Cost of salt per gallon... Who's cheapest?

N

NewKid630

In Memoriam
I am looking to buy about 850 gallons of salt for my new tank build (4 tanks -1 filtration system) so I was looking for a good deal on salt. Figured i's share the results.

Prices based on Drs Foster&Smith site..

BRAND COST PER GALLON
Kent---------------------- .22
Coralife-------------------.24
Instant Ocean-----------.18
Reef Crystals------------.19
Red Sea------------------.20
Oceanic-------------------.20
Tropic Marin--------------.29
Tropic Marin Pro---------.32
Seachem-----------------.23
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9642625#post9642625 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tony44
You probably dont want to go with what is cheapest.
Click to expand...

Unless that happens to be IO or Reef Crystals. ;) Both quality salts!
 
Where are you located. I went to ThePetPlace.com in PA a few weeks ago for their sale and it was buy 3 containers of salt get 1 free. I got 800gal of Instant Ocean for 120. Thats 15 cents a gallon.

I know they are having a sale next week, not sure if they are having the same deal. Just a heads of for people in that area.
 
the gallons of water the packaging claims to make are never even close to what i've ever achieved. the worst offender was tropic marin pro, i bought that exactly once to give it a shot and see why it was so expensive. that bucket couldn't even make two 44 gallon batches of 1.0265 water for me, the packaging claims it makes 200 gallons. i'll never get that again.

IO's usually the cheapest and most available, but the advice implied in a previous post of "get what's on sale" is very sound. one of our LFS's just coming back into business used to use salt as a massive loss leader, and they were smart. they probably didn't make a penny on the salt they sold, but brought in a pile of customers who came there because they knew they could get salt cheap. ask around and see if any of your local stores follow that business practice.
 
LFS prices on salt here is 15% higher than online and they never have the quanity I need in stock.

And I have never had a problem with IO of Coralife on the measurment of salt/gallons mix.
 
I haven't tried it yet, but apparently you can get PetSmart coupons for IO online. The stores also accept the online coupons, so you can print it out, take it to the store, and get IO salt at a killer price.

If this sounds familiar to anyone, where do you get the coupon?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9646739#post9646739 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NewKid630
LFS prices on salt here is 15% higher than online and they never have the quanity I need in stock.

And I have never had a problem with IO of Coralife on the measurment of salt/gallons mix.
Click to expand...

how large a batch do you mix? with 5 gallon batches it may be hard to see trends in how much salt water you can actually make out of a given amount of mix. it'd just take to long to conveniently remember. i do 44 gallons at a time, and it makes the mix->satlwater ration pretty clear. coralife i can get two and a half batches out of a three bag bucket, say 110 gallons. IO will get me not quite three batches, i've had to go grab a small box at petco before to "top off" fresh mix before because of that. that's a lot better than tropic marin's claims, but definitely not what they claim on the packaging.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9646739#post9646739 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NewKid630
LFS prices on salt here is 15% higher than online and they never have the quanity I need in stock.

And I have never had a problem with IO of Coralife on the measurment of salt/gallons mix.
Click to expand...

how large a batch do you mix? with 5 ot ten gallon batches it may be hard to see trends in how much salt water you can actually make out of a given amount of mix. it'd just take to long to conveniently remember. i do 44 gallons at a time, and it makes the mix->satlwater ration pretty clear. coralife i can get two and a half batches out of a three bag bucket, say 110 gallons. IO will get me not quite three batches, i've had to go grab a small box at petco before to "top off" fresh mix before because of that. that's a lot better than tropic marin's claims, but definitely not what they claim on the packaging.
 
I mix 50 gallons at a time.

And with Coralreef salt it comes in 50 gallon gags, but when I use IO I use 2.5 cups of salt for every 5 gallons which just happens to be their recommended amount. SG=1.021 at that level.
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9653305#post9653305 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NewKid630
I mix 50 gallons at a time.

And with Coralreef salt it comes in 50 gallon gags, but when I use IO I use 2.5 cups of salt for every 5 gallons which just happens to be their recommended amount. SG=1.021 at that level.
Click to expand...

i target 1.0265, which does take a lot more mix to accomplish. that's what most folks i know target, which is why i think the gallon estimates on the packaging are so misleading. i supposed FO systems are fine at those levels, and probably represent a larger consumer base than reef systems.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9645059#post9645059 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drstupid
the gallons of water the packaging claims to make are never even close to what i've ever achieved. the worst offender was tropic marin pro, i bought that exactly once to give it a shot and see why it was so expensive. that bucket couldn't even make two 44 gallon batches of 1.0265 water for me, the packaging claims it makes 200 gallons. i'll never get that again.
Click to expand...

I'd complain to where you bought the TMPro. I've gone through 4 buckets of TMPro @1.025 and get almost 4x50gal batches/bucket.

JME
 
About 4 years ago there was an independent study done on salt,
and IO was the closest and cheapest to natural saltwater.
I read it here on RC. Just can not find it in the search engine, go figure.
 
drstupid, why on earth do you target 1.0265?

And Id say your alone on the claims about Tropic Marin as Ive only heard good things, that includes people mixing larger quantities than you. May wanna speak with your supplier, perhaps old salt.
 
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