instant ocean or reef crystals?

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by Myka

I used to feel the same way as Darryl and Tony about Instant Ocean, but having made the change back and forth between IO and H2Ocean 4 times I've noticed a significant change in my reef tanks each time. I won't use IO on my reefs anymore, I've decided IO is for FO tanks only. I haven't used RC on my reefs in many years, but every once in awhile I use it on my FO tanks when I can't get IO. Besides, H2Ocean is natural sea salt - there has to be a difference using natural sea salt as opposed to synthetic sea salt...there has to be.

+1. I started using H2Ocean because I was doing 100% water changes on a 5 gallon pico every week and I needed something that mixed clear within the first couple of hours. It was a bonus that the corals never seemed to be too upset with it either. Now it's all I use on my big tank, which is a bummer because it's ridiculously expensive, and I find that per weight, you need more of it to reach the right salinity compared to other brands. I was thinking of changing, buuuuut:

I'm using IO on my QT tanks for the tank transfer method because it's the cheapest there is, and I picked up a couple buckets on a SWEET boxing day deal at Big Al's. Because I'm only using 15 gallon tanks, and they're right next to a sink, I'm filling the tanks and mixing the salt in them directly (not mixing it in a bucket and transferring it). Even within one bucket of IO, the mix is so inconsistent. I always get to the right salinity with the expected volume of salt, but one one transfer, it will mix relatively clear and be totally clear in an hour, but the next mix, a thick, white film will deposit on every surface of the tank, with a white film floating on the surface. Then the next transfer it will be half way between the first and the second in terms of precipitate and cloudiness. I've only done 4 transfers total at this point, but I also mix the H2Ocean directly in the water change chamber of my sump, and I've never once had an issue with the mix leaving weird residues in my tank.

Plus the fact that my tank is really hitting it's stride and starting to look like I always wanted it to... I would just love it if H2Ocean wasn't nearly 100 bucks a bucket