Rainy Day Discussion: Salt!

Instant Ocean, Amazon Prime, 200g box that delivers in 4 large plastic bags that allows me to play Tony Montana real quick before it goes into a bucket.

 

I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals by the 200-Gallon box. I go through several boxes a year. I keep at least 1 extra box on hand always and I try to stock up when Fosters and Smith has a good promotion. Between the free shipping and percentage off or gift card depending on the promotion, the savings add up.

 

I use HW Reefer and get it from BRS, it mixes really quickly and always has very consistent parameters. I buy one box at a time.

 

I started with Tropic Marin. Used it for a short time. No problems, but it was a bit more expensive. I then switched to Reef Crystals and used it for Reef crystals for 10+ years. Never had a problem with it. Yes - it took longer to mix and there was a bit of a residue - but it always worked well in my tank. Bought mostly from DFS.

Last fall I listened to everyone's comments about higher end salt and decided that I would give something else a try. Based on a couple recommendations, I decided on HW Reefer. Got 3 boxes from BRS during their Black Friday sale. A couple months in and I noticed my potassium levels dropping. Luckily I caught the issue quick enough, before it took any toll on my corals. @Barrett - you might want to check my other thread about this issue (After many emails and testing, HW admitted a production issue resulting in only 1/2 the amt of potassium being added to the salt mix).

I've been using an extra box of Reef Crystals I had. Don't know what I will try next.

 

I use Red Sea Coral Pro. I have tried others, started with Tropic Marin Bio Actif, bought it on sale and I liked it but when I went to a bigger tank it was not price effective. Tried some IO my son had but did not care for how it mixed. Did some research and decided to try Red Sea Coral Pro, I like the way it mixes. I buy it by the bucket which makes 175 gal. I pick it up when it goes on sale.

 

Have used IO and reef crystal in the past but have been using Fritz RPM since September. Comparable in price to RC and mixes quick and clear. Usually buy 4-6 boxes at a time (we have ~600 gallons of saltwater).

 

Been getting Reef Crystals at Adams, $58 for a 200g box and they'll usually put it in the truck for me. I like the 4 bags in a box, don't have to roll around a big bucket to make sure it's mixed up. Box will last me a couple months.
I always saw the cheap price @ F & S had but wondered what kind of shape the box would be in when it got here...(hint for feedback)...
I have used some Salinity, kinda pricey but you have a really neat 6 gal bucket with a big screw on lid when your done!

 

HW marine is very appealing to me because it is completely synthetic which eliminates the possibility of contaminants. Before I was going to purchase a box from BRS I had the opportunity to trade some IO for some Red Sea Coral Pro. The Coral Pro is proving to do a pretty darn good job tho. The only difference is that I give the coral pro salt a little more time to dissolve than I did the IO.
I still use the very first container I bought which is a Reef Crystals bucket, because it has an O-ring in the lid. After that bucket I just bought the boxes and dumped the open bags in the bucket to keep moisture out. I'm almost out of the red sea coral pro sample so I think I might just stick with it since BRS sells it and I have a bunch of preferred reefer points built up.

 

@beckerj3 i read through that thread and will get a potassium test kit and test it, I don't have many corals in my tank just yet since it is only 6months old so haven't had a real reason to test potassium yet. All other parameters are very consistent from box to box and I never have any residue in my mixing buckets.

 

Red Sea (non-pro). I go back and forth between ordering through BRS and Amazon Prime depending on price. I always to try stay at NSW levels and this seems to be one of the more affordable salts aimed at that purpose (I've used Salinity and Reefer's Best previously and actually prefer Red Sea).

 

Thanks for the comeback Bud

 

if you think about it, when a coral or fish gets bought/traded and put into a different system a lot of the time a different salt is being used by the separate systems and the animal does ok. When I switched from IO to red sea ive only noticed improvements so far. Of course the water gets changed 5 gallons at a time so it will take a while for the salt to completely convert over to the red sea parameters.

 

Over the years for a various systems I have tried TMP, IO, reef crystals, ESV, red sea, aquaforrest, hw marine... And probably a few more I am forgetting.

I have never seen any difference in the systems using one over the other. World class tanks are kept with all of them. It kinda makes me feel better to spend more $$ on salt like I am doing something good for the system, but have never noticed any changes. Some do mix faster, or have residue but it doesn't matter.

Now for automatic water change systems you don't want something with ultra high levels like coral pro because over time the reservoir can precipitate out and you don't want organics (RC, TMP bio) because those will degrade over time in the container.

I now just pick whatever salt mix has levels closest to what I am running in my tank and is the cheapest at those levels. I no longer have an awc, but IO is great for those where the water will sit a few weeks or more.

 

200 gallon box Coralife Salt, $31.99 free shipping at DFS now. I used about 6-10 different brands of salt from , HW marine , Tunze, Red Sea Coral Pro, Reef Crystals, Kent , ESV ect. This fits the bill for me, I can't tell the difference, my fish and corals don't seem to either.