Poll: What is Your Preferred Salt Brand?

[d2mini]

Seachem should be up there.... AquaVitro Salinty is what I use and always end up going back to after trying something else. So i chose other.

 

[BigJohnny]

I’ve used probably 70% of them Fritz without a question. I used Red Sea coral pro for years and I had trouble with keeping alk steady after a water change. If you want steady alk 8.0 I would advise this salt mix...

It seems a lot of people have been having problems recently with varying alk and magnesium levels, you've never experienced that? How many boxes have you used? I really wanted to try it but I was scared away by so many bad reviews.

 

[BigJohnny]

Tried and true Tropic Marin Pro Reef.Very happy customer! If I ever build an in-ground backyard pool I'm going to make it saltwater and fill it up with Tropic Marin Pro Reef. I bet I'd love it as much as my reef does!!!

What dkH do you normally get from that salt and at what ppt/s.g.

Another salt I wanted to try but people complained of super low alk, like sub 7 dkh. You never know if it's user error though etc.

 

[BigJohnny]

Seachem should be up there.... AquaVitro Salinty is what I use and always end up going back to after trying something else. So i chose other.

What do you like about it most d2mini?

 

[Mundeez]

Just made the switch from Fritz, I was fine with it until I started getting really high mag levels, to mixing Red Sea Pro and Red Sea blue bucket together.

This. Same exact problem. What result did the crazy high mag have on your tank?

 

[d2mini]

What do you like about it most d2mini?

It's always been consistent for me (no bad batches/severely elevated parameters), parameters are even and close to NSW (nothing elevated), it's a larger bucket and actually mixes up to 1.025-6 so it's not as expensive as it may seem, and my tanks do well with it. I like how batch parameters are posted right on the bucket. Best bucket in the biz, too. lol

Other salts I've tried I go through too quick and aren't as cheap as they seam, I hate when certain parameters like Alk are elevated, I've had TWO bad batches of Fritz and a bad batch from another company, and I refuse to use any salt you have to mix yourself before adding water like HW.

This. Same exact problem. What result did the crazy high mag have on your tank?

Same here, crazy high Mag. Took months to get my tank back down to normal. No resulting damage though. Mag can be high at least short term with no ill effect.

 

[Syed123]

Rumour has it that our local Big Als stores who for many years has been a major distributor in Instant Ocean & Reef Crystal salt supplies during the annual Boxing Week Sale, have lost their distributing license for Instant Ocean salts. That's kinda worrying as that's when most local reefers would converge, purchase and stock up for their whole year's supply of salt! There's Rebates offer on top of the Sale price too but that may all end now ... ;Nailbiting;Sorry

Yeah they don't sell it anymore. One of the workers told me a few months ago their contract with IO is done. You can still get IO from Canada Corals. They probably will have a similar sale of the salt on Boxing week.

 

[cardiffgiant]

I make 30gal batches and do CAWC’s. I use 5 cups of reef crystals and 10 cups of instant ocean. For now, that mix matches my demand for Ca Kh and Mg really well

 

[DHill6]

T M Pro, I don’t have to dose , coral has vivid color, Parameters are consistent noting CA is high in the last three buckets. Coral doesn’t seem to mind it.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Yeah they don't sell it anymore. One of the workers told me a few months ago their contract with IO is done. You can still get IO from Canada Corals. They probably will have a similar sale of the salt on Boxing week.

Syed123 (if ur the same dude I know),
Big Als much closer to home ... but thanks for the heads up dude!

 

[BigJohnny]

It's always been consistent for me (no bad batches/severely elevated parameters), parameters are even and close to NSW (nothing elevated), it's a larger bucket and actually mixes up to 1.025-6 so it's not as expensive as it may seem, and my tanks do well with it. I like how batch parameters are posted right on the bucket. Best bucket in the biz, too. lol

always appreciate reef salts who's gallon per bucket rating actually equates to batches at 1.025/1.026. Params on the bucket are nice too and yes, I've heard it's a sweet sealing bucket lol

Other salts I've tried I go through too quick and aren't as cheap as they seam, I hate when certain parameters like Alk are elevated, I've had TWO bad batches of Fritz and a bad batch from another company, and I refuse to use any salt you have to mix yourself before adding water like HW.
.

which HW salt do you have to mix yourself before adding? My HW marine mix reefer is one bag. I've always poured bags into my salt storage container which mixes it up well though, since they can all settle and separate in transit supposedly, but it's not like some salts where the components are in separate bags and you have to mix them. Are you saying aquavitro salinity doesn't settle during transit like other salts? I'm not sure how that's possible.

 

[Victoria M]

I like salinity also. I have decided I am going back to it when my tank is up and running again.

 

[vipete1985]

I started with Instant Ocean but I found the parameters varied too much between batches. Switched to H2Ocean for a bit afterwards but ultimately the parameters were too elevated and far off from my own. Finally settled with Red Sea blue bucket and couldn’t be happier. The parameters are nearly identical to how I run my system and highly value MyBatch. For anyone who isn’t aware, Red Sea lab tests every batch of salt they produce and those results are available online. You simply key in the code printed on your bucket and receive an email with the full lab analysis. Red Sea claims their tests are accurate enough to be used as a standard solution which is quite impressive when compared with the competition.

What are the parameters on the blue bucket mixed at 1.025

 

[vipete1985]

I have been using tropic Marin original sea salt for my reef for years....it mixes instantaneously and clean as an be....my only gripe is the DKH is about 8 which is fine for me but calcium is 380 and mag is about 1100 which are both low for me....I dose Brightwell additives to it to make it around 9dkh 420 ca and 1250-1300 mag....it’s annoying but I don’t want to disturb what works

 

[Syed123]

Syed123 (if ur the same dude I know),
Big Als much closer to home ... but thanks for the heads up dude!

No problem. Yeah I'm the same guy from gta aquaria.

 

[Salty1962]

AquaForest Reef Salt.

 

[BigJohnny]

AquaForest Reef Salt.

What dkH do you get from that salt at what ppt/s.g.?

 

[Salty1962]

What dkH do you get from that salt at what ppt/s.g.?

@ 8.1 @ .026

 

[BigJohnny]

@ 8.1 @ .026

You've never dealt with the high calc/mag issues others have complained about, inconsistencies from batch to batch, not matching the params on the label etc?

 

[d2mini]

which HW salt do you have to mix yourself before adding? My HW marine mix reefer is one bag. I've always poured bags into my salt storage container which mixes it up well though, since they can all settle and separate in transit supposedly, but it's not like some salts where the components are in separate bags and you have to mix them. Are you saying aquavitro salinity doesn't settle during transit like other salts? I'm not sure how that's possible.

Sorry, it may not have been HW. It was a few years ago. Whichever one that comes in like 3 or 4 separate components that have to be measure out and mixed.