All other salts are double the price of Instant Ocean. Is it really worth it?

[ReeferSamster]

Why spend double the money for a heater? Piece of mind that's why.

So what is the piece of mind with salt that you get from paying double price. Every manufacturer has had bad batches and I dont think IO had any more or less. In fact I've had none for 20 years. Maybe I got lucky. If its not batches, the what other benefits have you noticed?

I only use one bucket of salt a year. Honestly if you add it up i pay more for frozen mysis than my blue bucket of red sea salt.

Your low usage gives you a niche view and I can see your perspective could be different. I buy 200 or more gallons of salt per month. If I'm paying double the price, It better come with sea monkey eggs that hatch or auto clean the glass tank for me.

 

[MaxTremors]

No one pays for MSRP in this day and age of E-Commerce. Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price? Thats back in the brick and mortar days. No one pays that online! All the prices for all the salts are everyday retail prices. Even on amazon itself, check out the cost of other salt! They are about double the price there or anywhere! Amazon has no favoritism regarding which are prime approved. They don't care about brandnames. They only care about popularity and have a minimum margin requisite. That is all. I've done ecommerce for the last 7 years. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-byun-98880217b?trk=public_profile_samename-profile

When I Google ‘instant ocean’ of all the prices that come up, only one is $11.99 at PetSmart (discounted from $19.99 and with $4.99 shipping). If MSRP is irrelevant, then it’s irrelevant for all brands. All of the other brands you listed can be purchased at lower prices than the prices you listed. Yes, they are still more expensive than IO, but you intentionally exaggerating the difference in price.

 

[Miami Reef]

I use IO. I like that it has a proven track record, is slightly cheaper, doesn’t have excessively high elements, and my LFS carries boxes of it.

 

[ReeferSamster]

When I Google ‘instant ocean’ of all the prices that come up, only one is $11.99 at PetSmart (discounted from $19.99 and with $4.99 shipping). If MSRP is irrelevant, then it’s irrelevant for all brands. All of the other brands you listed can be purchased at lower prices than the prices you listed.

I did not exaggerate any price.
The IO is from Amazon Everyday retail price (Not msrp) with free shipping as are most Prime available ASINS.. All other prices for salt are also I checked for Everyday retail price. I searched most of the other salts on Amazon, but if it was expensive there, I even did due diligence to check BRS prices and see if they were cheaper with free shipping. On amazon: Everyday prices $11.99 IO 50 gallon bags. free shipping. Most salts were free shipping.
Remember I checked other competitors on amazon too.

All of the other brands you listed can be purchased at lower prices than the prices you listed.

Please find my errors where you can buy the salt cheaper at an EVERYDAY price than the ones I listed. I am not dishonest, making up fake numbers. Why would I do that? That defeats the genuine inquiry I had about the benefits of other salt with such huge disparity. I never even once mentioned nor use MSRP pricing. I put all salt brands into the cart and went to checkout for my values.

I could have an error. Thats legitimate. If I made a mistake, I'll be glad to change it. But I didn't intentionally exaggerate anything. I checked for EVERYDAY prices. Not a particular "promo" or "on sale!" prices.

IO was not "not on promo" for $11.99 per 50 gallon bags. Everyday prices and do the math: $47.96 for 200 gallon mixed. I'm sure there are a few gallons more or less when it comes to salinity, but the general volume should be similar. Plus or minus 1 or 2 gallons.

Let me know which is inaccurate and even if it does, let me know if they are still not "approximately double the price"

Thank you. I'm genuinely curious to see if I made a mistake.

 

[Garia666]

I use tropic marine as my LFS swears by it

 

[flashsmith]

I use tropic marine as my LFS swears by it

My LFS swears by Neptune. So that right there is reason enough to NOT believe anything that comes out of his mouth..lol

 

[Brian_68]

My LFS swears by Neptune. So that right there is reason enough to NOT believe anything that comes out of his mouth..lol

Yeah they swear by Tropic Marin for the price and profit margin they get from you, and use IO.

 

[areefer01]

My LFS swears by Neptune. So that right there is reason enough to NOT believe anything that comes out of his mouth..lol

Maybe it is user error? There are a lot of people who have great success with Neptune products which also includes LFS and public aquariums. This also holds true to other controller manufactures.

Never seen a forum with so much animosity towards Neptune. Well actually that isn't true. There is another but both are equally guilty.

 

[Garia666]

Yeah they swear by Tropic Marin for the price and profit margin they get from you, and use IO.

yeah that’s one way to look at it, another is to look at his tank.

