Best Reef Salt to use?

[revhtree Verified Admin]

That is what my LFS recommends so I’ll give it a shot. I think my main issue I’m not dosing enough at this point since coral are growing but stagnating as well. I don’t have any true love for IO and I can afford something a little pricier since my tank isn’t large where I’m doing large water changes. I’ll give it a shot and see how I fare in 3 months. If my LFS swears by it it must be decent

I thought that was a Bounce Mushroom behind this girl at first! HA!

 

[Kooma]

I have been Instant ocean reef crystal and although it’s worked well the price has pretty much doubled and for almost $90-100 after tax, I’d rather spend my money on a better quality salt, if there is one. Anyone recommend anything?

I switched from reef crystals to the purple bucket on my last tank build. Watch petsmart for 25% off sales, a 180gal bucket is like $60.

Won’t find salt for that price from other brands.

 

[kitti-fish]

For context this is my current setup. I’m very happy with the progress but I know it can be better

 

[kitti-fish]

I have been Instant ocean reef crystal and although it’s worked well the price has pretty much doubled and for almost $90-100 after tax, I’d rather spend my money on a better quality salt, if there is one. Anyone recommend anything?

I switched from reef crystals to the purple bucket on my last tank build. Watch petsmart for 25% off sales, a 180gal bucket is like $60.

Won’t find salt for that price from other brands.

What’s the purple bucket?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

For context this is my current setup. I’m very happy with the progress but I know it can be better

Looking good, keep it up!

 

[slingfox]

Not sure in cost but blue bucket mixes clean and fast. Add salt, bring to temp, adjust SG, takes around 30 minutes to mix. Once at temp and SG your good to go.
Been doing this with blue bucket, I get the bag, for 2 years now.

I used to use Red Sea Coral Pro. I didn’t like the nasty looking brown residue it left in my mixing barrel. I believe that residue is harmless but I am OCD and want things as clean as possible.

Tropic Marine and Nyos Pure mix faster and far cleaner (eg, Nyos mixed in 5 minutes or so). Tropic Marine currently much more expensive whereas Nyos salt is comparably priced and comes with an ICP associated with each bucket.

 

[slingfox]

What’s the purple bucket?

Normal IO comes in a purple bucket vs IO Reef Crystals is an orange bucket

 

[kitti-fish]

What’s the purple bucket?

Normal IO comes in a purple bucket vs IO Reef Crystals is an orange bucket

I thought the normal was only good if you don’t have corals

 

[X-37B]

I used to use Red Sea Coral Pro. I didn’t like the nasty looking brown residue it left in my mixing barrel. I believe that residue is harmless but I am OCD and want things as clean as possible.

Tropic Marine and Nyos Pure mix faster and far cleaner (eg, Nyos mixed in 5 minutes or so). Tropic Marine currently much more expensive whereas Nyos salt is comparably priced and comes with an ICP associated with each bucket.

Yea when I ran IO I dropped in a small 1/4 cup of carbon in a nylon bag to the mixing barrel. It got rid of all the crud and the water was crystal clear. Dont need it with blue bucket so far.

 

[slingfox]

At 1:51:40 of this podcast Than from Tidal Gardens and Terrell from PTR Reef talk about why they switched to Nyos Pure. TG had been using Reef Crystals for decades and PT was previously using RedSea Blue Bucket.

Than specifically states: “I think it is pretty clear that the expensive German stuff is better than Reef Crystals.”

 

[KC2020]

What’s the purple bucket?

The Aquaforest bucket is as purple as they get but they also have several salts.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I thought the normal was only good if you don’t have corals

A common misconception. I use normal IO (purple) and would not use Reef Crystals. The latter contains organics that I do not want in a salt mix.

 

[Kooma]

What’s the purple bucket?

Just normal instant ocean salt, not the reef crystals version.

 

[THE_MAD_REEFER]

I'm using Fritz RPM blue box. It mixes super clean and consistent so far. It also includes some trace elements like strontium in the mix. I've seen that Nyos does an ICP on the batches and post the results on a sticker. If I wasn't getting good results from Fritz that's who I would change to.

Me too, it will leave a film in my mixing barrel after a month or so and it has a smell but it is crystal clear and always clean.

 

[gabelex14]

I'm using Fritz RPM blue box. It mixes super clean and consistent so far. It also includes some trace elements like strontium in the mix. I've seen that Nyos does an ICP on the batches and post the results on a sticker. If I wasn't getting good results from Fritz that's who I would change to.

Me too, it will leave a film in my mixing barrel after a month or so and it has a smell but it is crystal clear and always clean.

I did run into a low Alk test last night, which was odd because my calc and mag levels were normal. I may be switching to Tropic Marin reef pro if it continues to be an issue

 

[docscorals]

I have been Instant ocean reef crystal and although it’s worked well the price has pretty much doubled and for almost $90-100 after tax, I’d rather spend my money on a better quality salt, if there is one. Anyone recommend anything?

I started off with Red Sea and when I started adding more tanks I was concerned about the cost. I loved Red Sea, mixed relatively clean. I then used IO for a while but it was too dirty. I switched to Nyos and as others have said it mixes clean, and fast. I love that they give you a QR code so you can get the ICP for the batch. I’ve been using it for about 6 months and couldn’t be happier.

 

[dloberry]

I use the Fritz red box because that is what is readily available without shipping. Fritz mixes well which I live and has stable parameters. I choose the red box because I keep my alkalinity around 9.5, so using red box with 10% water changes weekly does not swing my alk much.

 

[JTP424]

A common misconception. I use normal IO (purple) and would not use Reef Crystals. The latter contains organics that I do not want in a salt mix.

Might switch to purple!!! I'm running orange....

 

[Kasrift]

I'll give a different take on this answer and say there isn't a best salt, as it could differ for the use case. I get the title says "reef", so I'll center some of my answer there, but I use different salts based on use case.

For example, I use Aquaforest Sea Salt for mixing up for culturing phytoplankton and brine shrimp. As mentioned by others, it mixes cleaner than instant ocean and has a low calcium, which helps for some phyto culturing to keep it from falling out of suspension.

I use Tropic Marin syn biotic salt or Aquaforest Hybrid for my quarantine tanks. The probiotic salts supposedly helps with new fish stock and if I seed a quarantine tank early before I stock it with fish it gives it some time to build up some bacteria.

I use Tropic Marin Bio Actif salt if nutrients are high, otherwise just Aquaforest Hybrid since they are very similar parameters and it is cheaper.

I have three different salts on hand at any given time and sometimes mix Bio Actif and Aquaforest.

 

[kenchilada]

I stopped using IO because the mag is all over the place. Realized for what I spend on mag supplements to fix it, I might as well buy the good salt.