What is the BEST Marine Sea Salt???

[i_am_blokeman]

Hi Everyone!!
Can someone please let me know in their opinion is the best sea salt for a Reef system??

Many Thanks

Kim

 

[TekCat]

Oh, boy... here we go again.... I feel that salt mix war is about to start There is no magic "THE BEST SALT MIX", otherwise we'd all use it all the time.

Having said that, for reef I'd get the one that has high Calcium and Alkalinity levels (A few come to mind: Kent, Reef Crystals) and ALWAYS available to you in your area (so you don't have to switch to another type of salt in an emegrency)

 

[old salty]

Of course the best salt is the stuff in the ocean. As far as the stuff that can be purchased, there is no best. Like TekCat stated, if there was one salt that was best, everyone would probably use it. Most folks use Instant Ocean which is readily available, low cost and does the trick.

 

[jeffbrig]

Availability should be your #1 concern. Most salts are adequate, some may be slightly better than others. I use IO, not because it's the best, but because it's consistent, and you can find it anywhere.

 

[cato]

Good replies. The best salt is the one that works the best for you. I really don't think there is a "Best Salt" but there are many excellent ones.

I use Oceanic brand for no particular reason. I do like that it has high calcium, high magnesium. Would like a higher Alk level but I find that it's easier for me to only have to add Reef Carbonate twice a week than to add other multiple additives.

Basically it works for me. If it ever doesn't work for me, then I'll have to try another brand.

P.S. This thread should be fun to follow

 

[nengland]

The local chain FS I work at has filtered sea water. I'm pretty happy with that.

 

[dave11]

There was a thread about a month ago I think where various brands of salt were tested - try a search for it
sorry but cant remember title
dave

 

[SeaRancher]

The water that I use comes from my LFS the owner makes me a good deal, I haved heard alot of people haveing good luck with instant ocean, and also Oceanic.
so it is pretty much up to the person on what type is the best.

 

[Gobie]

TropicMarin

 

[mg426]

I go for IO been using it for years.No suprises with it,and its always in the stores.

 

[dhnguyen]

what no one mentioned Morton's Salt yet? :lol:

j/k

 

[Larry Waughon]

I use TropicMarin with good results.

 

[mbunaman]

I use IO also because it is the most avalible salt. I dont have to track it down to find it. If I really need it I can go to Petsmart to get it or any online vendor has it. It is not the supreme salt but does the job. Who cares what amount of Calcium or the alk thats in it. Almost all reefers dose with Kalk, Calcium Reactor, and/or a two part additive. But one Salt that you should stay away from is Crystal Sea if your doing SPS. I have heard horror stories of people loosing their corals.

 

[Ebisan]

Went from Oceanic->Red Sea->Instant Ocean->Tropic Marin->Red Sea. Didn't really have any problems with any of them. However, I seem to have better growth with Red Sea.

 

[One Eyed Bunny]

I've found Instant Ocean to be the "best" only because of it's relatively high availability. Any petco, petsmart or LFS has a couple gallons worth of this stuff at any given time.

However, the Reef Salt someone mentioned in the first reply is great for reefs 'cause of it's high calcium concentration.