I'm here to "shake the wagon" a bit LOL!
I started with
IO simply because that's what both LFS carried at the time and I could pick it up just about anywhere. I started dabbling in coral and my
IO was consistently low in
cal so I moved up to
"Reef Crystals". I did (
at least I thought so anyway) notice a new "
perkiness" to my coral for about 6 months. Then I started noticing pouting, wilting and in some cases "melting" of my coral. I started testing and realized that my tank was WAY out of whack chemically speaking. I can't remember (
it was 2007 or 2008 or somewhere in there) the exact year but I tested my salt mix and it was way out of whack. I immediately went and bought a new bucket and it tested out of whack. This is all in my 90g, my 10g, my 12g and a 6g tank. Across the board I was screwed! Finally deducted it was a problem with salt mix and through a LOT of email, tons of phone calls and sending several samples to the "Chem Lab" they admited they had a problem. After many water changes I was able to get everything back in order. That was it for Reef Crystals. Come to find out they had a bad batch get out the door and yours truly was a double recipient of it. In the end they made things right by sending me test kits, supplements, and plenty of salt but I ended up switching to
Tropic Marin PRO Reef salt. As soon as I started using this salt I had increased polyp extension and a dramatic new "look" to my coral. About 6 weeks in I started getting one heck of a nasty algae outbreak. It was growing up the back wall like KUDZU and covering everything in the tank. At one point I thought I saw my yellow Hawaiian tang growing algae LOL! I battled it for a few months then someone sent me a PM stating, "
Didn't I see you switched to TMPRO salt a few months back. Was the switch before or after the algae outbreak?" DING DING! We have a winner! he went on to say that he and several other local members to his reef club had experienced the same thing but could never prove it.
So I switched salts AGAIN! This time I went to
SeaChem Reef Salt. I've been there a couple of years now and like it pretty good. The only drawback is that none of my LFS carry it and it just seems to take too long to get them to order it in. I have about 1/5 a bucket left and don't plan to stay with it. Both of my LFS carry the new Red Sea Coral Pro Salt and that's what I'm changing over to probably in the next few weeks. Check out this link re:
Red Seal Coral PRO salt
Red Sea Wins Best Salt Award for Coral Pro
Now keep in mind I don't DOSE, don't have any reactors and I rely on my weekly water changes to maintain proper levels in my tanks. I keep tanks stocked from softies to LPS and SPS all without dosing a single element. I find it's easier and in the long run cheaper to buy a salt mix that more closely matches my needs rather than testing and dosing. It's just what works best for me and how I like to keep a reef.
One thing I've learned over the years that works for me when mixing my salt is that I mix the salt into the water at room temperature rather than heating the water before mixing. This gives me a seemingly better mixture and results in significantly less "residue" left in the mixing container.
As stated many times already Salt Mix is a personal choice. You just need to figure out what works best for you, your tank and your husbandry skills. Good luck and Happy Reefing
