Salt mix recommendation for a nano LPS dominant tank and simple dosing

[BuckeyeFish]

I have an aquatop 24g cube with a Kessil A360w Tuna blue and a AI Nero 3. So, flow and light should not be a limiting factor for coral growth.

To keep things cheap and simple, I want the tank to be LPS dominated but I want to create a suitable environment to be able to dabble with some acropora.

Right now, I just use regular instant ocean salt and plan to change about 5 gallons of water every week or so. I found a good dosing regimen that I think would be easy and cheap. It uses the holy trinity of BRS powders—kalk, calcium chloride and Mag.

I’m a little unsure of what salt I should settle down with. The guy at my local LFS believes the Red Sea brand “Red Sea salt” mix is superior. I’m sure it would work great if I wanted to water change constantly. Who knows. Everyone believes something different for different reasons.

Let me know what you guys think would be a good option/dosing strategy for my tank!

 

[griss]

I used Coralife salt since sometime back in the mid 1990s with excellent success for both LPS, SPS and soft corals. I only stopped using it because (1) it was getting difficult to find I believe due to supply chain issues and (2) I had two buckets in a row (different batch numbers) with extremely low Alk and high Ca.

I switched to regular IO some time ago and have no issues keeping SPS and soft corals in my 40 breeder. I have 3 different Acros, Porites, Favia, some Caribbean stony corals that hitchhiked on my KP rock, Zoas, R. Florida, Gorgonians, a Rock Anemone and a Long Tentacle Anemone.

So, IMO/IME, regular IO should be fine.

ETA - FWIW, I only do a 5 gallon water change every week to two weeks.

 

[wvned]

Afraid to say anything
people get upset

Once you dose which salt used matters little. It just changes how much you dose.

 

[reefing102]

I use Instant Ocean and Reef Crystals (depends which bucket is open). I’ve never used anything else in recent years.

I can’t vouch for other brands but IO has been around for decades. To me, if it was truly bad, it wouldn’t be in business.

 

[shred5]

IO is the cheapest and works fine.
I have tried so many and always end back at it.
Stable and I have yet to have a bad batch.
It does leave some anti clumping stuff in the bucket which is most likely clay. Just rinse out the bucket after mixing a batch.