salt curiosity

[Scottsquatch]

Randy, I've always used reef crystals, but I don't like the crud it leaves in my mixing vat. What salt do you use and why?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I use normal Instant Ocean.

I like it because it doesn't contain organics (such as vitamins) which limits storage of the water (IMO) and I like to use it over a month or more. Such organics will degrade and/or drive bacteria growth if stored for long, and might even make the water anaerobic if not stirred.

Since I use limewater (kalkwasser) which tends to raise calcium (relative to alkalinity), I prefer a mix with calcium on the low end.
I think it is well made in terms of reproducibility.
It is relatively inexpensive.

It doesn't have the brown deposits that Reef Crystals has, if that concerns you.

There is typically a precipitate of calcium carbonate, although that can be eliminated if you want a lower alkalinity mix and add some muriatic acid to the water when mixing it.

 

[Scottsquatch]

I figure if its good enough for a reef tank chemistry guru, its certainly good enough for my tank. I was looking at Brightwell Aquatics NeoMarine, but the really low Ph kind of concerned me. Everybody is telling me I want a salt with a Ph that is higher than 7.5 which is what Neomarine mixes to. I like that IO runs higher. Its also nice to see how relatively inexpensive the IO is as well. Thanks yet again Randy.