Crystal SEA marine mix?

pumpdogs

Member
Anybody have good results with this salt?I currently use instant ocean,but I noticed the hidden reef sells 150 gal box of crystal sea for $17.99.I can get 2 boxes of this salt for almost the price of one compared to instant ocean.
 
I have used it for 6 years. It works for me. I started by trying a couple other brands like Coralife and IO and didn't notice any difference then when i switched to MEI Crystal Sea. I have bought mine at hidden reef most of the time. I usually went up there a couple times a year and got 4-6 boxes and then check out the corals. I hope they still have the same price. they sold tons of it every month. It's made just down the road in Baltimore, so shipping costs are much lower than for the other brands.

When i recently started testing for magnesium i found my normal batch mix to be pretty low. maybe because i was mixing to 1.023 SG . i got a reading there of 1150 ppm. and calcium was a little bit low too. but, no problem. i have 50 pound bags of mag flake and calcium chloride for the Randy 3 part system I just do like Randy does and add enough of both to bring the mix up to spec. and i now mix to 1.025 SG which means adding more salt and thus more Mg.

I think it's a good salt and a good value.
 
I've had similar results with IO, Crystal Sea, and even Coral Life mixes. No problems and all good reliable brands.

For the money, you can't beat Crystal Sea though.
 
That's good to hear PD. I hadn't called yet to check the price . I will be making a trip there in the near future for some more boxes. hopefully when they get their tanks up and running. only the dry goods section is open for sale right now.

I like getting the salt in boxes. They stack and store lin less space, and after a while we all have more empty buckets than we can handle. I hate throwing them away, especially when they add a couple bucks to the price. and it's just a waste of the oil and nat gas the plastic is made from. I just dump and store one box at a time into a bucket with lid to use. Boxed salt is good.
 
Admittedly your right Ken. Environmentally the boxes are much much better than the buckets. After building a semi stock of buckets for water changes/acclimation/etc, they become an eyesore and take up a lot of space. The added cost of buckets versus boxes is also a good consideration.
With only a few more seconds of time spent, the salt in the boxes actually does stay just as dry as the buckets with lids too.
Two thumbs up on that one Ken!!
 
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