Anyone has used these brands of salts?

[nanomania]

Dupla premium reef salt
Reef crystals
Reef octopus
Aquaforest reef salt
Brightwell neo marine

Any idea how they are different? Or is it just the change of labels/brands?

 

[reefer4816]

Hello. So they all have different levels of ca, mag and alk. Along with diff levels of trace elements. They can all be found online or their website. Or the other various threads on this topic.

Some prefer companies that use higher alk and ca to help supplement and some like companies that provide ca at 410 and alk at 8

 

[nanomania]

Hello. So they all have different levels of ca, mag and alk. Along with diff levels of trace elements. They can all be found online or their website. Or the other various threads on this topic.

Some prefer companies that use higher alk and ca to help supplement and some like companies that provide ca at 410 and alk at 8

Im asking because iv been relying completely on weekly wc for my softie dominated tank with just a few lps. In my 130g.

 

[reefer4816]

IMO I'd use whatever salt you want. I use fritz.

And only do 10 percent per week. And start dosing ca, alk and mag. Also use the Red Sea color abcd supplements for trace.

This is a much better way of replenishing elements than just a water change

I only do water changes to help export excess detritus and nitrates.

 

[Scott.h]

For the most part salt is salt. Some you will have to dose cal and mg, some you won't. Softies don't much care as long as perimeters are in the "range". I chose my salt based on my desire to run low alk. RC is too high. Some salts are a bit more consistent bucket to bucket but they all very.

 

[nanomania]

IMO I'd use whatever salt you want. I use fritz.

And only do 10 percent per week. And start dosing ca, alk and mag. Also use the Red Sea color abcd supplements for trace.

This is a much better way of replenishing elements than just a water change

I only do water changes to help export excess detritus and nitrates.

Problem is iv used redsea alk test, salifert alk test and seachem alk test. None are accurate. Alk is the major concern in my tank. I use seachem reef builder for alk, and even at 7.5 according to these test kits, my corals dont look good. The leathers melt and the palys loose the green completely. If i stop dosing and just do a single wc, everything goes back to normal. Thats why im considering only wc or supplementation(didnt work)

 

[GoVols]

Problem is iv used redsea alk test, salifert alk test and seachem alk test. None are accurate. Alk is the major concern in my tank. I use seachem reef builder for alk, and even at 7.5 according to these test kits, my corals dont look good. The leathers melt and the palys loose the green completely. If i stop dosing and just do a single wc, everything goes back to normal. Thats why im considering only wc or supplementation(didnt work)

Have you tried the Hanna alk checker?
And dosing something like Red Sea "Reef Energy" to keep your organics up for your corals?
Your water may be stripped away too clean for softies.

 

[nanomania]

Have you tried the Hanna alk checker?
And dosing something like Red Sea "Reef Energy" to keep your organics up for your corals?
Your water may be stripped away too clean for softies.

My no3 are at 15 i dont even have a skimmer yet.

 

[Scott.h]

I'm not a fan of spending more then I have to. Honestly if I started again for my softie tank I'd run instant ocean (not rc) and dose accordingly. If you don't want to deal with dosing, the mg and cal are elevated enough in Tropic Marin pro reef that you wouldn't have to do anything but maybe a little soda ash for alk, depending on your stock. Triton tests with mine show really good results freshly mixed. 10% weekly water change and you would be done without worry. I'm sure red sea would be the same also, I just haven't tested that to know for sure. Again, you can make any salt work if you want to dose. If not buy a more expensive salt.

 

[nanomania]

I'm not a fan of spending more then I have to. Honestly if I started again for my softie tank I'd run instant ocean (not rc) and dose accordingly. If you don't want to deal with dosing, the mg and cal are elevated enough in Tropic Marin pro reef that you wouldn't have to do anything but maybe a little soda ash for alk, depending on your stock. Triton tests with mine show really good results freshly mixed. 10% weekly water change and you would be done without worry. I'm sure red sea would be the same also, I just haven't tested that to know for sure. Again, you can make any salt work if you want to dose. If not buy a more expensive salt.

We dont get tropic marine here in india. I would like to know if someone has tested reef octo salt, as its the cheapest, 20kg @ 55$

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO I'd use whatever salt you want. I use fritz.

And only do 10 percent per week. And start dosing ca, alk and mag. Also use the Red Sea color abcd supplements for trace.

This is a much better way of replenishing elements than just a water change

I only do water changes to help export excess detritus and nitrates.

It can do more than that, such as exporting organics, restabilizing the ratio of major ions such as chloride and sulfate, and exporting accumulating metals.

 

[GoVols]

Either way, there is no magic salt mix.

Changing salt mixes will not help @nanomania with his coral health.

This is a water chemistry (maybe lighting) issue that has nothing to do, with a certain salt mix brand.

Regards, GoVols

 

[justingraham]

Either way, there is no magic salt mix.

Changing salt mixes will not help @nanomania with his coral health.

This is a water chemistry (maybe lighting) issue that has nothing to do, with a certain salt mix brand.

Regards, GoVols

Yea I agree if four test kits are all saying 7.5 dkh I think there is another problem somewhere. How were you doseing the two part to bring back the dkh? Was it by any chance getting shot directly onto ur corals? That would make them burn. But other then that I have no idea.

And as far as salt goes out of the one you listed above pick the one that is closest to what parameters you want to run.

I like the Red Sea blue bucket and the one fritz because they are close to NSW.

I might not be the best help as I haven't done a water change in about a year

 

[GoVols]

One last thing:
Every time you mix a fresh batch of new salt water from any brand's new bucket or box, test the big-3 to make sure they are inline to that product.

If you receive a bad batch, better to catch it and adjust if you can before it hits your tank.

For my own reasons I'm using the Red Sea "Blue Bucket" at this time too but I've used regular IO most of the time and my reef's have never looked better or worse over the years by using any certain brand of salt mix.

Regards, GoVols

 

[nanomania]

Thanks guys.

 

[AnnaVoronina]

Hello.
Now I useAquaforest reef salt almost a year. And balling with salt.
There is no big problem.

 

[DSC reef]

Nano, try not to make to many changes at once. One of your tank issues might be instability. Salifert is very accurate for alk IMO but I do like the Hannah now that I use it. Pick a brand of salt and stay with it. I agree with Randy that water changes are good for than nutrient removal.