LET'S GET SALTY: What's a FAIR price for salt and what are you using in 2020?

[Brian_68]

IO or Reef Crystals, in fact a IO 160 bucket is $35 now on Amazon.

 

[Jgro1413]

Fritz rpm here, may be changing to io shortly tho

 

[gerards_reef]

Tropic Marin Pro Reef here

 

[Roy Arena]

Instant Ocean is my go to for salt. Usually less than $35 a bucket when on sale.

 

[BillyN]

I prefer frequent water changes instead of dosing so the cost of Tropic Marin Pro is tolerable.

 

[Kenneth Hooper]

I use IO as well and add to it if I need to.
I don't believe that consistency is much of an issue when you are only changing 10-20% at a time.

 

[happyhourhero]

Blue bucket for me. Always the bag

 

[cloggins]

I buy Tropic Marin Pro by the bucket. I've been happy w/ BRS's price. So, chose <$100.

 

[X-37B]

Esv-b ionic. I use it in my 45 frag and 120. Its about $60 for 100 gallons.
I dont do water changes but do add it to keep salinity 1.026-1.027 from skimmer nog removal.
When I remove detrius I replace with new which is about 1 gallon a month.
So a100 gallon bucket lasts quite some time for me.
So thats about $120 for 200 gallons

 

[fermentedhiker]

Been using liveaquaria salt but switching back to plain IO since the price on LA went up.

 

[Ricky_Reef]

I need something that's close to my 8.6 All, 450 Cal and 1350-1400 Mag,,,, I just did a 20 gallon water change with Reef Crystal's on a 90 Gal tank and threw my Alk up to 10.2, Cal to 510 and Mag is sitting at 1695..... Hope my corals survive!

 

[Pntbll687]

regular IO for me. I have good source, usually in the $25 range

 

[Dolelo96]

Red Sea Blue bucket. I used Tropic Marin Pro in my 40 gallon. LFS suggested I try RS when I bought my RSR 425xl. I can’t say I love it more than TMP, but RS does mix closet to my parameters. I can’t honestly say my tank does better using RS. I’m debating going back to TMP.

 

[Billldg]

HW Marine Reefer mix

 

[B7Joe]

My LFS sells me saltwater for $1 a gallon, RO water at $.50 a gallon. I happily buy it. I realize this isn’t feasible for larger tank sizes, but no RO system to worry about, no time spent mixing salt, and letting someone else fuss with testing is just absolutely worth it to me.

I did the same thing until I realized how quickly my containers were getting yellow and gross, and literally found dead leaves and sticks floating in a batch of saltwater. Also started checking the RO and it was not 0 tds. Not even close. At the same time I was having param issues so for me, I feel much better having full control. Plus, it’s a whole heckofalot easier to carry containers of water from my shed to my house rather than back/forth from the LFS. If you’re not having any of those issues though and it works for you then it’s all good.

 

[Magellan]

I did the same thing until I realized how quickly my containers were getting yellow and gross, and literally found dead leaves and sticks floating in a batch of saltwater. Also started checking the RO and it was not 0 tds. Not even close. At the same time I was having param issues so for me, I feel much better having full control. Plus, it’s a whole heckofalot easier to carry containers of water from my shed to my house rather than back/forth from the LFS. If you’re not having any of those issues though and it works for you then it’s all good.

I used to test it anyway, but over time and after getting the same consistently good results I started testing less and less, and finally quit altogether. Sounds like your LFS was scooping water out of a canal lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

TROPIC MARIN ACTIF
Not cheap, but neither are my fish and corals !!

 

[Brad Waddell Wrath's Reef]

Fritz RPM Blue has been great and I pay $50 a box.

 

[Stormageddon]

Started out using IO Reef Crystals but I’ve been using HW Marine For the past 18 months.

It mixes up crystal clear, doesn’t leave much residue and mixes up at 9dKh right out of the box

 

[MnFish1]

regular IO for me. I have good source, usually in the $25 range

Curious -25$ for 'what'