Best salt atm

[Potatohead]

Re read TMP specs.

I don't know about you, but I live in the real world.

Even on the spec sheet, it does not say 450+ or 1350+ like he asked for. Not to mention you don't seem to understand the difference between 1.025 and 1.026(4).

 

[chicago]

i have used many salts.. my big issues is always the brown cake that builds up in may vats.. 200 gallon and 60 gallon.. I do some pretty big water changes.. at times.. I looked and went through a lot of salt bands.. I have been using ESV now for years. It can be a bit of a pain if you do not do 50 and 100 changes.. comes in those sizes.. so i just dropp the 4 parts in ( ESV is a four part salt.) Two dry bags and two liquid containers..
I have not brown cake build up with it.. my only issue with it is... if you are looking for 1.025 you need to think 80 gallons water to the 100 gallon mix they sell.

 

[ryshark]

i have used many salts.. my big issues is always the brown cake that builds up in may vats.. 200 gallon and 60 gallon.. I do some pretty big water changes.. at times.. I looked and went through a lot of salt bands.. I have been using ESV now for years. It can be a bit of a pain if you do not do 50 and 100 changes.. comes in those sizes.. so i just dropp the 4 parts in ( ESV is a four part salt.) Two dry bags and two liquid containers..
I have not brown cake build up with it.. my only issue with it is... if you are looking for 1.025 you need to think 80 gallons water to the 100 gallon mix they sell.

ESV 100-gallon takes 98-gallons of water, not 80. Unless I’m misunderstanding what you’re saying. My only issue with ESV is when the water wasn’t salty enough, you have to put all 4 parts in again. However, I’ve eliminated that issue by just making it super salty and dialing it in with the RODI water. I like that it mixes in minutes, is super clean and consistently.
9 alk
450 cal
1400 mg

 

[SeaDweller]

I don't know about you, but I live in the real world.

Even on the spec sheet, it does not say 450+ or 1350+ like he asked for. Not to mention you don't seem to understand the difference between 1.025 and 1.026(4).

You must live in a world full of potatoes. You obviously didn’t read it the first time. Some one asked for the closest specs. Then again, your name is self proclaimed.

 

[Potatohead]

You must live in a world full of potatoes. You obviously didn’t read it the first time. Some one asked for the closest specs. Then again, your name is self proclaimed.

Well there's an intelligent rebuttal.

I will refer to what I said earlier:

Unless you consider low 400’s and high 1200’s close.

400 and 1280 is not is not close to what he asked for. An easier option for him is to use a higher parameter salt, which will mix up lower at 1.025, and then bring the alk down as required in the mixing barrel.

 

[SeaDweller]

Well there's an intelligent rebuttal.

I will refer to what I said earlier:



400 and 1280 is not is not close to what he asked for. An easier option for him is to use a higher parameter salt, which will mix up lower at 1.025, and then bring the alk down as required in the mixing barrel.

Do teach me more about salt, salt master. I just like to post random stuff without reading.

 

[looneywun7]

io all the way always consistent

 

[chicago]

my point on the ESV salt was that the 100 gallon bucket if you use 100 gallons of water does NOT produce 1.025.

 

[mattzang]

IO may be good for fish only tanks but I am speaking from experience when I say that if you are going to grow Stony corals, IO will eventually cause all sorts of imbalances in your Calcium and Alkalinity.
When I switched to Tropic Marin Pro those imbalances disappeared.
I am currently using Fritz RPM which is similar but cheaper than TM Pro.

idk, this guy seems to be doing ok with regular IO

 

[TheGreatWave]

I was wondering do a lot of you guys and gals order salt online now?
For myself it is a consideration that I can get it locally. Just in case of emergency, postal strike (which happens often enough), or even short on cash for big box online, or it's too late to order in time for a scheduled water change etc. etc. It's nice that I can get a 50 gallon bag of IO or reef crystals etc. at any place that sells anything remotely saltwater.
For the most part they are all reputable salts that have proven tanks like the one shown above, it would be a challenge for me to find a bad salt I think.
Incidentally I don't see how using IO causes imbalances over time, if it isn't imbalanced out of the box. I think I read that here? Imbalances over time means you are not changing enough water often enough, or not dosing to compensate, or changing too little too often.
If a person believed in imbalances, then they should also believe in a build up of toxins which is mentioned in that video. Doing 30% every 2 weeks as suggested in that video makes for a pretty stable system IMO. The guy says he buys two pallets of salt at a time so you know he is not looking waste it, especially when you consider that he could dose it for 2 more weeks and cut his salt consumption in half.

 

[JCRove06]

Another salt thread, lol. Just what we need.
I do understand however, why this is an important and recurring topic, so I'm really not criticizing.

