I always struggle with this. I run the trident and it may say 1390 but aquaforest test says 1450 and red sea says 1500. I am always leary about adding when trident says below 1400.Thanks, Dong. As you know, on your advice after major calcification problems, I switched from red sea coral pro to instant ocean. I have mostly anecdotal experience but it is similar. I have had to dose more trace elements to keep them up but that may be because of general coral growth. The only unambiguous change is magnesium. With rcp I never dosed magnesium and always had +1400ppm Triton reports. With IO my magnesium dropped to low 1200s and I need to dose quite alot (20ml/day of BRS mix wasn't enough and I'm now dosing 60). It's not a big deal and I still save massively. My corals improved enormously but I don't think that has anything to do with the salt. If you have the same basic chemical parameters, it's hard for me to imagine what in the salt would lead to better or worse performance.
By the way, I find testing magnesium very difficult. Using salifert I got 1400 on the same water I sent to Triton which reported 1273. Does anyone have advice on testing magnesium?
Magnesium at 1273 is no difference at 1400, as magnesium test kit has about 10% error, so these two numbers basically the same.Thanks, Dong. As you know, on your advice after major calcification problems, I switched from red sea coral pro to instant ocean. I have mostly anecdotal experience but it is similar. I have had to dose more trace elements to keep them up but that may be because of general coral growth. The only unambiguous change is magnesium. With rcp I never dosed magnesium and always had +1400ppm Triton reports. With IO my magnesium dropped to low 1200s and I need to dose quite alot (20ml/day of BRS mix wasn't enough and I'm now dosing 60). It's not a big deal and I still save massively. My corals improved enormously but I don't think that has anything to do with the salt. If you have the same basic chemical parameters, it's hard for me to imagine what in the salt would lead to better or worse performance.
By the way, I find testing magnesium very difficult. Using salifert I got 1400 on the same water I sent to Triton which reported 1273. Does anyone have advice on testing
Magnesium level is not that critical as it is a catalyst for coral calcification. The proteins for calcification latches on magnesium and change its shape then calcification happens, after the calcium carbonate is deposited, the proteins will release the magnesium back in the water. But about 1 to 5% of magnesium will trapped or deposited as magnesium carbonate in coral skeleton. So the lost of magnesium in the water happens. As long as magnesium is sufficient in water (say over 1100 or 1200 ppm), there is not much difference.I always struggle with this. I run the trident and it may say 1390 but aquaforest test says 1450 and red sea says 1500. I am always leary about adding when trident says below 1400.
Yes you can use any major brands of salt with All-for-Reef.So I'm I just wasting my money? I use All-For-Reef along side with tropic Marin pro salt. I wonder if I should change salt and just continuing using All-For-Reef with instant ocean?
Just like car batteries Dong, 59 variations, 2 factories!One interesting thing after some digging around online, I was surprised by some information on salt manufacturers. Normally I would assume a major salt manufacturer would have their own shiny factories that produce high quality products exclusively. But it seems not always the case. That is all I want to say.