Salt Wars

[areefer01]

@Crabs McJones @AlyciaMarie @Gumbies R Us @revhtree

Could you please edit this member's poll to include Nyos as an option? And maybe EVS too for @rtparty

Thanks guys!

You probably mean ESV, right?

 

[areefer01]

Bump for more votes!

You would be better off reading the thread linked above. Then watch the BRS video on salt, mixing, and water chemistry over time (storage). Lastly do some more searching and see that this subject comes up a lot.

The challenge with polls is that it is a small sample out of X. X being the people that are not on the forums, social media, or are tired of threads and zero in on other stuff. Also missing in the installation base.

Sort of hard to answer what is better, or best, because there is just too much data missing. The mother of all is personal bias. What works for me may not for you. Or my reefing budget may favor salt price whereas yours is elsewhere.

My advise is pretty simple. Find a salt that matches your water chemistry preference AND that can be found local (if you don't store, buy in bulk, etc). This way should you have an emergency and need to make up salt quickly, it is one less thing to worry about. The water chemistry is close or the same so nothing to worry about. And should you run out the LFS carries it (of course this assumes they have it in stock).

TL; DR - there are no salt wars. There is marketing. There is personal bias. They all work.

Good luck.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

FOWLR guy here. My fish are looking forward to receiving an on-$ale 200-gallon box for $49, delivered to my door for free from Chewy. Just sayin'.

 

[Fish Fan]

You probably mean ESV, right?

Almost certainly

 

[rtparty]

Nyos = The new hype kid on the block It also happens to be cheaper than Tropic Marine, Red Sea, ESV, and Aquaforest—at least for now.

NYOS is one of the most expensive per gallon out there

 

[DmitryB]

Salt Wars is just a joke about... you know. As with all polls, it is not definitive and does not reflect quality of product, and only represents a sample of a specific group or organization; in this case participating members of Reef2Reef.

 

[SirSaltyNutz]

When I had my first tank roughly 15 years ago I used Instant Ocean. It seemed to be what everyone was using. Today there are a few more options, some of which I never heard of until I just googled (who the heck is Fritz?), all increasingly more expensive than Instant Ocean. BSR is really pushing Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt. Have people used a few different brands and what did you settle on? I picked Red Sea Coral Pro - but no real reason. Just picked it because a step above Instant Ocean. I'm going to start a survey of the big names to see what everyone is using. Just wondering if this Tropic Marin is actually worth the extra money.

Tried to vote via the mobile app and it just fails to vote. This happens to all the polls. Anyone have issue with moble app and poll voting?

 

[Fish Fan]

Salt Wars is just a joke about... you know. As with all polls, it is not definitive and does not reflect quality of product, and only represents a sample of a specific group or organization; in this case participating members of Reef2Reef.

Oh, you're drawing lines and taking sides, make no mistake about what's coming.....

 

[slingfox]

NYOS is one of the most expensive per gallon out there

When I did a price check six months ago against Tropic Marine, ESV, and Red Sea Coral Pro the pricing on Nyos came out cheaper since I was able to get it on sale, tax included, and free shipping. This has been the case for the last 15+ months since I keep an eye out for the sales. I don’t see Tropic Marine go on sale much. ESV definitely does but it’s still pricey.

I switched from Tropic Marine and Nyos specifically due to pricing. There was a period after the tariff’s last year where Tropic Marine pricing went ballistic. It looks like the pricing has normalized again. When I run out of Nyos I will see if it makes sense to switch to another salt.

 

[Minifoot77]

NYOS is one of the most expensive per gallon out there

I also run moonshiners with no waterchanges

 

[rtparty]

When I did a price check six months ago against Tropic Marine, ESV, and Red Sea Coral Pro the pricing on Nyos came out cheaper since I was able to get it on sale, tax included, and free shipping. This has been the case for the last 15+ months since I keep an eye out for the sales. I don’t see Tropic Marine go on sale much. ESV definitely does but it’s still pricey.

I switched from Tropic Marine and Nyos specifically due to pricing. There was a period after the tariff’s last year where Tropic Marine pricing went ballistic. It looks like the pricing has normalized again. When I run out of Nyos I will see if it makes sense to switch to another salt.

Retail pricing at BRS:

Red Sea ~$0.58 per gallon
TM Pro ~$0.66 per gallon
NYOS ~$0.67 per gallon
ESV ~$0.63 per gallon
HW Reefer ~$0.66 per gallon

Sales can absolutely change things but those are always changing. Most of these brands only see 10% off but sometimes more. ESV routinely sees 20% off sales.