That said, over the years I've probably used salt mix mentioned along with a few nobody has mentioned. And whenever I've changed to a new mix, I've always used it exclusively for at least 8-9 months to really get a good feel for how well it works for my tanks. Hands down, the best salt I've ever used is ESV. But the cost was high, and when I was no longer able to get it in anything larger than 100g units, I switched to Fritz RPM. The Fritz is the second best mix I've used. It is extremely consistent from batch to batch, and always very close to the published parameters. It mixes clean with no sediment or residue. I'm very pleased with it since switching to it about 18 months ago.

IO and Reef Crystal are by far the worst I ever used. They are cheap (especially IO) for a reason. Never again for me.

What’s wavy?

 

[chicago]

I had a store tell me they had an issue with Fritz and a spike in alk.. killed a bunch of stuff and they had issues when they reported this to Fritz... Just passing along..

 

[ckrausnc]

Ive had great luck with Hw salt I believe it's comparable to tropic

 

[TX_Punisher]

I had a store tell me they had an issue with Fritz and a spike in alk.. killed a bunch of stuff and they had issues when they reported this to Fritz... Just passing along..

Early on I used fritz and this happened to me. I even used their web form to log a complaint and was never contacted. Also had ca of 580! It sounds as if those issues have been fixed by Fritz since then.

 

[jda]

Most spike or inconsistent type of stuff is from not dry mixing the salt. I don't care what any manufacturer tells you about uniform particle size, the stuff will still settle and needs to be dry mixed quite well unless you use the whole container.

If you dry mixed, or used the whole container, of a salt and had calcium at 580, then that is no good at all. I had this actual problem with SeaChem when it was the darling salt of the day... not that high but still too high and not consistent from container to container. This was the last time that I wandered from IO... never again.

 

[TheGreatWave]

Most spike or inconsistent type of stuff is from not dry mixing the salt. I don't care what any manufacturer tells you about uniform particle size, the stuff will still settle and needs to be dry mixed quite well unless you use the whole container.

If you dry mixed, or used the whole container, of a salt and had calcium at 580, then that is no good at all. I had this actual problem with SeaChem when it was the darling salt of the day... not that high but still too high and not consistent from container to container. This was the last time that I wandered from IO... never again.

It would be interesting to see some actual proof from you instead of the usual hyperbole for a change.

In fact why don't you go ahead and do the experiment, show us how you can classify the calcium and stratify the ALK with shaking it. Do it, stop talking and go do it.
Prove to use it's the salt and not a mistake on your part. Most poor aquarists blame their problems on salt and light when really they don't know how to use the equipment.

 

[SeaDweller]

It would be interesting to see some actual proof from you instead of the usual hyperbole for a change.

In fact why don't you go ahead and do the experiment, show us how you can classify the calcium and stratify the ALK with shaking it. Do it, stop talking and go do it.
Prove to use it's the salt and not a mistake on your part. Most poor aquarists blame their problems on salt and light when really they don't know how to use the equipment.

 

[mattzang]

 

[Potatohead]

It would be interesting to see some actual proof from you instead of the usual hyperbole for a change.

In fact why don't you go ahead and do the experiment, show us how you can classify the calcium and stratify the ALK with shaking it. Do it, stop talking and go do it.
Prove to use it's the salt and not a mistake on your part. Most poor aquarists blame their problems on salt and light when really they don't know how to use the equipment.

I don’t think he is who you think he is...

 

[TheGreatWave]

Well really, which is it? Not dry mixing or the manufacturer messing up the recipe? Hundreds of people get by using salt from the same batch yet this person claims to have parameter issues with her one bucket. It's never chasing parameters or trendy salts that did it. No can't be that.

No mention of the problem that compelled the salt switch to begin with.

No mention on the IORC mixing procedure, or in reality she doesn't actually dry mix instant ocean.

Doesn't explain how her magic way of "dry mixing" is different then the magical mixing sitting in the back of the truck, if you were to believe it separates. Always a spike, never a dip. Doesn't explains how the loose bags get handled at the store without accidentally mixing. Never adds water to salt, would never do that. Doesn't mention the certified calcium test kit used, probably expired API in a water-spotted vial. No comparison of pH of water used to create the mountainous alk spike. Doesn't explain how to scrape the stratified salt of in layers to avoid accidentally mixing the salt when scooping. When you sit back and process grandiose declarations like these, they are ridiculous.

Funny the instructions on two different brands of box of salt here (Including IO) and doesn't say a thing about dry-mixing the salt. NOTHING. It does say to use an airstone, so what kind of airstone did she use? It does say to use a calibrated refract and to bring the temp up, add salt to water slowly. Both brands suggest waiting a few hours or "waiting" before use. See where this is going? Without the use of an airstone you can totally disregard what this person says about it.

Since it's common to declare absolutes based on emotions I am going to side with the manufacturer and say that the finely ground salt sitting in bags, boxes or buckets does not separate to any appreciable degree during shipment, if anything it compacts. These forums would be absolutely littered with threads about it if it were a thing to worry about.