DIY Salt?

So I cam across a DIY aquarium salt thread. I was sort of browsing around RC and someone had linked to this. I was wondering if anyone had tried this. I would personally be a little nervous doing this with coral, but I figure this might be really inexpensive and since I am going FOWLR I wouldn't have to worry too much about calcium, alk, mag in the sense that if it isn't exactly IO quality, it could still work. So has anyone tried anything like this? Supposedly it is 1/10-1/5 the cost of buying even the bulk 200g boxes of the IO/RC!
http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=233&t=271&p=1259&hilit=salt#p1259

 

"I ran a cost analysis and this works out to about $6.83 for 150 gallons. Can you say MUCHO savings"

THIS is mostly what caught my eye! /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/wink.gif

If anyone hasn't tried this (I don't know if I am quite brave enough yet), is there something other than reef crystals any of you recommend for a FOWLR? Looking for a cheaper alternative since I shouldn't have to worry as much about the high ca/mah/a;g levels in the RC.

 

Is it possible they are sponsored or something? I dunno... seems like it might be easier to just use the RC on a couple thousand gallons versus a couple million? Not sure why they don't just use ocean water TBH. Aren't they all right near the ocean?

 

Does this imply that the reef crystals is actually cheaper? Now I am confused... Also, the one in San Diego is right on the harbor. I assume you were referring to the San Antonio one being an hour away from the ocean?

 

I see...
The reason I was asking to begin with is because I was going FOWLR. For my last few years here in Iowa I will not be keeping corals. I am not sure that fish need these trace elements. The mix I was looking at basically gets the salinity, calcium, magnesium, etc. on par with ocean water. The recipe also has trace elements like iodine and the like but I don't know that I would even want to bother with this. Again, I was thinking of a simple DIY mix for fish only.

 

Well, I don't think food grade would be a problem. I can get NaCL pure food grade without an anti-caking agent. From there I would probably just add CaCl and call it a day. I have read a lot about what to do in theory, but I am not seeing anyone doing anything with it long term. I found a little info on a person that tried it and stopped (for seemingly no reason). Not really sure what to think. I suppose it isn't TOO expensive to just buy the reef crystals, but at 1/10 the cost I just saw it as a potential to save a nice chunk of money is all. If I find any more conclusive info I will be sure to link it.

 

Not sure I am brave enough to do it without much data on it. It is one of those things where, as you said, people DON'T do this for a reason right? Either that or we have all totally bought into the hype of brand name salt mixes! I am sure it is one of the two! I will look into it some more this weekend.