crushed coral in ro/di water storage tank?

[douggiestyle]

is anyone putting crushed coral in their ro/di water storage tank?
ive read that this can help with having the correct ph, alk and ca after adding salt mix. it is my understanding that not all salt mixes are designed for use with ro/di water and that a majority are relying on minerals in tap water to get the expected results. that tap water has an avg amt of ca (100 ppm) already in it. also the extra ca from crushed coral could come in handy even when using a salt mix designed for ro/di water.

 

[Biggen]

Sorry for the delay in replying.

it is my understanding that not all salt mixes are designed for use with ro/di water and that a majority are relying on minerals in tap water to get the expected results.

I have never heard of this. All of the "good" salt mixes have everything in the mix that a SW tank needs. All major and minor elements as well as minerals in the ocean are found in the salt. To my knowledge, no salt mix relies on anything being in tap water. If anything, you would want to take every thing out of tap water (i.e. RO/DI water) so that you get an accurate amount of minerals and elements.

I don't add CC to my storage water, although I can't see how it would be a bad idea. But I am not so sure that it would increase the ALK amount of the water that much to warrant the idea either.

 

[douggiestyle]

i picked this info up in two places.
kent's discription of their salt mix and red sea's fact sheet in their alk pro test kit.
kent claims that their salt mix is designed for use with ro/di water where as others are not.
red sea claims that low ca readings are normal when using ro/di water. that tap water has an avg ca level of 100 ppm and that you lose that when using ro/di water. and low and behold my ca level was apx 100 ppm off.

red sea recomends using crushed coral in the ro/di storage tank. to make up the difference.

kent recomends using their osmo-prep product when not using kent's salt mix.

it does seem to reason that if you are a salt mix manufacturer you need to make a decision on whether or not to have proper chem bal when using averaged tap water or ro/di.