Best reef salt mix?

[N1Husker]

Oh sorry Kirk, I was just talking to a friend of mine on the phone, his name is Eric, there go the brain cells again. I know that your name is Kirk. They say you lose two things when you get older, one is your memory and I can't remember what the second thing is. Yeah, I'll answer to about anything, from "hey you" to "are you crazy?" Yup, that's me. I use to tell my daughter that she could call me anything, just don't call me late for supper (dinner). So she would call me "late for supper", then giggle. Yeah I figured that I have IO now and haven't had any complaints, so I would try their Reef Crystals.

 

[Darthv247]

Not sure if you got a bad batch, mine produces a weird smell as well. Smells kind of like sulfar, It also takes a good 24hrs to mix/loose the smell

yah i was not impressed. corals didnt seem to like it much either if it wasnt mixed/aerated for at least a few days. i liked the tunze salt when it came out but yah back to IO now for good. most bang for the buck.

 

[Krish]

I've always only used instant ocean even over natural seawater here. It seems to be very consistent which is why I think a lot of people use it. Most polls you see done on salt mixes usually has instant ocean in the top two.


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[mcdonaldjosh7]

Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals. All the way...haha

And yeah, there are two polls on this site...I started the second one on accident xD That earned me the title of 'Dodo' from krish haha

 

[Frankie]

I have found RBS (reefers best salt) to work best for my purposes. Alway spot on when mixed properly and at the correct temp. I was able to do 5% water changes weekly with this salt and all my parameter were perfect for the year i used it. A bit pricey but worth the extra cost for the results i got. Never had to dose anything for lack of with this salt.
I also had great long term results using tmpr (tropic marine pro reef) before changing over. RBS is perfect for those doing carbon dosing.

Frank

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[mcoomer]

I'm a Reef Crystals fan myself and have been very happy with the growth rates of my corals. The fact that it's reasonably priced and widely available makes it a good choice. I think that while it's important to use a quality salt, it's equally important to do regular, consistent water changes to maintain your water chemistry at optimum levels. A bucket of the best salt on the market won't do you a bit of good if you rarely use it.

Mike

 

[BigAl07]

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

 

[Frankie]

Greatpost Al! I may give your salt a try after reading your write up. I am very close to firing up my new build.

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[BigAl07]

Sounds GREAT Frankie! Can't wait to see it come back online.

I was planning to buy some salt this weekend but ended up spending my "Tank $$" on my LED array so it'll be a few weeks. I have enough salt to do 5 more water changes so that's at least 5 weeks give or take

 

[reef rider]

I've used the Brightwell salt for about three years now and have had great results growing and maintaining corals, soft, LPS, and SPS. I've never noticed the sulfur like smell some people have experienced. I mix my salt for 24-48 hours before water changes. I've dosed to raise alkilinity, calcium, and magnesium for a time, and for a time did no dosing at all. Saw no significant difference in coral health and appearance. I do 10%water changes weekly. I think the price is good, compared to paying for what little more some of the other salt mfg. offer. I've read an article about a established large reef tank and this guy was mixing 5 different salt mixes together. Does anyone here have any experience mixing different salts together for their reef tanks?

 

[wsboyette]

Reef Crystals is just fine. A reef salt mix is nothing more than a standard salt mix with some extra trace elements and buffering. Using regular IO mix and using KW and other trace elements amounts to the same thing.

 

[N1Husker]

Thanks everyone. I am new in this, 8 mos. I am starting to use Reef Crystals and always mix 24 to 48 hrs before using. It gets fully dissolved in the water better. I do weekly water changes as well, and test the water 2 to 3 times a week. I switched to the Reef Crystals from the IO regular salt because I don't have any auto dosers, but I am constantly battling calcium levels so I am going to try this. See how it goes. I have went online to check test results and 10 different sites, I get 10 different answers, so I will see how it goes.

 

[wsboyette]

I switched to the Reef Crystals from the IO regular salt because I don't have any auto dosers, but I am constantly battling calcium levels so I am going to try this.

That should help a lot, Reef Crystals has extra calcium in it.

 

[SFEERO]

I use Tropic Marin. Looking at the website/study posted by NC2WA, this salt was rated one of the highest, but has a high copper content. None of the salts studied though were NSW comparable.....but Tropic Marin, Kent Marine, and Instant Ocean (I think that was the third one), all score the highest.

 

[kpiotrowski]

I figure with all the technilogical advancements that whatever major brand reef salt is on sale at the time is probably way better than the best stuff was even just 10 years ago...so its all good. I have had luck finding both kent and instant ocean reef salts, 200g mix for the $45 range on the internet, and that includes shipping. and at that price you can do more water changes which is probably the biggest key even if your calcium isn't 450. allthough i do dose also.

I got a bucket of high end stuff from the lfs once and figured it was going to make me a better caretaker of the reef. mixed it for 3 days and still had flakes in it...and that was with a 1800gph mag drive ( heater and mixer all in one lol). anyway, I had chunky stuff blowing around in my display for another few days on top of that. one could assume the chunky stuff was good stuff...or perhaps even bad? like if it had a high ph and got stuck on your corals and burnt them. Didn't like the way it looked was enough for me.

 

[colin779]

I have been using instant ocean reef crystals for about a year. I've been happy with the results so far, before i was using regular instant ocean. I usually order it with a friend because you can get the box that makes 200 gallons online for like $45 on sale, that deal is usually free shipping if you spend $100 or more.