Best salt for a SPS domintate tank

[mutateddogbone]

IO and weekly water changes here. i find that some of the "reef blend" of salts have some nutrients in them and i prefer to stick to a long term tried and tested salt

 

[allsps40]

This is one of those question that there is no right answer to. Salt mix preference varyies from person to person. All salt mixes will work fine. Find one you like.

 

[fcmatt]

I use Tropic Marin Bio-Active right now. But before that I used Tropic Marin regular. I swear by Tropic Marin quality!

another vote for TM bio-actif. if you have a smaller tank it is not that costly and
by far the best salt I have used. I was a hard core IO user before I found this
salt and I have tried quite a few of the more common ones before that.

 

[pimp2daizzo]

The salts I have had the best results with is Tropic Marin Pro Reef and HW Reefer. I have also used Coral Life is good results. IO is crap, low Ca, ph and alk. IO Reef Crystals is good on Ca and alk but has a low ph and potassium. I think I will be going back to Pro Reef or Reefer.

+1 on hw thats some really good salt

 

[purge43]

I use sea crystals. its cheap as dirt 21$/150gl bucket. But its hard as heck to work with alk cal and mag are all low ph is okay, takes alot of work to keep params.

 

[unbelievable]

I switch it up every bucket. Usually brightwell and seachem.

 

[ROCKMAN_1]

I use IO. It has worked well for me in the past.

 

[MechEng99]

You've not had any bad experience with the SeaChem being inconsistent? I've heard of inconsistent results with that salt? Lots of bad batches?

The very first bucket I ever bought when it was new to my area had low magnesium (~1100). I've been using SeaChem for 2 years now and have had every bucket after that first one exactly on target for alk, mag, & ca. It does mix up pretty dirty though, but the tanks love it. I don't get the "water change effect" on corals like I used to with other salts. I was just dosing more than I liked with IO, had potassium issues with Reef Crystals, had a bad experience with RSCP...switched 2 years ago to SeaChem and have had no reason to try anything else. Just my $0.02

 

[layer3switchguy]

Hi. Been having good success with ESV B-Ionic Salt. Agree with the other posters, pick a high quality salt and stick with it. I've found most of my troubles have come when I switch brands around every few months....

 

[stanlalee]

I like to use the kind designed for aquarium use myself. I mean really, this is one of those questions where you can get 10 different answers and none are wrong because basically everything available "works fine".

 

[studling]

Thanks everyone for all the responses and advice. Iam currently using oceanic salt and like it but read a thread on here some time back that reefers loved the tropic marin pro salt for a SPS dominate tank.

 

[bolo7735]

I have been using Deltec H2O Salt for one year.

 

[agsansoo]

+1 for Tropic Marin Pro salt. Second choice would be RC.

 

[LifeAquatic]

ESV B-IONIC is the best salt Ive ever used. Always consistant, never any residue. Mixes crystal clear in a few minuites. Paramaters are always what is stated on the box. I love this stuff and will never use another salt brand other then ESV.

 

[Dustin1300]

The very first bucket I ever bought when it was new to my area had low magnesium (~1100). I've been using SeaChem for 2 years now and have had every bucket after that first one exactly on target for alk, mag, & ca. It does mix up pretty dirty though, but the tanks love it. I don't get the "water change effect" on corals like I used to with other salts. I was just dosing more than I liked with IO, had potassium issues with Reef Crystals, had a bad experience with RSCP...switched 2 years ago to SeaChem and have had no reason to try anything else. Just my $0.02

Exactly why I asked. I've used IO for ~3 years and go through about 1 bucket every 2 months. I just started keeping SPS in the past 6 months and now really pay attention to the params. Have a doser to dose alk, mag, and calcium but do automatic water changes with LMIII. Just trying to save so much alk/calc/mag really.

 

[Ostentum]

I have used Red Sea Coral Pro for 6 years now with great results, so I havent tried anything else. Like people of said before, consistency is the key. Ca runs 450 mag 1450 and dkh at 8 with the RSCP stuff just takes awhile to dissolve all the way.

 

[allsps40]

Ok so here is the results so far of the major salts based on what people here have said. From first to last.
Seachem Salinity 7
Tropic Marin Pro or Bio Activ 6
Instant Ocean 4
EVS 3
HW Marine Mis or Reefer 2
DD H2Ocean 1
Coralife 1
Oceanic 1
Red Sea Coral Pro 1
Reef Crystals 1
Tunze 0

 

[bur01014]

I mix Oceanic and Instant Ocean, 30/70 respectively.....I do this because Oceanic has high cal/low alk (also high mag) and Instant Ocean has low cal/high alk.....I ran tests on my newly made water many many MANY times...phew...finally got it down to near perfect parameters with the 30/70 ratio....many may disagree with mixing salts but it seems to be doing well....I don't dose 2 part either....I just do two water changes a week with these salts (takes like 5 minutes with my setup).....helps me not have to test as much....peace

 

[allsps40]

^ This was the thing to do for a while, mixing Oceanic and IO. I was supposed to be chemically the same as Pro Reef and lots of people started doing it here whne Pro Reef became hard to find. I tried in for a little while and did not get the same success as with Pro Reef. However mixing IO and Oceanic makes sense to balance it out.

 

[Dustin1300]

Ok so here is the results so far of the major salts based on what people here have said. From first to last.
Seachem Salinity 7
Tropic Marin Pro or Bio Activ 6
Instant Ocean 4
EVS 3
HW Marine Mis or Reefer 2
DD H2Ocean 1
Coralife 1
Oceanic 1
Red Sea Coral Pro 1
Reef Crystals 1
Tunze 0

I go through more and more salt nowadays. I feel the IO is cutting me short on many elements (calcium especially). I've been thinking slowly switching over to Seachem. I have a LMIII that does 5 liter water changes daily and this would make the transition rather simple and not stressful on livestock/coral.

My question is....
Does the Seachem have to be the 'Seachem Salinity' or is 'Seachem Reef Salt'? I typically drop by PA and buy salt from them and was wondering what the difference was between these two Seachems...

http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/SALT-S-R-160.html

Does anyone have a suggestion on places online that would be even cheaper with shipping?