Ca discovery

[sumpfinfishe]

Hi all :biggrin:

I'm sure there are a few of you that know I have been batteling with minor Ca issues for awhile now. Well I did some testing today and found the source of my problem :eek:

I tested my new bucket of IO and here are the results at a two different salinity readings:
1.023=300ppm Ca
1.025=320ppm Ca

I guess I'm gonna try talking to my LFS to see if that's normal for Ca and if it is, I'm gonna be picking up a pail of Kent salt instead :exclaim:

[Invigor]

i've had that problem too. I have some coralife salt that I'm going to try out to see if there's a dif

[BCWolfen]

I have been using the same bucket of Kent for the 2 months my tank has been running. Now mind you I have no stonies in it that are using Ca, but assume my cleaners are all using some to build their shells and so is my coralline? My Ca has been between 500-520. I was kinda worried about it at first, being too high? But everyone seems happy.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Kent salt used to be made by Instant Ocean, basically it was IO with some additives. Now Kent is made by Oceanic and the formula MAY have changed slightly. This may not have come about yet but about a year ago I was told by Kent that the change was coming quick.
I'm still trying to get a hold of Kent customer service about another question and the sales rep here gave me the phone number of a chemist for Kent so I'll be phoning on Monday, I'll try to find out if Kent is indeed now made by Oceanic or still IO.

Doug

[StirCrazy]

Hi all :biggrin:

I'm sure there are a few of you that know I have been batteling with minor Ca issues for awhile now. Well I did some testing today and found the source of my problem :eek:

I tested my new bucket of IO and here are the results at a two different salinity readings:
1.023=300ppm Ca
1.025=320ppm Ca

I guess I'm gonna try talking to my LFS to see if that's normal for Ca and if it is, I'm gonna be picking up a pail of Kent salt instead :exclaim:

Mix it to 1.027 and see what the reading is. I recal a thread that said ti was designed to be run at 1.027 or something like that. anyways I run my IO at 1.027 and have no problems.

Steve

[sumpfinfishe]

Steve wrote:Mix it to 1.027 and see what the reading is. I recal a thread that said ti was designed to be run at 1.027 or something like that. anyways I run my IO at 1.027 and have no problems.


Well I just looked at my "new" pail with the locking lid and on the printed instructions it say's reccomended specific gravity ranges-1.020-1.024 at 75*F in those exact words.
I have kept my water at 1.023 for 7years and have never experienced any ill effects, I have even had fish spawn at this range. I did test Ca in my previous pail and the Ca readings were much higher at around 410ppm, so maybe this is just a bad batch of salt or as most are saying-IO has much lower levels of Ca.

[Samw]

My calcium for new IO water reads 350 at 1.021. This is about normal for new IO water. My tank is usually around 400+ since I dose Kalk.

[rickjames]

I have also been trying to up my Ca in my tank, but hadn't tested my new IO water. Mixed up some last night at 1.025 and test it today... 330ppm Ca!

This is out of a bucket I bought at J&L about a month ago.

I read a post by Anthony Calfo that IO makes their salt so that it mixes up to the right levels with an average (don't know what it is) amount of Calcium and Carbonate already in the water, and that if you use RO/DI water you are supposed to add a buffer or something to get the levels up. Does anyone do this? I will try to find the thread on reef central that this was posted to.

[rickjames]

Here is the thread I was talking about: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=537999

And what Calfo said:
"yes.. if you use demineralized water, you have taken the bad and the good (mineral hardness) out of it.

Salt mfg's formulate sea salt presuming and average mineral hardness to your water. They have to ride the fence on this one because some folks using their salt have soft or Ro/DI water... while others are on the opposite end of the spectrum (extremely hard water).

Thus... if you are on the soft end... you need to remineralize your fresh water before salting it... else you are handicapping the buffering ability (ALK) of your new saltwater before its even used!

Common seabuffer is all, mate. If you want to get fancy... some companies (Kent is one as I recall) make products for remineralzing RO/DI water "

[Jack]

Kent makes a product called Osmo-prep and it rejuvinates certain minerals taken away by the RO/DI process and will boost Ca, Mg, buffers ect. I use this product along with my salt mix.

Some salt mixes are formulated to mix with de-chlorinated (mineral rich) tap water and some are made for mixing with RO/DI.

[Jack]

Ooops rickjames beat me too it!

[AJ_77]

Measured today's change water: IO mixed to 1.026 = Ca at 420. (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit, fairly new.)

Calgary water is pretty hard to start with, but I'm still a little shocked.

[sumpfinfishe]

Thanks Jack and Rick :biggrin:, and to everyone else who responded. I took my salt in today to the LFS where I bought it and they were happy to replace the pail with a newer mix of IO, as my pail was over a year old even tho it was just opened. I was told by the manager that IO does mix up low, so the info you guy's provided has been a great help.
I plan on testing the new bucket along with a bucket of Kent's salt too, and if the IO is still too low then I guess I will have to buff it or remineralize it and then switch over to Kent :confused:

Thanks :mrgreen:

[BCOrchidGuy]

Just talked to Kent and yes the salt is still being made/blended at IO. At this point they have no change over date if at all.

Doug

[mrcopitr]

Kent makes a product called Osmo-prep and it rejuvinates certain minerals taken away by the RO/DI process and will boost Ca, Mg, buffers ect. I use this product along with my salt mix.

Some salt mixes are formulated to mix with de-chlorinated (mineral rich) tap water and some are made for mixing with RO/DI.

where do you get the osmo prep???

Thanks Marco