Salt Mix- What do you use?
- Thread starter T-dub
- Start date
Insant Ocean or Reef Crystals here. With IO I have to supplement magnesium.
NaH2Ofreak
Premium Member
Tropic Marin Bio Actif......good stuff.
Dennis
Dennis
fishysteve
New member
Tropic Marin Pro Reef - I'll never change
AquaReeferMan
Got Reef?
I use either Reef Crystals or Seachem Reef Salt.
Common salt mixes and their respective Ca Alk and Mag levels.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714505
Instant Ocean and Oceanic are two of the least expensive salt mixes on the market. They have no "fluff" ingredients like vitamins, which aren't needed. They are not marketed as the latest and greatest and simply work. There has been an ongoing debate for years about salt and the extra "fluff" some producers put in theirs to demand a higher price.
IO, Coralife, Oceanic are inexpensive and work. You are hopefully adjusting the mix to tank parameters before doing a water change, so there is little need in buying the expensive highly marketed salt mixes. FWIW Instant Ocean is probably used by more reefers than any other salt, it simply works.
Palting
New member
I suppose the key phrase here is "someone who doses". My understanding from the multiple threads here, reefkeeping mag, and from books on reef husbandry, is that dosing is unnecessary if the Calcium stays above 360-400 and the alk stays above 7 dKH even with consumption by the reef. I forget the mag number. Despite my multiple SPS and coraline that are growing, my Ca stays at 420-440 and Alk stays at 7.4 dKH with weekly water changes with reef crystals. So, I don't dose. OTOH, if I were dosing already, I suppose there would be no need for the higher Ca/alk/Mag, so IO should be good enough.
I do have a question though, because of the point raised by sirreal, as well as to get back on topic. Is there anyone here who is successfully growing corals with IO only, and NOT dose? Maybe I don't need to pay the extra $'s for RC, and still not need to dose. That would be nice.
pweissma
Member
Thanks, exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I plan to change salt on my 7g and then maybe later on my solana. I'm using D&D H2Ocean and it's very expensive. With large frequent water changes it's not worth paying for elevated levels of Ca/Alk/Mg in my 7g. With dosing I don't need elevated levels for my solana either. If other trace elements are all ok in the cheaper salts then there is no real benefit for the higher cost.
If water changes alone are meeting your demands, then there is no need in dosing. You do have to stay on top of this though, as the corals grow and coraline grows the demand is higher and water changes alone may not meet the demand.
When Reef Crystals came out I used about 4 buckets of it and noticed no difference, other than it cost more than IO and Oceanic in a 50/50 mix. I used the IO/O for years mainly because it was inexpensive and with that mix I didn't have to alter it much to match the tanks parameters.
It should be noted that from time to time batches of the same brand will mix differently, this is why it is important to test and adjust the mix when doing a water change.
EdKruzel
Premium Member
I used IO and RC for years, my preference was Tropic Marin but once I moved it was only available through mail order and the shipping was ridiculous.
I was happy enough with IO and bought a bad batch; when I called to let them know what I discovered, I ran into the most rude customer service person imaginable. I explained that I purchased 4 bags and that two were bad and had the same lot number. My LFS was going to refund my money; I didn't want anything from them I was just trying to be a good hobbyist and pass on the information. I kept explaining I didn't want anything from them but their rep kept calling me a liar and that I must want something in return.
I use Oceanic now with very good results and will never return to IO strictly because of their customer service department.
I was happy enough with IO and bought a bad batch; when I called to let them know what I discovered, I ran into the most rude customer service person imaginable. I explained that I purchased 4 bags and that two were bad and had the same lot number. My LFS was going to refund my money; I didn't want anything from them I was just trying to be a good hobbyist and pass on the information. I kept explaining I didn't want anything from them but their rep kept calling me a liar and that I must want something in return.
I use Oceanic now with very good results and will never return to IO strictly because of their customer service department.
kbinkerd@verizon.net
New member
Why is it that red sea salt is never mentioned in these salt discussions? It is made by dehydrating sea water from the red sea, which I would think tend to make it superior to any chemically laboratory mixed salt recipe.
