Salt Mixes

[PAStreetGlide]

I need to go buy some salt. I'm debating changing to RED SEA Pro Reef salt. I wanted to see what people are using for their reef tanks. Are they all basically the same thing or have you seen better results with certain brands?

 

[Ricunger]

I love Tropic Martin Pro and i was never one to care about salt types but once i used it for a few water changes i loved it. My SPS really looked great.

 

[onegreenray]

i have been using instant ocean for 10 years with out a problem. if it is not broken... why fix it.

 

[supervdl]

I also used Tropic Marin Pro for years, but now changed to IO reef crystals which is a lot cheaper. I did not notice a difference and the salt is a lot cheaper. I am doing a lot of waterchanges now and I will go for the cheaper one for a while.

 

[rigleautomotive]

I use IO and bump cal and mg up to my standards.TMP is a fine salt and it has a higher mg and calcium content so it works well for reef tanks that do not want to supplement there salt mix.I would stay away from RSCP at the present.They made a few changes in the last year or so that were not positives IMO.RSCP used to be my fav until the new packaging and #s changed.The consistency was terrible in the last few buckets I tested.Mg,cal and alk varied from bucket to bucket and alk was high 10dkh + which is not what I am looking for with my system.

 

[supervdl]

Dan, RSCP is the Red Sea Salt?

 

[rigleautomotive]

Dan, RSCP is the Red Sea Salt?

Yes.Red Sea Coral Pro

 

[nkd5024]

I also use Tropic Marin Pro Reef and have been for 5 years. I love it and don't plan on changing anytime soon. The only think I'd wish they'd change is the alk is a little on the low side, around 7.0 dkh.

Thanks Dan for the info on RSCP, I knew their alk was really high but hadn't heard of the inconsistencies.

As far as difference between salts, they all contain a different amount of ca, alk, mg, pH, and the tons of trace elements. So I wouldn't say they are all basically the same. Remember to switch salts slowly.

Nick D.

 

[Ricunger]

I use IO and bump cal and mg up to my standards.TMP is a fine salt and it has a higher mg and calcium content so it works well for reef tanks that do not want to supplement there salt mix.I would stay away from RSCP at the present.They made a few changes in the last year or so that were not positives IMO.RSCP used to be my fav until the new packaging and #s changed.The consistency was terrible in the last few buckets I tested.Mg,cal and alk varied from bucket to bucket and alk was high 10dkh + which is not what I am looking for with my system.

Yeah i heard about the RSCP issues thats no good. Shows that the quality in the manufacturing is lacking. That i another reason i like the TM because it always is consistant with the other buckets. I have seen slight differences but nothing that is less than normal.

 

[PAStreetGlide]

Wow Im glad I asked. Got a wealth of info here. I'll stay away from the RSCP. Right now Im using IO but I ran out and thought about exploring other possibilities. I was didnt know if I could get some better growth if I went with a different salt. Sounds like I'll stick with the IO. The tropic Marin seems a little pricey.

 

[rogersb]

I could swear I read one time that those 50g bags of IO mix to roughly 40g @ 1.026. The search function is down but I did a small write up on the cost of it compared to the the Seachem Salinity I use. Since Salinity is sold to mix higher, the cost per gallon is only a couple of cents. That was when I was paying $87/bucket of it. Now I can get it for $74 and it might be cheaper than IO in the long run.

 

[psusocr]

I also use IO and just test my mag calcum and alk and then add to the levels i want
( learned that from dan).. its easier for me to maintain my levels this way, and IO is always a bit short of what i want so its easier to add whereas you cant lower with some other salts that immediatly give me higher leves.

 

[trentdingo]

Usually just IO then supplement the numbers.

But I prefer brightwells whenever I can find it. They are always spot on and it is 100% synthetically made so you dont have the junk or films floating around that you find in other salt mixes

 

[bpaw]

I used red sea coral pro, i switched to this when my io ran out and my corals were not happy at all. Since then i switched back to io and everything is happy again.

 

[tnyr5]

After a couple bad batches from several brands, I too just use IO and tweak the parameters to my liking

 

[supervdl]

I just run into some problem with my TM pr. It measures only 5.5 dkH and that's very surprising. I found out in the reef chemistry forum that I am apparently not the only one. For this price of TM pro I expect a better product. Thinking about switching...