I used and recommended NYOS until the price kept going up and their bucket only makes 135 gallons at best. Between the price and less salt overall, I moved on. Great salt but they need to lower the retail price or increase the amount of salt.

 

[slingfox]

Retail pricing at BRS:

Red Sea ~$0.58 per gallon
TM Pro ~$0.66 per gallon
NYOS ~$0.67 per gallon
ESV ~$0.63 per gallon
HW Reefer ~$0.66 per gallon

Sales can absolutely change things but those are always changing. Most of these brands only see 10% off but sometimes more. ESV routinely sees 20% off sales.

I used and recommended NYOS until the price kept going up and their bucket only makes 135 gallons at best. Between the price and less salt overall, I moved on. Great salt but they need to lower the retail price or increase the amount of salt.

Thank you for the breakdown. Looking at the poll on this thread it looks like I should check out Aquaforest when I need to reload in salt. The pricing on Aquaforest looks quite attractive. If it mixes without leaving a bunch of brown residue on my mixing container then I would switch to that. I will likely test out with one box first.

I switched to Nyos largely because of the pricing as well as the thread you did on salts two year ago or so! If pricing gets out of hand, then I’ll be switching again. It seems like the high quality salts have normalized their pricing again. There was a period in Spring 2025 after the tariffs on EU goods were announced when pricing went crazy—particularly for Tropic Marine.

What salt are you using now?

 

[Alexander1312]

I am using Fauna Marin Coral Pro.

160 gallon for 88 USD = USD 0.55 / gallon.

Very similar to Tropic Marin.

But, currently out of stock.

Only recommendation I have is not to use Red Sea Coral Pro due to the high alkalinity.

 

[PJfish]

HW Marine mix

 

[Freenow54]

You probably mean ESV, right?

Odd that just yesterday I took a drive to a supplier for local LFS stores regarding Inverts ect. My goal was to get Berghia which they breed. The two owners have multiple degrees including masters and PHD. Go diving for observation and research and Development. And offered me total support with my issues via email , and possibly a visit . I am out of their way so that would likely not happen. They are both anti chemical treatment types . At any rate we had a lenghty conversation regarding breeding these little critters amonst other things . I have reef 2 Reef to thank since a member replied to my post asking how to eliminate Aiptasia . So a google ( AI ) search brought them up . He was qualifying me as well as to my seriousness regarding maintaining my tanks , having a Par meter , when I told him I had an Apogee that opened him right up. They would not let me inside the facility because of cross contamination fears ! When it came to salt He was very pleased that I used Fritz. Especially the Blue Box . Not mentioned as a choice here was the Red Box which is high Alk

 

[rtparty]

Thank you for the breakdown. Looking at the poll on this thread it looks like I should check out Aquaforest when I need to reload in salt. The pricing on Aquaforest looks quite attractive. If it mixes without leaving a bunch of brown residue on my mixing container then I would switch to that. I will likely test out with one box first.

I switched to Nyos largely because of the pricing as well as the thread you did on salts two year ago or so! If pricing gets out of hand, then I’ll be switching again. It seems like the high quality salts have normalized their pricing again. There was a period in Spring 2025 after the tariffs on EU goods were announced when pricing went crazy—particularly for Tropic Marine.

What salt are you using now?

I have been using ESV the last few months after trying AquaForest Reef Salt. I have like 2 boxes left but I am going to sell it for super cheap to someone local. I didn't like it. It mixes fine but the tank just wasn't doing well and I felt like I was using Reef Crystals again with the way the tank looked. I have absolutely no evidence to back up what I saw but I knew I needed to switch.

Plenty use and like AF salt though

 

[rtparty]

I am using Fauna Marin Coral Pro.

160 gallon for 88 USD = USD 0.55 / gallon.

Very similar to Tropic Marin.

But, currently out of stock.

Only recommendation I have is not to use Red Sea Coral Pro due to the high alkalinity.

Last I heard, TM makes FM salt

 

[Alexander1312]

Last I heard, TM makes FM salt

That is what I heard too, hence the attractive price for the salt.

Edit: Only difference is the element composition which intentionally differs due to Fauna preferences.

 

[areefer01]

Seems like the poll position, votes, is trending based on price.

 

[mook1178]

IO purple box. No reason other than price.
The only difference is the TA, Ca, and Mg values between the salts and all are slightly above NSW. So I chose the cheapest.