Salt mix question

[undertcontrolj]

Any recommendations on salt mix? I am just going to start mixing my own and just wanted to see the advantages/disadvantages of the different mixes. And the best way for mixing this up. I have some of the jugs from the critter and thought i could just put it in there and shake them and mix it up or does it need to be mixed with a powerhead?

 

[NeveSSL]

As far as salt mixes go, tis up to you. Instant Ocean seems to be popular, especially because you can get it at Emerald Bay at an AWESOME price, but personally I have used Coralife salt (priced matched at PetSmart so no shipping ) with great luck, although I think I may try AquaMedic just to give it a shot.

You will want to mix it for 24 hours at least before using it. The reason being is you want to MAKE SURE the salt is dissolved... if its not, it can hurt several things in your tank, but I think most notably it can and will burn your fish's gills. Es no bueno! I think there may be other reasons as well, but they elude me at the moment. Maybe a veteran can chime in.

Brandon

 

[fallinapart]

go get a cheap plastic garbage can and add water & salt (brand of your choice) and power head for 24 hours then pump into tank.

 

[NeveSSL]

I meant veteran of reef-keeping, but I suppose a former Navy officer will do.

Brandon

 

[supertech99]

I use r/o water from the supermarket and take those plastic jugs, put in my salt then take it and fill it with water. It works ok for my 55gal. I have a ro unit under my sink but i need it serviced badly and have been putting it off. I always keep about 15gal (3 jugs) of salt water on hand and give them a gentle shake when i fill them. they usually sit for weeks before I use them so dissolved salt is no problem. I leave them sitting in the same room as the tank to match temp and add any additives in the jug so that the water is ready to go incase of an emergency! which with me is likley to happen often!

 

[DMBillies]

Different salts will mix up high or low on different things that are very important for reef chemistry.

For example, Instant Ocean generally mixes up low on calcium but with relatively high alkalinity. Oceanic mixes up exactly the opposite. There are big differences in various trace elements, but nobody is really sure how a lot of those elements interact with reef animals as long as they are below a certain concentration or in a certain range.

If you're really serious about your salt, there's plenty of info out there. I personally think most reputable salts are going to be ok to use. Instant Ocean, for the money, is hard to beat.

That said, I just started mixing Instant Ocean and Oceanic at 1:1 for a couple of reasons: 1) their mixtures of calcium and alk level them off to just about natural sea water, 2) they are readily available locally with IO available at Ebay and O from the Critter, 3) if I ever get a bad batch of salt, it will have about half of the effect that it would if I were just using one salt brand.

 

[NeveSSL]

Thats a good idea, Brian.

I think Siffy was looking at mixing 4 or 5 brands just for the fun of it and to see how it does.

There's a company who does hard-core testing for a fee for aquarists. I cannot remember right now who they are, but I know they also published tests of every brand of salt they could get a hold of. Very thorough and very interesting, but I can't find the stinking link.

Anyone have it?

Brandon

 

[undertcontrolj]

Yeah the two brands that i have been looking at are instant ocean and i thin it was red sea. As anyone used Red Sea it is a bit pricier than instant ocean. I like the idea if mixing 2 so they balance eack other out and get close to natural sea water. Might try that after you see how the results turn out.

 

[DMBillies]

Couldn't come up with the link I originally read myself either... I thought it was in my bookmarks, but I'm not finding it.

I know Siffy was doing 4 or 5, but I frankly don't have the space or money to buy 4 or 5 things of salt at once (he used small bags... which would be more expensive long-run.

In any case, I have tested the Ca of IO and it definitely mixes up low consistently across batches... which means I either need to does Ca before it even gets out of the bucket or I send the tank out of whack with a water change and have more trouble keeping my Ca up. If I didn't already have problems keeping pH/Alk up, I might switch to Oceanic full-time, but I do like that a mix will help negate some of the effects of a bad batch and get you close to a real NSW.

 

[Mikeyjer]

I used to mix Oceanic with Instant Ocean 50/50. It works very well together, but I find it just as easy to dose the lower element into Instant Ocean. Someone pretty well known in the reef community told me to do that with IO, can't remember his name. So I trust his advise even though I can't remember his name.....

 

[Highside]

AWT or aquarium water testing is the site you are looking for. The test they did is on their site.

 

[NeveSSL]

Ahhhh... sweet. Thanks Highside.

Brandon

 

[yogotti]

i use seachem reef salt and it works well... i was told by my lfs that it is the best balance out of all the salts...