Basic Question

[oldimpala]

I know this seems like a rather basic question, but I've had my tanks on Autopilot for quite a while now. Sadly, they look it, and I'm about to do a major restructure/rebuild with a tank move and new equipment room. (Pics will follow)

I've been using Oceanic salts for a long time (Mostly because I bought a ton of it at a good price years ago), but heard through the grapevine they had some QC issues a while back. I'm not really committed to the brand.

So, to end a rambling message, what brand salt mix would people recommend for a SPS-dominant tank.

Like I said, I know it seems basic, but it's been a while since I've had my hands really in this...

Thanks again-
-Andy

 

[pascal32]

hey there old friend I use ReefCrystals which has been good to me over the last few years. A few batches bounced around, but nothing that upset the system. You will still have to supplement the system for SPS. Buckets here are about $40, not sure about out your way. There are expensive salts out there which have better quality control, but for the price I've never seen the value in them.

Get that Renew running and you will have less work on your hands!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Hi, Andy

Hi, Andy

what are your levels testing out at? Oceanic is a good choice. I use Reef Crystals but I'll use Oceanic if it's on sale.

 

[oldimpala]

Gary-

I'm not in front of my ultra high-tech college ruled notebook for exact numbers, but I can tell you most of the items came out "in spec" for a reef tank, except for a few. (Yeah, I hate it when people say my levels are "good" or "normal" too.)

The things I did notice:

1. Fluctuating levels of Mg from bucket to bucket (If it was within, I may have attributed it to oxidation/decay, settling, etc), ranging from 900 to 1400 ppm; I do supplement Mg with my CaRX, and I'm not sure of a toxicity level for Mg, or if one is established, so on the "High" readings, I pulled the ZeoMag mix out, and went with straight media.

2. Fluctuating levels of CA from ~650 to 400. I'm almost thinking about being happier with a more stable, lower rating, knowing I have to dose up than trying to hit a moving target. dKh moved with the CA, again, I don't have the numbers with me, so I wonder if that day's "brewmaster" might have just been a little heavier/lighter handed than normal, or again, if something is subject to decay/increase with time.

3. I did have one mix with Colorimeter detected PO4. It was ~.03PPM, and relatively consistent from batch water to batch water. I did take some from a second bucket of salt, and made fresh water to isolate that salt bucket. It wasn't present in the same water, but different salt bucket, so I attribute it to that single bucket of Oceanic.

Basically, I bought a few buckets of the stuff when Randy had a good deal on it, and don't regret it. But it's been a while for me to hammer through it.

I think I'll be switching to Reef Crystals with this next run. I'll be needing (probably) near a 200G Box, and will grab a bucket for reserves. I'll see what this measures out at, and hope it's more consistent in the long run.

If you guys use it, I'm sure it'll work in my meager tank re-boot.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I use IO. It's cheap, it's been around since before time began, and it works fine. Yes it's a bit low on some levels but I'd rather add fifty cents more of supplements than pay a salt manufacturer $5 to mix the same things into the salt for me.

No matter what brand you use, you'll need to supplement (which means you'll need to be testing to determine if you're supplementing enough), it's just a matter of exactly how much. To me, this means there's really no clear reason to pick among brands as long as it's a brand that's more or less high quality in general.