Favorite Salt mix?

[rickrutland]

Hi

Can I get thoughts on favorite/most economical salt mix?

Does anyone ever do group orders, or obtain locally?

Thanks


Rick

[swiatrek]

It depends on what you want in your tank, if just fish, instant ocean is the most economical, however if you want coral it doesnt have the substrates you want. I stopped mixing all together and just buy the pre-mixed reef water from the fish store. Little more expensive but a lot easier when doing quick water changes.

[Pennies2Cents]

Hi Rick,

Welcome to MAAST. :)

There have been a few threads started for Group Orders and their prices for salt.

Gabe's at one point was willing to do a group order at a very good price. You may want to contact him as he is local and I am sure he can give you a good deal on whichever type of salt your looking for! :)

[corydrysdale]

Ive tried Instant Ocean, Red Sea and Coral life so far. Only thing ive noticed is that it takes a little more of one or a little less of the other to make the salinity i want 1.023

I make 40 gallons of RO/DI water and usually half to add 16 cups of Red Sea to get to that salinity. With Coral Life, took almost 20 cups. Instand Ocean was in between, but then since i have lots of corals, i dosed tons of additives between water changes.

Right now im using Red Sea coral pro for R0/DI water and it seems to work good and im using about 16 cups again.

[Europhyllia]

I started with Instant Ocean and then switched it Oceanic. I liked how easily it dissolved but the precipitation was just too much.
Then I read up on ingredients and that made me switch back to IO - this time their Reef Crystals product.
Lately I've become more interested in breeding stuff and based on that my new choice will be Tropic Marin. I need to see when my husband can get off work a little early to go over to Gabe's and pick me some up while he's in town.

[los.tejanos83]

I also use Tropic Marin because it dissolves nicely and its pharmaceutical grade, which i hope makes for healthy corals. I've never calculated how many cups how many cups are used when making a large qty of water (40 gl), but it seems we use less salt mix than when using something other than TM.

[ReefCube]

buy a good salt =use less additives

buy a cheap salt=use more additives

I would buy a more expensive salt and keep up with water changes. This is what I do. It just depends on what you plan to do reef fish only both and how much coral? If you are just starting out with basic corals you can use anything

[ErikH]

meh, so much occurs in closed systems I would be hard pressed to base any of it on salt. I use whatever I can get the cheapest usually. Although I like Reef Crystals because it has a cool name. :)

Welcome to MAAST!

[corruption]

Erik, I'd agree with you to some extent, with one exception -- a well formulated salt from the ground up... Doing your 5-10% water change weekly, you're going to be changing somewhere in the region of 25-50% of your water out monthly.. if your salt mix is enough to re-balance the water, you won't need supplementation because its taken care of.... This all goes out the window as soon as you start getting extremely element-demanding corals in place, of course. :)

My personal choice is Tropic Marin -- I've tried Kent, Coralife, Instant Ocean/Reef Crystals, Oceanic, Seachem (not Salinity, their previous reef salt), and Tropic Marin Pro Reef blows them all away. I'm happy to spend a few extra bucks for comfort that those in my care are getting the best.

I've heard nothing but good about H2Ocean, Tunze's salt, and Brightwell's NeoMarine (outside of their somewhat misleading marketing -- but who doesn't do that?) -- and really, no salt mix is so terrible your fish are going to just die off... its all a matter of what you keep and how demanding it is.

-Corruption

[kkiel02]

I've used many mixes. Tried to see how everything would react. Red sea coral pro has my vote right now. I was a little disappointed in the amount it actually took with reef crystals to obtain 1.026. I use 2.5cups for each 5 gallon bucket I put in my mixer with the coral pro. These last couple months a couple new mixes have reached the market that I have not yet tried.

[SmokeEater]

Tropic Marin by far has my vote. When I switched to it, my livestock looked healthier and all my parameters stabilized. I used to swear by Oceanic and would use it if needed.

[allan]

I'm glad this came up because I've never really given it much thought. I'll try the tropic marin next.

I love the measuring thing. four cups, 16 cups... I do a four second pour, mix and measure salinity. If I go over... been known to happen... I add more RODI to the mix. I guess I should just buy a measuring cup. :-)

[Bill S]

I've used just about all of them, over the years.

I'm now a Reef Crystals fan. Decent salt, good price.

[4fun]

this is a very informative thread. i have only been here a while and i've only used IO in the past and now i'm using reef crystals. and its all based on price and that i'm not sure what to do.

As they say what works for some may not work for others

[ACE]

I have used IO, Oceanic, and Coral Sea Pro. I now use Tropic Marin Pro. Coral Sea never mixed up completely, always something left in the bottom of the container. Tropic Marin mixes quick and is crystal clear. Corals seem to be happier as well. Gabes has the best deals on salt.

[corruption]

Us Tropic Marin fans should get together and do a group buy from Gabe at some point! I'd be in for a couple buckets worth, just to stock up..

-Corruption

[Europhyllia]

Us Tropic Marin fans should get together and do a group buy from Gabe at some point! I'd be in for a couple buckets worth, just to stock up..

-Corruption

Check with Gabe, post it and I'll join in that group order :)

[los.tejanos83]

Ditto, my TM bucket getting low.

Angelo

[cowboy572]

Ditto me too, I want to try Tropic Marin Salt also. I am a Red Sea Pro fan, but lately it's been Reef Crystals.

