austinmullis Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I use instant oceon because its cheap, and as of now, I don't have corals yet so i dont need any fancy salt with trace elements. However, i commonly find its dirty, doesnt store well, and makes the water murky for a while. However after doing a 20% water change, my whole tank is very cloudy. I figured it was the usual stirring everything up, but after a while i noticed the cloudiness hasn't gone away. Anybody else having problems with IO? Quote Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Yeah it’s worth it. Plenty of people on SPS pages use it with tons of success. I like fritz because it mixes clean in 2 minutes- no precipitate in the bucket, and always reliable salinity. Quote Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I’ve used oceanic for years. I’ve tried tons of other salts. Some, better than others. I certainly like ESV or Tropic Marin salts more than oceanic. Just not enough to justify switching. Between price, and ease of use, oceanic wins every time. Going back many years, most ran instant ocean salt. It was pretty much the only one commonly available. Plenty of successful tanks run with IO. If you can get by with it, why switch? Save where you can to spend where you normally can’t. 3 Quote Link to comment
Sancho Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 What temp are you mixing it at? How long? 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 IO is fine and its cheap. If the parameters match what you want, there's no reason to spend more. But from your description, it sounds like it's not mixing properly. It should mix up clear, at least after an hour or two. Could be mixing in cold water, not mixing long enough, not mixing up the salt itself (sometimes it settles), or it could just be a bad batch. 2 Quote Link to comment
Gourami Swami Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I have been using IO and have no notable problems; have been getting good growth with softies lps and sps. I mix mine in a bucket with a pump and heater, and it mixes completely clear. I do usually run the pump about 30 minutes, perhaps its clear before that, I don't really check 1 Quote Link to comment
austinmullis Posted January 5, 2019 Author Share Posted January 5, 2019 It might just be a bad batch. I made sure none of it settled, and it wasn't cold when i started. It also had plenty of time to mix. Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I used IO in the past. The down side I found was -It took much longer to mix clear than others( best mixed when water was already at a certain temp, clear after 4 hrs. Bag use to state 24hrs for mixing. - hardened really easily, even when stored properly - very low params for me Otherwise there was no other issues with it. I simply prefer Red Sea Blue bucket Quote Link to comment
FISHnChix Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I am switching back to reef crystals from Red Sea.. I like it better .. weird that your tank would turn cloudy though 1 Quote Link to comment
NuisanceAlgaeCultivator Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Ive used IO reef crystals the past year and get the same cloudiness for a few hours. Fish and my few corals seem to be growing just fine though. To combat the cloudiness all I do is make a batch in a dedicated new water bucket and store it for the next water change, instead of mixing the exact day I’m using it. Quote Link to comment
Nidilsky Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 I have used IORC with great success. And found it extremely consistent, as far as parameters go. I did invest in an air tight container to store it in as it is more prone to hardening than others I've used. 1 Quote Link to comment
Chris's Fishes Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 No problems here with Reef Crystals. My parameters even run a bit on the high side, usually. Check the date on the packaging before you buy, though. There's not a large amount of saltwater hobbyists around here, so salt tends to sit a long time in stores. I've bought a few packages that were old and ended up just being a solid block, and when busted up, it didn't mix all the way. If you get a good batch, though, it's soft and fluffy and mixes for me in about 5 minutes. 1 Quote Link to comment
austinmullis Posted January 6, 2019 Author Share Posted January 6, 2019 Yeah, same for me about it setting. My local-ish petsmart always only has 1 bag thats been sitting there for ages. Another question, im starting to put it into buckets to get it to last longer. The air already in the empty space in the bucket, will it cause problems? If so, how would i remove the air in the bucket? Or is it fine as long as i keep the lid on? Quote Link to comment
