kitsapdan
Well-known member
what is the best salt to use. Instant ocean, Oceanic natural sea salt, Aquatic gardens, Kent, Red sea salt, Red sea fish pHarm coral reef red sea salt. or what do you use.
what is the best salt
- Thread starter kitsapdan
- Start date
Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:
NC2WA
Well-known member
Hate answer a question with a question, but here you go: Depends on what your definition of "good salt" is. 
However, you may want to read the following articles which sheds some light on this subject:
Go to the "What is the Best Salt" section of this article:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/12/aafeature1
Lots of good graphs to view:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/11/aafeature1
Personally, I use IO as it is readily available for a good price. I know if I use IO that Calcium will have to be supplemented.
Kirk
However, you may want to read the following articles which sheds some light on this subject:
Go to the "What is the Best Salt" section of this article:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/12/aafeature1
Lots of good graphs to view:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/11/aafeature1
Personally, I use IO as it is readily available for a good price. I know if I use IO that Calcium will have to be supplemented.
Kirk
kitsapdan
Well-known member
thank you. at this time I also use IO but i'm not useing calcium supplements. I was looking in to that today, I when to some fish stores and they did not have a calcium test. what test do you use and what supplements would you use. I do not want to change salt( I was told that it would stress out the fish) but I would like the fish and coral to get what they need
jnarowe
Beer-a-holic
Salts change batch to batch so you really can't answer that question definitively. What I do is when it's time to buy, I get a bucket of each salt I am interested in and test it. Once I have determined which one I want, then I buy a bunch. Tropic Marin Pro was considered one of the "best" for quite a while, but recently we have found a batch that was less than desirable.
Edit: Actual Salt tested was the regular blend of Tropic Marin, not the Pro version.
Red Sea Pro is posting some decent numbers, as is OceanPure Pro. Many advanced reef keepers use a blend of more than one salt to get good numbers, and I am a proponent of switching salts occassionally to avoid having my system lacking in any element we don't test for.
There are a lot of good articles about salts as Kirk suggested, and you just have to keep in mind that salts change and not to take article numbers as fact, but as a starting point for your own research.
Edit: Actual Salt tested was the regular blend of Tropic Marin, not the Pro version.
Red Sea Pro is posting some decent numbers, as is OceanPure Pro. Many advanced reef keepers use a blend of more than one salt to get good numbers, and I am a proponent of switching salts occassionally to avoid having my system lacking in any element we don't test for.
There are a lot of good articles about salts as Kirk suggested, and you just have to keep in mind that salts change and not to take article numbers as fact, but as a starting point for your own research.
Last edited:
jnarowe
Beer-a-holic
changing salts will stress the fish? gee, I didn't know that. hmmm...I wonder why you were told that?
Check out the Chemistry Calculator for ideas on how to supplement your salt, and keep in mind that Driveway Heat is the same as Kent Turbo Calcium. I can give you a down-and-dirty class on testing, supplementing etc. I am sure Sherman would help too so you get more than one viewpoint, although we tend to look at salt the same way.
Check out the Chemistry Calculator for ideas on how to supplement your salt, and keep in mind that Driveway Heat is the same as Kent Turbo Calcium. I can give you a down-and-dirty class on testing, supplementing etc. I am sure Sherman would help too so you get more than one viewpoint, although we tend to look at salt the same way.
Krish
RF STAFF
If you go by the polls conducted here on which salt is best/preferred or similar threads , you'll see that the majority prefer Instant Ocean which is all I ever used myself and was happy with.
NC2WA
Well-known member
I use the Elos Calcium Test kit and supplement with Reef Calcium (powder form).
dhnguyen
Pain In The Arse
Oh I don't know Morton's always worked for me
j/k of course
j/k of course
Herefishyfishy
Smart Bass
Ditto that IO in the huge buckets while on sale, is the best for the money. Since it is a bit light on Calcium for corals, I add a bit.,
jnarowe
Beer-a-holic
Correction!
I need to make a correction in the above quoted post. Although I was under the impression we were testing Tropic Marin Pro, it turns out that was not the case. We were in fact testing the regular blend of Tropic Marin. WHile the numbers were OK, they were not up to reef salt standards, hence the mention. But I don't believe there is any reason why that salt should test higher since they make a reef blend for that purpose.
Sorry about that guys!
I need to make a correction in the above quoted post. Although I was under the impression we were testing Tropic Marin Pro, it turns out that was not the case. We were in fact testing the regular blend of Tropic Marin. WHile the numbers were OK, they were not up to reef salt standards, hence the mention. But I don't believe there is any reason why that salt should test higher since they make a reef blend for that purpose.
Sorry about that guys!
