Reef Salt?

[Lynchcon]

Hi Guys,

I'm planning on mixing my own water and wondering what is the best salt to get?

Was looking at red sea pro salt but it's the dearest.

Any views on Kent Reef Salt or Reef Flowers Caledonia?

Thanks
Conor

 

[ZoWhat]

Asking for the "best" salt is like asking where is the "best" place to eat dinner.

We could spend the next 1,000 pages debating what's "best".

All salts are acceptable good salts. It comes down to how much you want to spend.

Theory is, the more money, the more labgrade the salt is. Is labgrade the best? Hotly debated topic

* Top of the line is Tropic Marin but very pricey. So pricey that their niche is usually the coral nano tank owners with not a lot of water volume.

* Just under Tropic Marin would prob be Brightwell salt.

* Fritz, RedSea Coral Pro and Seachem (and your Kent) are middle of the road pricing

* IO and IORC are generally the most affordable salts.

A lot of it too....has to do with timing a Sale. You can get a middle of the road salt for cheap if you're in the right place at the right time. Hit up an online sale at the right week.

 

[Cell]

Started with Red Sea Pro, recently switched to LA because it was 50% off. Red Sea Pro is very fine and dissolves more quickly, but it also was quite a bit dustier, every scoop would create salt dust wafting out of my brute. Happy with LA so far.

 

[SeaDweller]

Any salt will work, but it depends on the parameters YOU want to keep, so choose a salt that mixes up closely to what you want to keep at all times and youre done. Regular cheap ole instant ocean works, but I prefer what I personally feel is the best: Tropic Marin Pro. I mixed up 40 gallons this AM and within 15 mins, the water is crystal clear. Can't beat that, and the cost of the salt is minimal compared to the rest of the hobby, so I don't mind spending what I spend on it (and I don't spend anything near $100 per bucket)

 

[Lynchcon]

Thanks for all the info guys.. appreciated.

 

[W1ngz]

There's a bunch of criteria to ask yourself to pick the 'best' salt for you.

-Price. Some will assume that the most expensive is the 'best', because that's what consumerism teaches us.
-How quick it mixes. Some are clear in 15-30 minutes, others take a few hours
-Parameters
-local availability

Personally I go with Aquaforest reef salt because it mixes quick and hits pretty well right on the mark where I keep my parameters. It's not the cheapest or most expensive option, but I don't have a lot of water storage, so having buckets in my kitchen needs to be a very temporary situation. I also know my LFS has stacks of it when I need some.

 

[reefiniteasy]

I use Fritz RPM Blue Box and I love it. Never a problem. I have also used ESV. It’s great quality and mixes very well. Being that it’s a 4-part system it was hard for my students to mix. Otherwise I might still be using it.

 

[rkpetersen]

Currently using hw-MarineMix Reefer.
Pure synthetic salt, mixes up fast and clear, alk level is a good match for my tanks.
Have used both RPM and Coral Pro previously.
RPM didn't seem to mix up cleanly all the time.
Coral Pro is so jacked in calcium and alk that it would precipitate on container walls and heater.
If I ever switch again it would probably to be try ESV; have heard good things about it (and I use their 2-part.)

 

[gearhead]

I like rpm pro it has very high cal and mag and low dkh. At 1.025 it is 8dkh and 450cal and around 1450 on mag. I run high levels so i love it for that and low alk. Most pro salts run like 11dkh.