Switching salt

[Phtevenb]

Hello ARC, new member here, looking to move to a new salt from reefgrow one. Its been good to me but looking for a high quality alternative. I keep mostly beginner type corals: mushrooms, hammers, GSP, Kenya tree, small chalice, and an acan. Price isn’t a huge deal because I've only got a BioCube 14 and only do about a 3 gallon water change a week. Any recommendations?

 

[FutureInterest]

Welcome!

Everyone has their own salt preferences. I don't think any of them are bad. Some are more consistent than others though. I personally prefer tropic Marin and also hw Marinemix. They are the only two fully synthetic sales out there I know of made with pharma grade ingredients. I think @ichthyoid knows more about it than I do. So hopefully he can chime in.

 

[ichthyoid]

Agreed. I think BRS does a great job of explaining why they switched to HW Marinemix. I was planning to go with Tropic Marin Pro, at $100.

After watching their video, I realized HW was what I used on my very first tank, many years ago. It’s just as good & costs less. I suspect they may even mix the salt for TM.

Neither brand use clay for anti-clumping, or surfactants to help disperse the salt when mixing.

Bottom line: I want the very best for my corals & those two are it. Below is a link to the video on HW-

Purely Synthetic Salt - HW MarineMix | Product Spotlight

Marinemix has been around for over 50 years. Popular in Europe, they not only manufacture their own salt mixes but are also the actual manufacturer for many popular brands of salt. The hw-Marinemix is a unique aquarium salt because it uses no evaporated or mined salts. It also does not use salt...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[ichthyoid]

Edit: I said ‘surfactants’ above & meant to say ‘chelation additives’ instead.

Also, as @FutureInterest mentioned, the purity of pharmaceutical grade ingredients is unmatched by other brands.

HW is also a reference standard for synthetic seawater, used by research facilities, universities & government. That designation means that it has been tested & found to be close enough to natural seawater, so as to be indistinguishable for research purposes.

 

[Phtevenb]

Thank you for the info, I hadn't come across the HW in my initial research and was nearly settled on RedSea. I still have a few water changes before i need to switch. How is the availability of the HW marinemix reefer? Can i expect it to always be in stock at BRS?

 

[ecoreefguy]

Every salt is fine, it’ll get you there. Difference would be how much extra dosing you would need. But ALMOST check salt levels on a new box/ barrel. Could have been a badly mixed batch.

 

[Phtevenb]

I dont dose, and dont plan on it anytime soon. I have a BC14 and can get most of my levels back up with weekly water changes. So if HW is a good all around without dosing, that sounds about right to me.
Im leaving reefgrow one because I cant find it. My friend got me a 5gal bucket 3 yrs ago and still working through it. But want to start to do introduce new salt to not completely shock my system.

 

[ecoreefguy]

I think changing your salt through water changes slow should be ok. I still would always test batch of every new salt bucket

 

[ichthyoid]

I’m not interested in spending $thousands on equipment & corals, then saving a few bucks on the salt I use to reproduce the oceans. The video above presents a very compelling argument for using either TM or HW salts, imho.
Just my $0.02

 

[civics14]

I use Live Aquaria salt, switched from reef crystals. I had no issues with Reef Crystals other than the residue left over from mixing. Corals and inhabitants were fine.

If you can afford the high end pharmaceutical grade stuff, go for it, but there are plenty of very successful tanks that even uses regular instant ocean salt.

 

[ichthyoid]

I’ve used a bunch of different salt brands, over the years. I agree that they worked, at the time & for the purpose.

Knowing what I know now, sea salt is one of the last things I’m willing to compromise on.

Fwiw, I’ll be selling a new bucket of Live Aquaria, if you’re interested?

 

[FutureInterest]

Brs also did a nice breakdown on how much salt actually costs per gallon. Other than IO they are all about the same and that includes reef crystals.

For the price I can get hwmarinemix... It's cheaper than the rest and closer to io salt pricing so it's a no brainier for me.

 

[ichthyoid]

Good point!

I forgot about that part of their evaluations.

It’s a case of selling price vs actual cost.

Once Ryan & Randy adjusted each the of the different brand’s solutions to the same salinity, that became the great equalizer, in terms of revealing the actual cost.

 

[FutureInterest]

Yah a lot of salts don't actually mix to the gallons they say on the container which is very misleading.

 

[Steve Burton]

Those figures are for regular price, I regularly get IO for under $35 for a box, I figure my price per gallon is under 25 cents

 

[ichthyoid]

The HW is $0.39/gal., actual cost.

Even after I set up the Low Boy frag tank, my monthly salt cost will be ~$25, with 40% volume changes.

 

[FutureInterest]

Those figures are for regular price, I regularly get IO for under $35 for a box, I figure my price per gallon is under 25 cents

Yah all the prices on the BRS video is at retail pricing. The point of it is that at the end of the month if you are using IO versus the highest quality salts out there... You're saving just 5 bucks... The rest of the salts outside of IO are nearly identical in actual cost per gallon. They all go on sale for the most part and I can get them all for 30-35% off. If they're all on sale, the difference in actual cost per gallon would also stay around the same.

 

[Phtevenb]

I am definitely not saying I want to skimp on salt, just looking at quality, with my current setup it could mix at 5 bucks a gallon and its still cheaper than my coffee addiction. . Sounds like a huge consensus on synthetic salts and between HW and Tropic marin. Thanks for the input everyone! Gonna look for some HW.

 

[ZapataInc]

I am definitely not saying I want to skimp on salt, just looking at quality, with my current setup it could mix at 5 bucks a gallon and its still cheaper than my coffee addiction. . Sounds like a huge consensus on synthetic salts and between HW and Tropic marin. Thanks for the input everyone! Gonna look for some HW.

@FutureInterest might have some available

 

[lmm1967]

Don't forget about a local Georgia company that supports the club, has allowed the club to visit their facility AND produces a synthetic salt. Seachem Vibrant Sea mixes quick and clean. I've let it sit in a 65 gallon barrel with no pump for 2 weeks and there was zero sediment.

It's stable and consistent - and again, a local company.

It's also concentrated - it does take less actual salt by weight to mix up to the same salinity from other brands I've used (this is the only synthetic salt I've used BTW). 1kg mixes up to about 31 liters at 1.025

Seachem - Vibrant Sea

www.seachem.com