I'm curious what everyone uses and why. Ive used IO Reef Crystals and Red Sea Pro. I am thinking about trying out Waterbox Aquariums Reef Salt to try something new and want to let people know what its like. But id like to know what people use and what results they have had. Maybe ill try that salt out.
What salt do you use and why?
- Thread starter Jetty
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Instant Ocean… cheap, effective, and readily available.
Mortons
For my SPS heavy tanks i use HW-Marinemix Reefer. It mixes to the numbers i like and it has been the most consistent of any salt mix I have used. Other tanks get reef crystals because its cheap and pretty reliable
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I also use HW Marinemix Reefer, there were some reports a few months back that people started getting bad batches, I think it was right after everyone moved away from tropic marin due to quality issues there. I have yet to have any trouble myself but there are some reported issues out there.
LiveAquaria salt for me. mixes clear and stay in the parameter that i typically keep my system
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Reef Crystal. I use to use tropic marin but it got super expensive and was unavailable a lot. With the installation of a calcium reactor and 2 part, my parameters will be good even if I use table salt so I switch to whatever is abundant
Reef crystals. Its cheap, and has high alk, calc and mag.
I cant stand the brown crap in it though, once I get my calcium reactor running I might switch to regular IO. Id love to use TM but for the amount of water I go through its simply not worth the cost.
I cant stand the brown crap in it though, once I get my calcium reactor running I might switch to regular IO. Id love to use TM but for the amount of water I go through its simply not worth the cost.
I like Red Sea Blue Bucket myself. Always consistent and corals seem happy.
I just use good ol’ Reef Crystals. It’s cheap and easy to get just about anywhere. I dose All For Reef and sometimes feed with Aquavitro Fuel so I’m not too worried about my water being deficient in anything. Over the years I’ve tried a handful of other salts and I do like some of them more for various reasons but not enough to justify the cost.
Over the last few years I have used Red Sea Pro, Tropic Marin Classic and Pro, and most recently Fritz Pro Reef to reduce my costs. If your corals are happy and the price for the salt you are using is good for you there is no real reason to switch.
I've tried a lot of different salts. Usually I get live aquaria salt but they were out and I tried the fritz blue. Mixed per instructions and the parameters were off. Alk was fine at 8.5 but cal was 350, mag was 1310ish. The salt was mixed and shaken well before using so I just dosed the w/c water to make up for it. I had always heard that fritz/live aquaria were the same salt so that's why I used it. I forget where the thread is but this has turned out to be false, each independently make their own salt apparently. Anyways, back to live aquaria now that it's back in stock. I've tried IO regular and RC but the alk is just too high for my taste..I like about 8-8.3. And no there is no scientific reasoning behind it..lol...it just works for me.
Interesting. I'd love to find out more about this. They are bagged the same and have the exact same ziptie on the bag. I know Seachem mixes and private labels for a couple companies and I figured the same would be true in this case with Fritz mixing for Live Aquaria. I have tried to get LA to do a discount on pallet volume but they basically told me to go pound sand. I was one of the first on ARC to switch to LA salt and several here followed, it has been really good in my experience and mixes up right where I like to keep my systems. But with Fritz Blue I too am starting to see lower Cal & Mag on my Trident but haven't had time to test a fresh batch with my Hanna's yet.
At $70 a box I just can't afford to buy LA salt at the volumes I need to get.
I know the feeling. I usually wait for LA to have a sale but they haven't had any that I've seen lately. Been tempted to try the IO RC and temper the alk down but that's another story.
Man, I miss the Dr's F & S sales and stacking coupons.
At one point I had it down to $33.32 a box, delivered. Now I'm happy to get Fritz under $55
I'm going to have to test a full batch the next time I mix up 300 gallons. Then see where everything is.
I had a little over 100 gallons of water in my mixing tank and used a box to top it off to 300 gallons. The alk was low at 6.3 and I didn't do anymore testing.
There has been a few thousand gallons of water made in the mixing tank since the last cleaning (Most of which was LA salt) and there was a lot of build up on the walls and bottom of the tank. With the help of my lovely and petite wife we cleaned the tank out yesterday. I will be mixing a full batch of water in the next couple of days. It will take a little over a box and a half. I'll let it sit over night after mixing clear and test the Alk, Cal & Mag and post up the results.
When mixing in the past, prior to this big tank, I always added the salt very slow to the water and I seldom had any build up in the 55gal Brute I was using. I though I was adding it slow enough to avoid precipitate in the 300 but I guess I've been adding it too fast. I add 16oz scoops and shake them in slowly, I don't just dump them in, but I've done them one after another till done. I am going to go even slower with this batch and add 3 to 4 16oz scoops at a time and space them out a good bit, once the water is clear I'll add more. After it's at 1.025 and the water is clear I'll check for precip, I'll also check it again after letting it sit over night before testing. I'm hoping this will yield the most reliable results.
Definately follow up with results! I could be mixing too fast as well. I add it slow and let it mix before heating then add to tank. Got LA salt this last time and it tested a little low on calcium as well.
Alk 8.9
Cal 340ish
Didn't test mag
Alk 8.9
Cal 340ish
Didn't test mag
