What's the BEST salt for reef tanks -- fish corals??

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shanster35

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So, up for debate , what's the best salt?
Red Sea?
Continuum?
Brightwell Aquatics?
Instant Ocean Reef Crystals?
Any others ?
Let's talk Salt....

(Pros , cons, success stories , failures , good results and any experiences you don't mind sharing )
GO!
 
I've only used IO. It seems to be pretty consistent. Grows LPS and Zoas. Does ok with SPS. Fish love it.
Cal 423
Alk 159
Mg 1100 the only thing that is really low but not a big deal

I have thought about trying RedSea when I can afford it and my box of IO runs out.
 
A topic that always comes up... Personal preference. I love reef crystals and so do my coral. Mixes easy and fast and fairly priced
 
I've used Red Sea pro, instant ocean, and reef crystals.

My favorite is Red Sea, I've had great success with coral using this salt.


Reef crystals is a good budget salt, but I've been told that these types of salt use a keystone calcium which is not as easily used by coral for calcification.

Instant ocean is good for fish only systems, but the element levels are lower and will require more dosing to maintain healthy parameters in a reef. Also, this salt does not mix very clean IMO, leaving behind thick coats of a hard white powder.

I've also seen tanks run well with Salinity and Tropic Marin.

No matter what salt you use, it helps to stay consistent and be sure to test your water to confirm parameters.
 
LSU_fishFan;1083289 wrote: I've used Red Sea pro, instant ocean, and reef crystals.

My favorite is Red Sea, I've had great success with coral using this salt.


Reef crystals is a good budget salt, but I've been told that these types of salt use a keystone calcium which is not as easily used by coral for calcification.

Instant ocean is good for fish only systems, but the element levels are lower and will require more dosing to maintain healthy parameters in a reef. Also, this salt does not mix very clean IMO, leaving behind thick coats of a hard white powder.

I've also seen tanks run well with Salinity and Tropic Marin.

No matter what salt you use, it helps to stay consistent and be sure to test your water to confirm parameters.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I have also used all three and now use Red Sea Pro and like it.
 
I switched from Red Sea coral pro to reef crystals and prefer RC. It mixes better and I've had better results using it.
 
I have not used Red Sea. But out of the others I'd say they are all good, but Salinity has highest trace elements it appears. Out of the others, not sure on Red Sea... But they all work, depending on what your doing. If you dose everything, may not need anything but IO. Just my $.02
 
nickg;1083302 wrote: I have not used Red Sea. But out of the others I'd say they are all good, but Salinity has highest trace elements it appears. Out of the others, not sure on Red Sea... But they all work, depending on what your doing. If you dose everything, may not need anything but IO. Just my $.02
Click to expand...

This is my thinking as well, I dose almost 100 ml of alk aday and 75 ml of cal..
 
Technology is such that there are a lot of acceptable salts out there.
PERSONALLY I like Red Sea Coral Salt. It tends to help my alk stay higher with the sps I have.

I've tried IO, D&D (also very good IMO), Seachem, and probably a few more.

The one thing you want to look out for is that some salts specify FOR coral and some are FOR fish only.
 
Best salt I ever used was Tropic Marine Pro, but its very pricey.

Salinity is the second best, but again in order to get it at a cost effective rate you would need to buy the 1000g barrel which is simply a huge hassle and even then its still almost twice the price of reef crystals.

I used instant ocean for years with no issues, but it needs a massive amount of dosing to bring the levels up to reef stats.

I ended up using Reef crystals. The levels are almost perfect for reefs(I just add a bit of alk and some mag when mixing) I did a cost comparison and RC is actually cheaper than dosing IO up with BRS additives by about $4 a box.

If you have a smaller tank and dont have a place to mix up water for a day before its needed I would spend the money on the Tropic marine pro salt since it mixes up the best, salinity is a close second but still needs time to clear up after mixing.

If you have a large tank, do large water changes and have a mixing station setup, RC is the best bang for the buck on a reef system.

If you have fish only...just use IO.
 
I buy Red Sea from Optimum already pre mixed and ready to roll for my reef and buy the Instant Ocean for my fish only. Both salts have been in the industry for years and are the leaders when it comes to salt IMO.
 
ive used instant ocean, reef crystals and salinity. although i only used io and rc for the first few years i was in the hobby and have been using salinity ever since so i dont really remember how they stacked up in terms of numbers but they both kept fish and coral alive and healthy. i like salinity because it has high levels of just about everything so there would be no need to dose if you did regular and frequent water changes. however ive noticed recently that whenever i mix it it seems to leave behind a lot of residue in the container.
 
I'm currently using Continuum's "Halcyon" salt on my 5 year old nano tank. Parameter & consistency-wise it's comparable to Salinity, but mixes a lot quicker & cleaner. Switched about 2 months ago and all's been well.... but all will usually be well with any quality salt mix nowadays.

Used Seachem Reef & Salinity for a couple of years before switching to ReefCrystals... the RC made keeping LPS a bit of challenge due to consistently elevated alkalinity levels on water change but all were decent. It was kinda nice to not have to dose in carbonate but I found that I couldn't do large enough water changes to correct anything else without shocking my corals.

The short answer is whatever salt that's readily available, meets your budget and mixes close to the parameters you seek to keep the tank at is "the best one". ;)
 
BulkRate;1083530 wrote: I'm currently using Continuum's "Halcyon" salt on my 5 year old nano tank. Parameter & consistency-wise it's comparable to Salinity, but mixes a lot quicker & cleaner. Switched about 2 months ago and all's been well.... but all will usually be well with any quality salt mix nowadays.

Used Seachem Reef & Salinity for a couple of years before switching to ReefCrystals... the RC made keeping LPS a bit of challenge due to consistently elevated alkalinity levels on water change but all were decent. It was kinda nice to not have to dose in carbonate but I found that I couldn't do large enough water changes to correct anything else without shocking my corals.

The short answer is whatever salt that's readily available, meets your budget and mixes close to the parameters you seek to keep the tank at is "the best one". ;)
Click to expand...



Tropic Marin, then RC, then the last 5 years or so Salinity. I do large water changes and ph and parems from batch to batch are need perfect. Alk is around 9, slightly higher than what I would want.

I might give Halcyon a try as it mixes at 7.5...
 
I used to use Seachem exclusively. It had the closest alk/calc levels compared to the ocean, reqd only a tad of mag added, and was pretty reasonable. No idea what it goes for now.. It's been 6 yrs since I bought a bucket

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 
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