test Kits and salt

[aetaylor]

Hello
I have ordered three Blueline pumps from your store and I must say. I am very pleased with the service and the products that I have received. keep up the great work and customer service.
Now for my question. It is time for me to purchase my test kits and salt. Years ago I used "Seatest" for my FO tank and was very satisfied would you happen to carry the "SeaTest Reef Test Multi Pack Kit MK3000"? If not, what test kits would you recommend for a reef tank (brand and tests)? As for the salt, Im leaning towards "Instant Ocean" Would this be a good salt for reefing.
Thanks again!

 

[jasonfrey]

Hi,

We can get the Seatest Reef Kit, would take about 1 week. We have all the fastest instock. These seem good for quick checks, but we recommend Salifert for a more accurate test kit. We would recommend at least using Salifert for calcium and alkalinity. Then using a lower brand for your other levels should be fine, save you a little cash.

On Salt, it's much debated area. IO has been around years and is a well proven salt. Out of IO, Reef Crystals and Kent, all made by same manufacture, we prefer Kent Marine, similar formula with some extras added and no extra price.

We feel one of the best salts is Tropic Marin, it is quite expensive, but always has shown good results. Bioassay and Biosea are some of our newer carried brands, they have been around a long time and they scored really well on micro life tests. Oceanic is another one to look at, it's a new salt that has had really good reviews and some really bad reviews. It's tough collecting information on which is the best though because all setups are different and one person might have a different problem that is really unrelated to the salt etc.

We know IO is well proven, Kent Marine and Tropic Marin, we have never seen any really bad info on these 3 brands.

thanks