 

[Brian_68]

yeah that’s one way to look at it, another is to look at his tank.

I can't tell by the pictures if that is IO or Tropic Marin salt that is used though..... Both have documented successful performance.

 

[flashsmith]

Maybe it is user error? There are a lot of people who have great success with Neptune products which also includes LFS and public aquariums. This also holds true to other controller manufactures.

Never seen a forum with so much animosity towards Neptune. Well actually that isn't true. There is another but both are equally guilty.

I got talked into a Cor20 about six months ago. Actually had store credit for trading a couple of tanks when I upgraded to a RS 625. Two months in the pump controller died. I get it things happen. When I tried to warranty it they wanted me to send them a $100 deposit before they would send me the replacement part. I've owned all the "big names" and their customer service is absolutely the worst. They think they have the market cornered and it shows in their attitude toward their customers. The pump now sits on a shelf in my garage. On principal alone I will never give a dime to them ever... Glad I did t go all in on that garbage.

 

[areefer01]

I got talked into a Cor20 about six months ago. Actually had store credit for trading a couple of tanks when I upgraded to a RS 625. Two months in the pump controller died. I get it things happen. When I tried to warranty it they wanted me to send them a $100 deposit before they would send me the replacement part. I've owned all the "big names" and their customer service is absolutely the worst. They think they have the market cornered and it shows in their attitude toward their customers. The pump now sits on a shelf in my garage. On principal alone I will never give a dime to them ever... Glad I did t go all in on that garbage.

I have 3 Cor's. All running since product launch. 2 x Cor 15 (return pump, skimmer) and 1 x Cor 20 (return pump). Cor 20 is powered outside the Neptune ecosystem, APS actually. I also have 1 Cor 15 spare, in a box. If any of the pumps fail I can rotate them in position since they all use the same connections.

One time I think I had a pump failure with the Cor 15 powering my skimmer. No skimmer bubbles or water movement. I swapped it out. Same thing. Thought it maybe was the controller. Opened a ticket with support and they got back to me within 24 hours and asked me to try a few things. I did, replied. I opted to buy just the block since it could be used as a spare in the bigger picture.

Put the new one in, same thing. Got me thinking something else is obviously wrong here. Disconnect the skimmer venturi and sure enough. Stombus snail is wedged in there blocking all water passage. Cleared that, put back the original pump, and Bob's your uncle. It worked. Boxed up the pump and now it is a spare.

My point in this wall of text is that while some do report issues, and have issues, there are many who don't have issues nor post about it. All of my cors have been running now since 2018. Pretty good track record and just the opposite of yours. Not that anyone is keeping score.

 

[dhnguyen]

I have used all kinds of salt mixes over the years from Seachem, Kent, Oceanic, Red Sea, TM, Reef Crystals, Top Fins, Oceanpure to Instant Ocean. And honestly I couldn't tell the difference when looking at my tank. Actually Oceanpure is a very good salt and very affordable (mixed to 450 ppm ca. and 11dKH alk) but I can't seem to find it anywhere anymore. http://www.customaquatic.com/estore/control/product/~product=SL-TM14478-PLT

So I just stick with IO because it's cheap, readily available, and consistent.

 

[MartinM]

I mentioned this in another thread, but I would like to actually create a post dedicated to this age old question of the Battle of the Salts.
This is specifically addressing the huge disparity in price compared to all other competitive brands.


Instant ocean regular purple lid (not Reef Crystals) by the 50 gallon bag equivalence to other salts shows half price or even less than half cost of competing salts. We are talking about 40-50 bucks per bucket. for 4 50 gallon bags, it comes out to $45 or so for 200 gallons. And I always hoard some extra when they do have a promotion once every few months where the price is $9.50 per bag. That makes it like $39 for 200 gallons! Put it on subscribe and save every month and you get another 5% off so I stack bags every month until Amazon restricts my purchases per month. Lol

The question is not just about saving just a few dollars. Are the other salts worth double the price of IO?

Is double the price worth for it for the extra alk, calc and mag? Increasing the levels in IO via supplementation still doesn't justify the cost disparity.

What about the BS marketing: Are "vitamins" "amino acids" . Is all that stuff shown scientifically to have efficacy in our tanks? And still the same question: "Is it worth double the cost?"

There are plenty of Tank of the Months in Reef2Reef and more on Reefcentral, through the years which I have seen use Instant Ocean. They can have successful tanks on this salt and still save money.

