Poll: What is Your Preferred Salt Brand?

What is Your Preferred Salt Brand?

  • Aquaforest

    Votes: 63 6.5%
  • Red Sea

    Votes: 253 26.1%
  • Instant Ocean

    Votes: 313 32.3%
  • ESV

    Votes: 12 1.2%
  • Brightwell

    Votes: 11 1.1%
  • HW Marinemix

    Votes: 47 4.9%
  • Tropic Marin

    Votes: 67 6.9%
  • Fritz

    Votes: 109 11.3%
  • I use natural sea/ocean water

    Votes: 17 1.8%
  • Other

    Votes: 76 7.9%

  • Total voters
    968

dbl

It Takes Less Energy to be Nice
View Badges
Joined
Mar 13, 2014
Messages
15,944
Reaction score
83,682
Location
SW Florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
An often debated topic, but let's see which salt mix people prefer. Feel free to discuss reasons or particulars in the thread below. I personally use Red Sea Blue Bucket. Switched over to blue bucket from the Coral Pro quite a while ago for the lower dKH.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
89,286
Reaction score
92,344
Location
Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You didn't allow for distinction between Reef Crystals and normal Instant Ocean, or the two types of Red Sea salt mixes.
 

Denisk

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 6, 2016
Messages
1,651
Reaction score
1,833
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have switched around between Reef crystals, regular instant oceans, and or blue bucket Red Sea. I still use all three depending on what kind of water change I do. They all have their pros and cons. Whether it be one that has really good parameters to what I keep my tank and or the other just being cost effective. I use instant ocean when I preform my regular 5 to 10 gallon water changes as it won’t cause any kind of swing with the size of the tank. If something were to happen where I needed to do a very large water change, I would use blue bucket Red Sea as that’s the closest to my parameters. I do this only from a cost perspective. I truly haven’t seen one salt be any better than another. I say pick a salt where you like the parameters and try to keep that stable.
 
OP
OP
dbl

dbl

It Takes Less Energy to be Nice
View Badges
Joined
Mar 13, 2014
Messages
15,944
Reaction score
83,682
Location
SW Florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You didn't allow for distinction between Reef Crystals and normal Instant Ocean, or the two types of Red Sea salt mixes.

Also, there might be a distinction between preferred and used -- cost, availability, etc. considerations.

Very good points @Randy Holmes-Farley and @DeepBlueSomething, which is why I did this poll as preferred "BRAND". Depending on results, we can do a followup poll on products within the brand and drill down on specifics.
 

Crabs McJones

Regional Reef Manager (AKA Revhtree's Boss)
View Badges
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
33,586
Reaction score
153,815
Location
Wisconsin
Rating - 100%
3   0   0
Instant Ocean Reef Crystals since the beginning. I've always had consistent parameters with it and it's never given me an issue :)
 

jsker

Reefing is all about the adventure
View Badges
Joined
Apr 11, 2015
Messages
25,093
Reaction score
77,773
Location
Saint Louis
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have used many brands and the current reef salt that I use, I am very happy with and the price is also right.
 

S-t-r-e-t-c-h

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
790
Reaction score
1,825
Location
Gainesville, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The idealist in me wants to say Hawaiian Marine or Tropic Marin, but I don't think I've ever actually used anything other than IO/RC in my own tanks...
 

Brew12

Electrical Gru
View Badges
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
22,488
Reaction score
57,147
Location
Decatur, AL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've settled on the Red Sea blue bucket because of the lower dkh also. Started with the IO products since I could easily get them locally.
 

Amps Reef Life

That Fish Guy
View Badges
Joined
Nov 19, 2015
Messages
657
Reaction score
885
Location
Dallas, Texas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My preferred salt is Instant Ocean Reef Crystals been using it for almost 3 years now. I have switched and tried a few other salts only because I was curious or a friend you gotta try this salt.... but always came back to Reef Crystals. It's always done right by me and been a stable salt. I have had 5 reef tanks so far.
 

falconut

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 26, 2013
Messages
387
Reaction score
294
Location
Blackwood, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I used Oceanic for about 12 years and had nothing but great results with it for my reef tank. My LFS was always the cheapest place to get it, and they just stopped carrying it this year. I shifted my tank to a FOWLR and switched over to regular Instant Ocean, it seems to work just fine, so that's what I voted is for.
 

DracoKat

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
2,787
Reaction score
2,514
Location
Lawnguyland, NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I use Reef Crystals for my main 75g tank. It's cheaper and works well for my tank.

I got Live Aquaria salt that I am using for my new 9 gal tank to test it out. I don't want to mix it in the 75 tank since it's still new on the market.
 

YellowFinsReef

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 12, 2017
Messages
197
Reaction score
188
Location
Minnesota
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I stick with instant ocean for my quarantine tank due to affordability, while I use only tropic marin bioactif and synbiotic for my reef and fowlr. The alkalinity is a bit on the lower end, but the mix has been consistent.
 

stylaster

Reefer since '90
View Badges
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
Messages
1,951
Reaction score
669
Location
Kelso, WA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I use kent and aquavitro salinity
 

TOP 10 Trending Threads

WHAT AMOUNT OF LIVE ROCK AND SAND SHOULD BE PRIORITIZED FOR OPTIMAL BIODIVERSITY/FILTRATION?

  • 100% live rock + bagged sand

    Votes: 38 26.2%
  • 100% dry rock + 100% live sand

    Votes: 48 33.1%
  • 50/50 live/dry rock, 50/50 live/bagged sand

    Votes: 33 22.8%
  • 75% live rock, 25% live sand

    Votes: 15 10.3%
  • 25% live rock, 75% live sand

    Votes: 11 7.6%
Back
Top