is this normal for a batch of Instant Ocean?

[mattseattle]

Ok I just bought my first bag of Instant Ocean. Before this I bought Seattle Aquarium water.

I mixed up the salt & water this morning about 8:00 a.m. so it's been mixing since then. I just did some tests on it to see what the levels would be. Here are the results:

pH - 8.3
Alk - 10.6 / 3.77
Calc - 300
Magnesium - 900
SG - 1.024

Does this look right for a 'good' batch of Instant Ocean? are Calcium and Magnesium usually this low in a batch?

 

[Macbeth417]

That looks fine, though most people say their IO calc comes out closer to 350... What test did you use.

-Erik

 

[mattseattle]

i used salifert test kits on all the tests except pH.

ok, i'll go ahead and use this batch then. i'll just adjust the mag and calc once i do the water change.

thanks for the information.

 

[Macbeth417]

If your really worried you can read the 17 pages of posting about the elusive bad batch of IO on reef central, but chances are you are just fine.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=248196&perpage=25&highlight=bad%20batch%20io&pagenumber=1

I would however suggest letting it mix/aerate for at least 24 hours before adding it to the tank.

-Erik

 

[mattseattle]

yeah i read that earlier today as i was doing research on 'normal' parameters for instant ocean.

it's been aerating for almost 12 hours now and i just did an alk test and it's the same as earlier.

*crossing fingers*

 

[Katchupoy]

Hi Matt,

I was told that, that is normal if you are using RO/DI water... And I believe that you just purchased one recently? anyway... The DI strip all those stuff from the water including calcium in the water.... That explains....

 

[mattseattle]

hmmmm, that's weird. i thought Instant Ocean put everything back into the water that you needed. So what you are saying is Instant Ocean is somewhat dependent on stuff that should be in the water like existing calcium, etc. to get up to normal levels.

and yeah i purchased a used RO/DI unit a few days ago.

 

[Doug1]

Well theres always Reef Crystals for more money, but since a reef typically eats up calcium faster than even water changes will keep up, dont sweat it. Do a 2 part or kalk and water changes and enjoy

 

[mattseattle]

well it wasn't the calcium that was semi-concerning me, it was the magnesium levels. i thought that it would be higher than 900 like more in the 1200 - 1300 range which i thought was what you needed in order to keep calc and alk in balance and all.