IO Reef Crystals now with more Ca and ?

[Gordonious]

Did anyone else notice that with the new packaging there is also now more calcium?

I was wondering if other people using it had tested everything to see how it compaires with more expensive salts?

 

[boatswainmate]

i just did my first water chainge with it and it sems that all my corals and fish seem to be happer with that then the other stuff i was using the corals colour is a bit better and they seem to be opening a bit more .. not to mention is mixed better than the other product i was using

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I believe it's just a packaging change. It's always been advertised as having "more" calcium, but they're just referring to more than IO. And that's kinda debatable.

 

[Boomer]

As Kurt has said RC has always had more Ca++, which was the reason behind it IO is usually ~ 350-360 and RC ~ 410-420 but at times RC has been shown to be lower than that.

 

[Gordonious]

Actually after posting this thread I stopped using IOs Reef Crystals completely. Reason being is I found exactly what Boomer mentioned. One batch of Reef Crystlas with ~420 Ca and the next with 350!

Not only did the one batch have 350, but after doing a water change EVERYthing in my mixed reef looked like crap and started to close up. Too many factors to pin point it for 100% surety on the salt, but it made me look at it again. The main reason I switched off is because if Ca has such variance from batch to batch I'm worried about the other elements including Iodine which if it swings too much could have a strong negative impact on my corals.

I've switched to Tropic Marin Pro and love it, however now examining Brightwell’s salt as well.