"best" sps salt ...

[Greyson]

Well you know how New Yorkers are......

As for me, well I'm just gonna "fugetaboutit".....

yes i'm sure you "know"

 

[DamonG]

Lol, you should have phrased your question better. You asked which salt in your opening. You didn't mention you were dosing and you mentioned basically by your question, "which salt is the best". Best for what specifically: growth, levels, tea tree oil? Lol

No one had their head up their *** and honestly, they were trying to help you with a "rookie" question as far as sps or any higher ended saltwater keeping is concerned. They then answered in a way that a rookie would understand. The error dude was in your line of asking..

If your looking for a salt suggestion, first, your going to get a million answers that will get you no where(because as someone mentioned, there's a million ways to skin the cat), and then, you need to be specific about what your looking for.

I would recommend KZ also btw, but I use coral pro for growth. It's pretty consistent from my experience. I am thinking about trying something new, but I haven't as of yet. I have used Oceanic and I can't remember what it was, but my sps didn't care for it to much.. I also used NeoMarine for a long time and it's levels were very good for dosing 3 part (brs). I used salinity which also was consistent. I used Tropic Marin long ago which was very consistent also.. So it's really a toss up..

But be more specific and less jumpy..

 

[ryanrid]

You guys don't realize he has a small tank and needs as much stability as he can get. And he never said he is not planing on dosing ca/kh.
Greyson, people achieve great results with each and every salt brand out there. But every tank is different. If you feel like your tank needs a more stable salt get Korallen-Zucht reefer best salt. If you are willing to pay $100 per 20kg I garantee if u mix the bucket at 35ppt it will test exactly the same every time:

Magnesium (Mg): 1.268 mg / l (1236-1300 mg / l)
Calcium (Ca): 408 mg / L (398-420 mg / l)
Potassium (K): 395 mg / L (375-414 mg / l)
Sodium (Na): 10,648 mg / l (10382-10914 mg / l)
Chloride (Cl): 19,280 mg / l (18800-19761 mg / l)
Sulphate (SO4): 2.701 mg / l (2633-2768 mg / l)
GCH: 8.2 ° (8.17 ° - 8.40 °)
pH: 8.15 (8.02 to 8.27)

GL

You have obvioulsy not seen the results or replies from zeovit recently on their salt

http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26123
http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27301

After years of KZ marketing to use their salt exclusively on zeovit tanks because it has a Alk of 7 (125ppm) they now change their tune to sell the latest batches with some elevated parameters and others lower. :angryfire:

This is one reason why i decided to not only change salt brands but take off the complete zeovit system on my tank after 5 1/2 years

 

[Western_reefer]

I really like Seachem Salinity Aquavitro salt, it has a label of water parameters on every bucket of salt and the levels are really good. It is a bit pricey though, roughly $70-$80 for a bucket that makes 225 gallons @ 1.026 depending on your location.

 

[vette.tech]

In the 20+ years that I've been growing SPS I've never measured potassium and I've never worried about iodine. I've used every salt named in this thread and I've grown SPS successfully with all of them. I did start using a Kalk drip the first year I started with SPS

In an 18 with a real water volume of what, maybe 14 gals, you should be able to use IO or one of the other basic salts with great success. Do small water changes weekly, say 2 gals and drip kalk for top off. Alkalinity stability is the key.

+1 to this right here. I tried all the salts now I go with IO

 

[jimrawr]

I use Red Sea Coral Pro, but I really don't think there is a huge difference between salts in regards to which is best for sps, so long as you maintain proper levels of ca/alk/mg. I have the same problem as you, that everything measures good but still have only decent growth and colors. I think my problem is that I need to feed considerably more, which I am trying to do over time.