I think Dr. Randy Holmes Farley even uses Instant Ocean salt. (I'm not sure lately, but that's what he was using many years ago.)
Anyone care to chime in your opinions? Make me switch salt. I'm bored and you know what that means...add a gadget or change something in the tank. I'm actually considering to get a protein skimmer after all these years! I'm testing out a Tunze 9004 on my frag tank to see if I'm not missing anything. Haven't used a skimmer in 20 years.

The only accurate way to chemically compare salt mixes is with a mass spectrometer, I think? And hobbyists aren’t equipped to compare the efficacy of one with another, that would take controlled experimentation and still I don’t think every other variable could be eliminated.

Everything in the pet industry has very high margins, that’s why it exists. Doesn’t matter what kind of product you’re talking about, in hobby spaces of all kinds, margins are double or more of that in other consumer goods spaces. Products with higher margins have more budget to spend on marketing, therefore allowing them to gain more market share.

Freedom of choice in consumer goods is a great thing. If you want to use IO, use IO. If someone else wants to use something else, they can. The market will determine the success (or failure) of a product and price point.

FWIW, I used IO for decades, when I started the hobby in 1993 it was the main (or maybe only) option. Now I use Red Sea Pro because I like to support Jewish-owned companies, and the cost of salt isn’t something that impacts me. This is my choice as a consumer, and I’m glad I have it!

Btw, different salt has different prices in different countries. OP, IO may be cheaper where you are, but that doesn’t necessarily make it cheaper globally. Although it may be, I don’t know.

 

[flashsmith]

I have 3 Cor's. All running since product launch. 2 x Cor 15 (return pump, skimmer) and 1 x Cor 20 (return pump). Cor 20 is powered outside the Neptune ecosystem, APS actually. I also have 1 Cor 15 spare, in a box. If any of the pumps fail I can rotate them in position since they all use the same connections.

One time I think I had a pump failure with the Cor 15 powering my skimmer. No skimmer bubbles or water movement. I swapped it out. Same thing. Thought it maybe was the controller. Opened a ticket with support and they got back to me within 24 hours and asked me to try a few things. I did, replied. I opted to buy just the block since it could be used as a spare in the bigger picture.

Put the new one in, same thing. Got me thinking something else is obviously wrong here. Disconnect the skimmer venturi and sure enough. Stombus snail is wedged in there blocking all water passage. Cleared that, put back the original pump, and Bob's your uncle. It worked. Boxed up the pump and now it is a spare.

My point in this wall of text is that while some do report issues, and have issues, there are many who don't have issues nor post about it. All of my cors have been running now since 2018. Pretty good track record and just the opposite of yours. Not that anyone is keeping score.

Not the products. Their customer service is as bad as hot dumpster juice. As a business owner myself it's unacceptable to ask a customer to give a deposit on a product that's under warranty. I've got current eflux pumps that have been running flawlessly for years at half the cost. So I don't get your point..

 

[Jeffcb]

The question is not just about saving just a few dollars. Are the other salts worth double the price of IO?

Simply siad... Yes.

 

[areefer01]

Not the products. Their customer service is as bad as hot dumpster juice. As a business owner myself it's unacceptable to ask a customer to give a deposit on a product that's under warranty. I've got current eflux pumps that have been running flawlessly for years at half the cost. So I don't get your point..

You missed the point. My Cor's have been running flawlessly. Support, when needed, has always been flawless. We both have different experiences which gets back to "my" point. Not everyone who uses their products has issues nor is it supportive to our hobby when one tries to bash a small business. As you, being an owner, are fully aware of.

You have a bad experience, I have a good one. Any more clarity or are you just that biased?

 

[Dana Riddle]

Yea. You have to be cautious about retailers doing reviews for brand names. They will have a bias for brands with higher velocity and/or better profit margin. I trust users review more than I trust retailers. Or gurus like @Dana Riddle or @Randy Holmes-Farley

Randy's the chemist guru, but I do have a formula for ASW from a 1976 "Standard Methods", it's pretty simple and I actually mixed some it in the lab. Used it in a 55-gallon with corals. Did OK. I'll get into the lab tomorrow, find it, and post the formula.

 

[ReeferSamster]

Randy's the chemist guru, but I do have a formula for ASW from a 1976 "Standard Methods", it's pretty simple and I actually mixed some it in the lab. Used it in a 55-gallon with corals. Did OK. I'll get into the lab tomorrow, find it, and post the formula.

Your review of Daniel's Reefi UNO's was what tipped me over the edge to get the Reefi's instead of the Radion G5's . The lights are fantastic. Thank you for your support for all us reefers. I value your analyses more than BRSs when it comes to lights,

 

[jcolliii]

To the OP's Q: No.