Chris's Fishes Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 The air should be fine, as long as it's not extremely humid or anything. Even the buckets that IO sells just have a basic gasket around the top to keep moisture out - I just make sure my hands are dry whenever I'm getting into the bucket, and I've not had any problems. The very bottom layer of salt will get a bit compacted, but it mixes fine, and it's usually just the last pound or so. Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 On 1/5/2019 at 4:01 PM, austinmullis said: I use instant oceon because its cheap, and as of now, I don't have corals yet so i dont need any fancy salt with trace elements. However, i commonly find its dirty, doesnt store well, and makes the water murky for a while. However after doing a 20% water change, my whole tank is very cloudy. I figured it was the usual stirring everything up, but after a while i noticed the cloudiness hasn't gone away. Anybody else having problems with IO? That's not normal. I've used only IO and Reef Crystals (basically, IO with more minerals) and neither one takes more than 5 minutes to mix, even by when mixing by hand. I even made some videos to show how I did it in case there's something different you're doing that might cause the issues you're seeing: 4:56 Mixing saltwater, post-electrification! 418 views5 years ago 5:07 Mixing saltwater, Neanderthal-style! 472 views5 years ago (Mixing with pumps in other positions is not as good....mixing with a paddle is my favorite. I had lots of chances to test mixing methods when I was doing a water change a day....I think it was over one hundred water changes....by the time I had these processes refined, I could do the whole 5 gallon water change in <10 minutes, including getting everything out and cleaning up. Setting up and putting away a mixing paddle is lots faster than fiddling with a pump, BTW.) If any of that looks different from what you're doing, you might just be doing it wrong....try this way. But if that looks pretty similar to what you're doing, then I'd say you have a bad batch. Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 I mix 50% IO and 50% RC to get the parameters I want. I mix in a 5 gallon bucket with heater and pump. I move the pump around after an hour to stir what may have settled in dead spots. 30 more mins and it is usually ready to go but I often let it mix for longer. Quote Link to comment
FISHnChix Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 36 minutes ago, ninjamyst said: I mix 50% IO and 50% RC to get the parameters I want. I mix in a 5 gallon bucket with heater and pump. I move the pump around after an hour to stir what may have settled in dead spots. 30 more mins and it is usually ready to go but I often let it mix for longer. I was thinking about this to lower the alk.. what does your mixture mix out to ca/alk/mag??? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 7 minutes ago, Weikel said: I was thinking about this to lower the alk.. what does your mixture mix out to ca/alk/mag??? You get high alk with rc? I always had very low mag. Fluctuations between 1050-1160. Quote Link to comment
FISHnChix Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 1 hour ago, Clown79 said: You get high alk with rc? I always had very low mag. Fluctuations between 1050-1160. Yea it was usually about 10dkh.. I think they even claim it’s supposed to be like 13.. yea I can’t remeber what the mag was seems like all salt has low mag.. I might try some of that fritz I have heard good things about it Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 1 hour ago, Weikel said: I was thinking about this to lower the alk.. what does your mixture mix out to ca/alk/mag??? Last i checked this mixture was over a year ago and I think it was about 7.5 alk. But it probably depends on the batch... Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 1 hour ago, Weikel said: Yea it was usually about 10dkh.. I think they even claim it’s supposed to be like 13.. yea I can’t remeber what the mag was seems like all salt has low mag.. I might try some of that fritz I have heard good things about it I can't remember 100% what my alk was but it wasn't 10. I believe it was between 8.5-9 Ca was 430 I just remember constantly battling my mag with RC. It's been great since switching salts. Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 14 minutes ago, Clown79 said: I can't remember 100% what my alk was but it wasn't 10. I believe it was between 8.5-9 Ca was 430 I just remember constantly battling my mag with RC. It's been great since switching salts. I never measure mag...maybe i should....lol Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 7 minutes ago, ninjamyst said: I never measure mag...maybe i should....lol I don't often anymore since it's now normal but at the time I did because it was so low and consistently low Quote Link to comment
FISHnChix Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 25 minutes ago, Clown79 said: I can't remember 100% what my alk was but it wasn't 10. I believe it was between 8.5-9 Ca was 430 I just remember constantly battling my mag with RC. It's been great since switching salts. Ha ya mag is weird. I never had big problems with rc but in my new reefer it's been a son of a... I switched to red sea blue bucket and hate it.. and it's not just the one bucket i bought like 6 of them when dr fosters had that crazy sale... Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 15 minutes ago, Weikel said: Ha ya mag is weird. I never had big problems with rc but in my new reefer it's been a son of a... I switched to red sea blue bucket and hate it.. and it's not just the one bucket i bought like 6 of them when dr fosters had that crazy sale... Really? What issues have you had. So funny how we all have different experiences with salts. Quote Link to comment
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