Salt and flow

[officialreefbros]

Hi! I'm looking at starting my first tank and have my eye on a waterbox peninsula mini 25. With this I'm looking at using the high alk red sea pro salt. Is that needed for a mostly softy and LPS tank? Would it help increase coral growth? Is it harder to maintain the higher alk?

Do you have any flow pump recommendations for it? I

 

[blaxsun]

I've used the Red Sea Coral Pro salt and the corals, fish and inverts all seemed to do really well (even with the higher alkalinity). I've since switched to Tropic Marin, but a lot have also reported good results with just the Red Sea salt (regular alkalinity).

In terms of pumps, I like Sicce. The SDC 3.0 (while a little more expensive and probably more flow than you need) is wireless, controllable and will pay for itself in a year with the DC vs. AC power costs.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Salts are salts, and the differences between them are negligible. Pick a salt that you can get reliably, that's the biggest consideration in choosing one.

 

[blaxsun]

Salts are salts, and the differences between them are negligible. Pick a salt that you can get reliably, that's the biggest consideration in choosing one.

Yes and no. Salt can have quite an impact. The Red Sea salts are quite different than other salts, and Tropic Marin is probably the best salt you can get with pool salt being on the other end of the spectrum (don't use pool salt). Everything else falls in-between...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi! I'm looking at starting my first tank and have my eye on a waterbox peninsula mini 25. With this I'm looking at using the high alk red sea pro salt. Is that needed for a mostly softy and LPS tank? Would it help increase coral growth? Is it harder to maintain the higher alk?

Do you have any flow pump recommendations for it? I

It reduces need to add or dose alk especially with water changes in the equation,
Alk can be beneficial when maintained at safe levels or can be your enemy at high levels so be sure to test alk with a Very reliable test kit (Not API either) - You want range of 8-11
The MAG and CA content are also elevated in this mix

 

[vetteguy53081]

I personally use Tropic Marin which offers me spot on levels along with a low level of carbon dosing in which my PO4 and NO3 levels are also in acceptable range derived from seaweed extracts

 

[Pntbll687]

The coral pro salt is fine, and you'll find tons of threads/people who have had great results with it. On the flip side, you'll also find people who say it's terrible and it nuked their tanks. I would pick a salt, and stick with it. Personally I use regular instant ocean, it's cheap and available everywhere if I need more.

It isn't any harder to maintain alk at 11 than it it at 7. You need to test and know how much alk the tank is using in a 24hr period, and dose the appropriate amount to make up for what the corals are using. I would just do regular water changes until you get to .5dkh consumption per day, then look at dosing.

As for return pump, I'm a AC constant speed pump kind of guy. A sicce sycra silent 1.5 (350gph) is probably more than enough. The major factor when choosing a pump is going to be the size of the chamber in the back.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Yes and no. Salt can have quite an impact. The Red Sea salts are quite different than other salts, and Tropic Marin is probably the best salt you can get with pool salt being on the other end of the spectrum (don't use pool salt). Everything else falls in-between...

There are plenty of examples of beautiful reef tanks that are running with normal IO salts, which would probably be on the lower end of the "salt spectrum." It's not about what you use, but how you're using it. You can dose to keep your ALK up, and eventually even those high ALK salts are going to need supplementation as your coral mass increases.

 

[blaxsun]

There are plenty of examples of beautiful reef tanks that are running with normal IO salts, which would probably be on the lower end of the "salt spectrum." It's not about what you use, but how you're using it. You can dose to keep your ALK up, and eventually even those high ALK salts are going to need supplementation as your coral mass increases.

Yes, there are certainly tanks that thrive with low-end salts. There are also tanks that fair poorly with low-end salts, so what I take away from that is that there can be a lot of other factors (not unlike running 91% octane vs. 87% octane).

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Yes, there are certainly tanks that thrive with low-end salts. There are also tanks that fair poorly with low-end salts, so what I take away from that is that there can be a lot of other factors (not unlike running 91% octane vs. 87% octane).

Exactly my point, those "other factors" are much more important than the brand of salt you're using

 

[officialreefbros]

Thanks everyone for the tips! I'm thinking I'm going to go with the succe 1.0 due to it being the biggest that the chamber can fit. As for the Salk I keep looking at the instant ocean because of the price or red sea because of the fast mixing. Is Tropic Marin worth the high price?