seachem and reef crystals

[dadonoflaw]

i recently got some reef crystals after i saw the posting. i noticed the higher cal and mag in seachem and had a few questions. with calcium that high should i be worried about precipitation? i want something with higher levels out of the bag so if thats not a problem i may try seachem.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Elevated calcium won't likely cause precipitation unless it gets higher than 550 ppm or so.

[dadonoflaw]

then seachem sounds like a viable option and it would be great not to worry as much about those levels. so people generally have good results w/ seachem salt. just trying to get some feedback

[dadonoflaw]

so if i were to use oceanic salt some of it would precipitate out correct?

[bertoni]

It might, depending on a lot of factors. People who use Oceanic often have very high calcium levels.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

so if i were to use oceanic salt some of it would precipitate out correct?

I didn't say that. It depends entirely on the pH and the alkalinity.

This article has more:

Calcium and Alkalinity Balance Issues
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

note especially the section on the solubility of calcium carbonate and the relative pH, alkalinity and calcium vales that lead to different supersaturation values.

[dadonoflaw]

ok let me ask this to make sure i understood correctly. with the oceanic mix with the lower alk and high magnesium allow the higher calcium level and it would help to keep the alk level around 9-9.5 dkh to make it less likely to precipitate in the water?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The high magnesium will help prevent precipitation, yes.

In general, I do not like the philosophy that Oceanic takes with respect to salt mixes (making decisions to alter many things in the mix, not just what they tell you) because they think they know better than mother nature.

[Billybeau1]

If you look at the recent salt poll, you will see a very small percentage of reefers use Oceanic.

That said, those that use it and have very high calcium demands just supplement alk and are good to go.

Since Oceanic is the most unbalanced salt I've tested, I don't recommend it for the average reefer.

[osprey77]

i use seachem and really have liked the changes since changing from oceanic.