Kent Marine Reef Crystals  11/22/07 Hello Crew, I discovered something interesting about the reef crystals mix. I started using Reef crystals a while back when my LFS stopped selling Tropic Marin. At that point my tank was perfect, no phosphate or alege of any kind in the tank and the coralline algae was beautiful. So with reef crystals easy to obtain and with its good track record I started using it. Well I can tell you within six months of use I lost all of the coralline algae and developed Cyano algae and diatoms which were never there before. I also lost 6 coral that cost me about 700 bucks. I have not changed any of my good habits either, my levels are ph 8.2, Alk 3.5, nitrate 5ppm cal 400ppm and the tank has been up and running 5 years. I also have been using Rowaphos for a long time which kept the phosphate undetectable. I do use a RO/DI unit and I check the levels on the output water constantly which show no phosphate or nitrate of any kind. Then I got the idea of checking the water that I mixed the reef crystals and wham, there was a level of .25ppm phosphate!!! So I figured I'd clean out the plastic can that the water was in and start making fresh RO/DI for the next water change. I added the salt like usual and waited a day and lo and behold the phosphate level was still .25ppm! I do realize that there may have been other factors in the coral and coralline algae loss but I am convinced that it was this salt because all the problems started when I used it. I never had a problem like this before with Tropic Marin. I have sense ordered a new bucket of Tropic Marin and hopefully the salt was the issue because I am stumped. So in essence I wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem with the Reef Crystals? Sincerely, James Stephen <Have heard some input here... Our accumulated comments re: http://wetwebmedia.com/synthsaltmixes.htm and some of the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Kent Water & T82-LoSi I am trying to duplicate some experiments that were conducted at the University of Washington and published on the web. <Okay> The main solution that was used was 70% Kent Water and 30% T82-LoSi (low silicate) media/solution for the purpose of making artificial freshwater. <Okay...> The web search turns up nothing, except for Kent Marine which supplies Kent this & that. Do have any information or any suggestions where I may go to find out more about those components. Note, the University must have lost the expertise because they tried and cannot help. <Are you inquiring as to the make-up of the Kent synthetic salt mix itself? I would contact them re... http://kentmarine.com/ maybe ask for a copy of their MSDS sheet re. Bob Fenner> Thanks, Dave Fashenpour Sea Salts Hi again Bob; Just a real quick question about sea salt. I know you have made several points about using inferior sea salts. I just want to know your opinion of Reef Crystals and Kent sea salts. I currently use the Reef Crystals but have an opportunity to buy Kent salt at a substantial savings. Are they on the good list or the bad list. <Both on a "good" list. Reef Crystals a bit better IMO. Bob Fenner> Thank you. Your reefing buddy, Rick Johnston