, I've tried many other salts and always end up going back to Instant ocean! I did NOT like that Oceanic salt at all! The Calcium levels were over 700 when I tested my vat! I.O. all the way!

[cheeks69]

I stopped using IO a long time ago, although low in phosphate/nitrate but also low in just about everything else cal/alk/Mag

[prow]

reef crystals for me. made by the same people that make IO. its only a couple bucks more than IO. i get about Ca 380 and alk 2.2 and in my experience is just as consistant from bag to bag as the IO. i only tested phos and nitrates once, a long time ago, but it was undetectable on both.

[aquaticimports]

I personally use Instant Ocean.I have used it for over 10 years.I do not find the low levels to be a problem cause I dose cal/alk/Mag any way.Testing and dosing is the way to go.