[corruption]

If you're interested in a Tropic Marin Pro Reef group buy, PM me -- since its a high dollar item, we need to gauge interest and commit before we move forward with Gabe -- this isn't exactly a 'high turnover' item, we wouldn't wanna stick him with too much salt :)

PM me if you're interested, and how many buckets you would want... Depending on how many we can get, will determine how much we can get them for.. I'll gladly take the reigns in sorting this together! :)

-Justin

[Big_Pun]

i like reef crystals sps and other coral growth has been great i dont run a skimmer so i just do weekly water changes and this salt has been great,also completly dissolves fast, but im goin to move to britwell as soon as i run out of reef crystals, gabes carrying alot of britwell products, good prices also

[Europhyllia]

Do you think he would do a mix - regular Tropic Marin and Tropic Marin Reef?

[corruption]

I'll find out, Karin... I'm not really certain on that one -- the price break may be on specific type... is there a reason you would prefer the regular vs the pro reef? (just out of curiosity, I'll find out either way :) )

-Justin

[Europhyllia]

I just liked the alk better of the regular Tropic Marin (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714505) but of course alk is easy to adjust up anyway (if needed). I'm on board for the Pro Reef if we get a good deal on it. :)

[corruption]

Should have clarifications on what we can get/for how much -- but it does appear we can do a mix of Tropic Marin standard and Pro Reef... I'll set up a Group buy thread to keep everything organized, and post all the details there... Keep an eye out! :)

-Justin

[los.tejanos83]

Justin,

Per a previous post and/or PM, i use Regular just because it costs less. What advantage do you see Pro Reef over Regular and is it worth the price difference? thanks

Angelo

[corruption]

Higher levels in a better balance for reef life -- less supplementation needed assuming you are keeping up with your water changes... probably won't need supplementation unless you get highly calcium-demanding SPS going.. Both are fantastic salts, and as Karin pointed out, the dkH is higher on the basic... For my money, I'd rather get a well rounded salt and not worry about the dosing. Have a look at the link provided by Karin -- its pretty informative on salt mixes -- all will do the job... I just like the known record of Tropic Marin, and like the overall well-rounded levels out of the bucket on Pro Reef :)

For the record, the only additive I own is kalk. :)

-Corruption

[corruption]

Sorry for the delay guys! Here's the group buy link:

http://www.maast.org/forums/showthread.php?p=716272

-Corruption

[TexasTodd]

Rick, if you already have a good RO/DI system, then look in to these salts. If you don't, by IO and save your money for a RO/DI system, it's more important than the salt mix.

Todd

[corruption]

Bump for a group buy of some of the best salt on the market!

http://www.maast.org/forums/showthread.php?p=716272

We're 3 buckets away from getting the salt for cheaper than any online vendor can offer (shipping included!) :D

-Corruption

[ErikH]

Instant Ocean. :D Just got a bucket from Gabe and everyone made fun of me. :p

[corruption]

Speaking of that, how'd that turkey turn out? :rofl:

-Corruption

[vman181]

Would it be a problem or an issue to mix one cup of Tropic Marin Pro Reef and then one cup Tropic Marin original when mixing. This way you get the “higher level” of the dkH in the basic with the benefit of the “overall well-rounded levels out of the bucket on Pro Reef”?

[corruption]

I don't know that it would be worth the time, but it certainly could be done... I don't know what the end resultant mix would be... The Pro Reef, while having lower dKH readings, is more well-rounded for reef denizens... Its not necessary to hold high peaks of any of the numbers in salt water, as long as they stay in relative balance... my personal choice would be to pick one or the other :)

-Corruption

[Europhyllia]

I don't think it would do any harm to do it that way but I'd be too lazy. Then I might as well just dose some extra kalk or two-part to keep the alk up. Easier than keeping two open buckets around. :)

[vman181]

For me I don’t see it being an issue with time or having two open buckets. I’m already opining one and I am already putting in the time to make it in the first place.

I am more so of looking at one less thing to have to dose. As Allen says “I’m not lazy, I just don’t like doing things”.

[Paul28]

Reef Crystals love it !!!!!!!

[corruption]

vman181: it can be done, and I don't think there would be any harm -- the balance would be different, so you'd wanna check the numbers after you tried it.. but Pro Reef, for my money, comes out of the bucket well balanced enough to negate worrying about dosing. I have kalk, just in case, but don't actively dose anything personally.

-Corruption

[Europhyllia]

I think one thing to remember is that alk and calcium may be used up faster than it's being replaced with water changes -at least in my tank (got clams that think they have to grow new scutes all the time).

[corruption]

That all depends on quantity of water changes, and quantity of calcium-demanding inverts -- a big SPS garden or a lot of fast growing clams will require more than an average mixed reef... I'm able to keep my water pretty balanced from change to change, with weekly 10%'s -- but I also have a smaller body of water to change out than you :)

-Corruption

[kkiel02]

Vman are you having kh issues? How often and how much do you change each week? If it's dropping significantly you might want to just use a kalk reactor. Magnesium, from what I understand helps to balance these two so you might want to test that. Just thought I would give you some options.

[corruption]

kkiel02: I think he was just curious if it would become an even more well-balanced salt when combining the higher dkh of the original with the higher calc/mag levels in the pro reef, not to treat anything specifically... or at least thats how I understood it.


Shameless bump for the Tropic Marin group buy! :D
http://www.maast.org/forums/showthread.php?p=716272

-Corruption