Mixing levels on different salt brands?

FiShScaLe

New member
Ive been searching through the forums and cant find the thread which had all the brands listed and what levels of cal,alk, and mg they mix to when you make a batch. Im mainly interested in reef crystals and tropic marin pro but some others would be helpful so people who use other salts or are planning on using others can get an idea. Also Ive heard so many mixed reviews on each salt out there but ive narrowed it down to RC or TMPR, can anyone help me decide on which I should invest in?

Thanks, Rich
 
I used to do a 50/50 mix of oceanic and instant ocean. Many zeo guys did the same. It gave me Ca 420, and dKH 7.5. Now I use Red Sea and no more tumbling buckets.
 
Randy I narrowed it down to these two because I used to know the levels on TMPR and they were good for what I wanted in my tank. Idk if theyve changed recently or not but I have been out of the hobby for about a year or two. Also TMPR mixes very clean and there was never any type of residues left in the bucket or on the surface of the water I mixed. I was thinking of using RC because Ive heard very good reviews on it but Ive heard sometimes there can be a claylike scum after mixing. I also do not know the levels of RC or even have an idea on them. So if you could help me out here to make a decision id really appreciate it.What salt do you use?
 
I use regular IO.

Here's my standard commentary on salts. Some of it may be a bit dated as I've not kept up on every formulation change to every brand:


I do not think there is a "best" salt mix. Nearly all of them will work fine as long as you know their pros and cons.

I don't want excessive borate, which leaves out Seachem.

I don't want vitamins or anything else organic in my mix (because I doubt their utility, they degrade with time to who knows what, bacteria may thrive on them as I store new salt water for a substantial period, they are totally undescribed with respect to amounts or identity, they are often not naturally present in natural seawater at appreciable levels, and because I've occasionally had them mess with my skimmer), so that tosses out some like Reef Crystals, hW Marinemix Plus BioElements, Kent, Coralife, and Nutri-SeaWater.

I don't want excessive calcium (long term use of limewater as I use drives up calcium, so I do not want it starting high), so that tosses out a bunch, such as Kent, Seachem, Coralife and Oceanic.

There are certain companies that I will not support due to their misleading claims and/or product lines. That tosses out a few which I won't detail here since it is my personal thought as opposed to a specific issue with their salt mix.

I won't use certain lines of natural seawater due to excessive metals in it.

That only leaves a few to choose from, such as Instant Ocean and Tropic Marin Pro. The remaining ones might all be fine for me, but IO is lower in cost, especially if you get it when it goes on sale (which it frequently does). It also has a very long track record of success in many aquaria with relatively few concerning issues of bad batches.
 
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