Switch from Instant Ocean to Nyos Salt

[slingfox]

It looks like another notable reefer has also made the switch form Instant Ocean to Nyos Pure salt. This time it is Mike Paletta, apparently at the recommendation or guidance of Andrew at Polo Reef. Also notable recent converts are Than at Tidal Gardens and Kenny at Pieces of the Ocean.

I assume this is one reason why the cheaper 20kg boxes of Nyos Pure are out of stock everywhere!

Discussion on the salt switch at 11 minutes:

 

[skey44]

I’m a happy Tropic Marin user, but Nyos is always on my watch list. Like that it’s third party tested and cos reported to have many of the features of Tropic Marin that I like.

 

[edsbeaker]

I just switched from Instant ocean too, and mixed up my first batch of Nyos last week. I was really impressed with how fast and clean it mixes up!

 

[oakcityreefer]

Wow I didn't make the switch list? I switched before Than. Seriously, I've said in other threads here on R2R that Instant Ocean was great except for the dirty mixing station. Nyos mixes faster and stays mixed longer.

I used to have only two cons, it makes less gallons per bucket and its dusty. Now cost just went up in the last 20 days by $15 a bucket. So cost is becoming a con too. I also can never get the 20kg boxes so I have a stack of buckets collecting in the garage.

Edit: I went and checked to make sure my $15 claim was correct and I did pay $15 less per bucket but that was a sell price not the actual price. So the actual price looks the same as the last time I purchased them.

 

[Marco_99]

I’m a happy Tropic Marin user, but Nyos is always on my watch list. Like that it’s third party tested and cos reported to have many of the features of Tropic Marin that I like.

Honestly the numbers run pretty close to Tropic Marin Pro and they’re both pharmaceutical grade. Not a lot of difference

 

[Damage12]

I switched to NYOS salt from Reef Crystals in April of this year and can say my toadstool doubled in size since. It was basically dormant and the same size for a few years. I’m happy with the switch.

 

[exnisstech]

Was Than using IO? I'm local and got old salt buckets from them once and I can't remember the brand but it wasn't IO. The buckets were square. I'll look around my shop and see if i can find one laying around and check the brand. I suppose he could have switched to IO and is now switching again.

 

[Marco_99]

Was Than using IO? I'm local and got old salt buckets from them once and I can't remember the brand but it wasn't IO. The buckets were square. I'll look around my shop and see if i can find one laying around and check the brand. I suppose he could have switched to IO and is now switching again.

That was probably Omega Sea I think they had a sponsorship for a brief period. But they have used a lot of salt from red seed instant ocean I think Fritz RPM was one of them.

 

[skey44]

Honestly the numbers run pretty close to Tropic Marin Pro and they’re both pharmaceutical grade. Not a lot of difference

Yes, my research would indicate the same, which is why I haven’t switched because Petco and my LFS both sell tropic Marin and it works great.

 

[allof fish]

Yes, my research would indicate the same, which is why I haven’t switched because Petco and my LFS both sell tropic Marin and it works great.

I have used tropic Marin for past year and did icps with them too. Salt is great but pretty expensive. Just set up a new tank as I had to move and decided to give Red Sea blue bucket a try. Never buying it again. Mixed fast but after using basically the entire bucket my alk was at 5.5, and calcium 350. Tested alk twice using Hanna checker and went to lfs same result. Batch number said it should be 8.2. Ik salt can get mixed up but I basically used the whole bucket. Not buying again. So looking potentially between nyos or aqua forest. Tropic Marin is great but very expensive and mixes a little too low for my liking

 

[christinna77]

Am I getting a different batch of IO? I keep seeing reports of IO mixing dirty, but the regular purple one has been always fine for me. That only happened with RC where the bucket turned all brown just after one batch...

Here's a picture of my mixing container. I haven't cleaned it in over 6 months. There's a little residue, but it's still mostly clean.

For context, I've been doing water changes almost every day for the past 1-2 months because of QT, so this bin has fresh saltwater mixing in it almost every day.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Could it be that the price difference between instant ocean and other brands. Are no longer that far off in price. Therefore some are now looking at quality vs price at this point. Instant ocean use to always be on sale somewhere. Now in my opinion not so much.

 

[slingfox]

Was Than using IO? I'm local and got old salt buckets from them once and I can't remember the brand but it wasn't IO. The buckets were square. I'll look around my shop and see if i can find one laying around and check the brand. I suppose he could have switched to IO and is now switching again.

Than at Tidal Gardens used Reef Crystals for decades before recently switching to Nyos Pure. This is discussed at 1:51:40 mark of this video:

 

[exnisstech]

He must have had a period where he ran something different in some tank. They has a a stack of buckets the were square. May have been the promo @Marco_99 mentioned above.

Am I getting a different batch of IO? I keep seeing reports of IO mixing dirty, but the regular purple one has been always fine for me. That only happened with RC where the bucket turned all brown just after one batch...

Here's a picture of my mixing container. I haven't cleaned it in over 6 months. There's a little residue, but it's still mostly clean.

For context, I've been doing water changes almost every day for the past 1-2 months because of QT, so this bin has fresh saltwater mixing in it almost every day.

Do you rinse between batches? I do not and mine is a mess. I just had an old koralia power head lock up because of the scale build up on it. I use IO purple. I have a hard scale layer all over the bottom and brown staining the sides. The salt has worked for 10 years so I just ignore it. I hope it doesn't get much more expensive though. I'm sure there are better options but I'm also not a fan of switching salts over a few $. I've read too many bad experiences when people have switched salts.

 

[Marco_99]

@slingfox
@exnisstech

 

[christinna77]

He must have had a period where he ran something different in some tank. They has a a stack of buckets the were square. May have been the promo @Marco_99 mentioned above.

Am I getting a different batch of IO? I keep seeing reports of IO mixing dirty, but the regular purple one has been always fine for me. That only happened with RC where the bucket turned all brown just after one batch...

Here's a picture of my mixing container. I haven't cleaned it in over 6 months. There's a little residue, but it's still mostly clean.

For context, I've been doing water changes almost every day for the past 1-2 months because of QT, so this bin has fresh saltwater mixing in it almost every day.

Do you rinse between batches? I do not and mine is a mess. I just had an old koralia power head lock up because of the scale build up on it. I use IO purple. I have a hard scale layer all over the bottom and brown staining the sides. The salt has worked for 10 years so I just ignore it. I hope it doesn't get much more expensive though. I'm sure there are better options but I'm also not a fan of switching salts over a few $. I've read too many bad experiences when people have switched salts.

No. I haven't rinsed the bin in 6 months. I just fill it with RODI, add salt, mix it, and use it. Usually, I have a bit of leftover too, so it just sits there for a while until I need to mix more. Never had any issues after I switched from RC.

 

[exnisstech]

No. I haven't rinsed the bin in 6 months. I just fill it with RODI, add salt, mix it, and use it. Usually, I have a bit of leftover too, so it just sits there for a while until I need to mix more. Never had any issues after I switched from RC.

This was reefer Matt's nka @Matt L mine has never been this bad lol

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[Matt L]

This was reefer Matt's nka @Matt L mine has never been this bad lol

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Funny you mention it, it’s that time again, and it looks the exact same!