Salt Choice

[412Reef]

Hi All,

Me again!

I set up my 90 gallon with instant ocean. While at the LFS tonight a guy told me to stop using that salt immediately. Not sure why. My tank is going to have an anemone, fish of course some soft corals to start (looking at some zoas to get started) and maybe some harder skeleton ones once I get up and running and learn a lot more.

Is instant ocean really that bad or was he being foolish? Before i buy another bucket of instant ocean, if I need to switch id like to know what folks recommend.

Thanks!

 

[winzig]

I have used instant ocean orange lid for ever with great success as have many many other reefers.

 

[Fish Fan]

Hi All,

Me again!

I set up my 90 gallon with instant ocean. While at the LFS tonight a guy told me to stop using that salt immediately. Not sure why. My tank is going to have an anemone, fish of course some soft corals to start (looking at some zoas to get started) and maybe some harder skeleton ones once I get up and running and learn a lot more.

Is instant ocean really that bad or was he being foolish? Before i buy another bucket of instant ocean, if I need to switch id like to know what folks recommend.

Thanks!

There's zero reason to stop using Instant Ocean salts "immediately"

While there are other, arguably better choices, and it's true that IM mixes kind of 'dirty' in your mixing bucket, it's still likely the most popular salt mix in use by a wide margin. Most large public aquaria that are not using natural seawater use Instant Ocean salt mix, as do many, many successful hobbyists.

I'm curious, was this "guy" at the LFS another customer or an employee who may prefer that you buy a salt mix that they carry, or at least make more money on?

Again, there's some legitimate reasons to choose a salt mix that's not Instant Ocean, but for all practical purposes Instant Ocean is a fine choice

Good luck!

 

[maroun.c]

Many have used it successfully, yes there are better salts which would have a better mix of elements you have tondose to compensate with IO uet nothing as scary as stopping using it immediately .

 

[412Reef]

Hi All,

Me again!

I set up my 90 gallon with instant ocean. While at the LFS tonight a guy told me to stop using that salt immediately. Not sure why. My tank is going to have an anemone, fish of course some soft corals to start (looking at some zoas to get started) and maybe some harder skeleton ones once I get up and running and learn a lot more.

Is instant ocean really that bad or was he being foolish? Before i buy another bucket of instant ocean, if I need to switch id like to know what folks recommend.

Thanks!

There's zero reason to stop using Instant Ocean salts "immediately"

While there are other, arguably better choices, and it's true that IM mixes kind of 'dirty' in your mixing bucket, it's still likely the most popular salt mix in use by a wide margin. Most large public aquaria that are not using natural seawater use Instant Ocean salt mix, as do many, many successful hobbyists.

I'm curious, was this "guy" at the LFS another customer or an employee who may prefer that you buy a salt mix that they carry, or at least make more money on?

Again, there's some legitimate reasons to choose a salt mix that's not Instant Ocean, but for all practical purposes Instant Ocean is a fine choice

Good luck!

He was actually just another customer and when I told him what my plans where for the tank I when he said I should stop using that.

It’s just the standard purple lid bucket. Im perfectly fine with changing if i “should” to better help the tank thrive, but was kind of taken back when he said “Immedality” LOL

 

[Fish Fan]

He was actually just another customer and when I told him what my plans where for the tank I when he said I should stop using that.

It’s just the standard purple lid bucket. Im perfectly fine with changing if i “should” to better help the tank thrive, but was kind of taken back when he said “Immedality” LOL

I can't speak for that customer, and opinions on salt mixes can run pretty deep in the world of reefing, but as other replies here have suggested, IO salts are largely just fine. Many, many successful tanks run IO salts.

The "what salt should I use" question comes up frequently enough on this forum, so a bit of searching should reveal a lot of opinions and advice.

Here's just a few threads I could find quickly, these should give you some more insight as to why some reefers steer away from IO, but you'll also see a lot of reefers using IO with great success:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-me-pick-my-new-salt.1165644/#post-14458509
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/salt-mix-recommendations.1140835/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-salt-is-everyone-using.1154198/

And, I would be remiss if I did not link to @rtparty excellent thread on salt mixes:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-ultimate-salt-test.949805/

 

[mmorrison55]

There a reason IO is the most widely available at your LFS’s. It’s cheap and reliable.

As others have said, there are other salts that are arguably better at mixing cleaner or to certain mineral levels, but that doesn’t mean IO is bad or dangerous to use.

I would take that LFS advice going forward with a grain of salt… pun intended.

 

[Red_Beard]

I ran a heavy stocked sps tank on IO purple for 7 years. Definitely will get the job done. Due to current market trends and local availability, i use either aqua forest or fauna marin currently. In my opinion though, any quality salt mix will do the job, it's all just a matter of preference for things like alk/ trace base values, mixing barrel cleanliness and cost etc.