The Salt Prices All Around - Opinions

[Spare time]

I personally like red sea coral pro for the price and that is mixes in a couple minutes

 

[cwerner]

I used to use Brightwell Neomarine until they priced me out. I've tried several different brands now and took advantage of that BRS sale for the 150G boxes of AF Sea Salt. I bought about a years supply of salt. I will probably use that going forward or IO purple, I hate how dirty elevated ALK and Calc salts mix.

 

[yanetterer]

Chewy, Petsmart, and Petco all offer around 35% off your first autoship order and typically there will be a stackable coupon for something like $10-$20 off a $50 order. I just make sure to cancel the autoship after the order and move on to the next store when I run out. The deal seems to reset after a while so I can get 35% off around a year later if I need to go back to a store I previously ordered from. I can't get IO or RC quite as cheaply as I could before, but I think my 200 gallon box was down to around $40. Even if we typically mix to a higher salinity than IO/RC use to get to their 160 or 200 gallon numbers, it still comes out to be cheaper than any of the other big names when they are on sale.

I do wonder how much of the price increase is from IO or stores charging more for the salt itself versus the increase in shipping costs. Shipping a 62lb box is not going to be cheap.

 

[Pyrogens]

Chewy, Petsmart, and Petco all offer around 35% off your first autoship order and typically there will be a stackable coupon for something like $10-$20 off a $50 order. I just make sure to cancel the autoship after the order and move on to the next store when I run out. The deal seems to reset after a while so I can get 35% off around a year later if I need to go back to a store I previously ordered from. I can't get IO or RC quite as cheaply as I could before, but I think my 200 gallon box was down to around $40. Even if we typically mix to a higher salinity than IO/RC use to get to their 160 or 200 gallon numbers, it still comes out to be cheaper than any of the other big names when they are on sale.

I do wonder how much of the price increase is from IO or stores charging more for the salt itself versus the increase in shipping costs. Shipping a 62lb box is not going to be cheap.

It makes me wonder as well. I'm willing to bet IO marked up their salt due to shipping costs rising all over the world. I would be very curious to see what their margins were, as I felt for the longest time that it had to be one of those things where they probably didn't make much on the salt, but were able to produce and move so much it didn't really matter.

I wonder if they also bumped up the pricing to zoos etc.

 

[Pyrogens]

So I haven't decided what I'll be doing yet, but I just got wind of a price INCREASE (what a surprise ) to the 200G Box of RPM. I paid $65 6ish months ago, now it's up to $75. I feel like switching to once a month water changes permanently!

 

[jda]

You have to wait for a sale. IO and RC were always higher during normal times. Maybe sale never comes again, but they have so far.

With some of the larger places, if you log in and add salt to your cart and let it sit, they will mail you a coupon to finish the purchase.

 

[OrchidMiss]

FYI salt is on sale right now.

SaltwaterAquarium.com

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

Aquaforest Aquarium Products

Bulk Reef Supply - Saltwater Aquarium Supplies for Reef Tanks

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Take your pick, both sites have 20%. I paid $58/200g bag

 

[Pyrogens]

FYI salt is on sale right now.

SaltwaterAquarium.com

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

Aquaforest Aquarium Products

Bulk Reef Supply - Saltwater Aquarium Supplies for Reef Tanks

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Take your pick, both sites have 20%. I paid $58/200g bag

Appreciate the heads up, still trying to figure out what direction to go. I wish Coralife/Oceanic salt was still around!

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Appreciate the heads up, still trying to figure out what direction to go. I wish Coralife/Oceanic salt was still around!

As I posted up in the other 'why is salt high' thread, coralife salt was a cheap fav for years.

 

[Pyrogens]

As I posted up in the other 'why is salt high' thread, coralife salt was a cheap fav for years.

Yep, I wish it was still around. I also used to get the Oceanic buckets cheap too. Mixes at higher parameters sure, but it worked just as well!

 

[kyleinpdx]

Red Sea coral pro is what I’ve been using for years. I checked for this thread and I’m paying the same amount today as I did back in early 2021. I believe it was more expensive comparatively back then and a lot of others have raised their prices to get in the same range. I feel it’s a good value given what everything else costs.

 

[pal98111]

I'm probably beating the dead proverbial horse here, but I'm officially low on salt and I was wanting to switch back to Reef Crystals for the elevated levels because I do Bi Weekly to Monthly water changes, but WOW I do not want to pay $70 a bucket now for Reef Crystals. I know no one is making me buy it, but that was one of the biggest things that drew me to IO/RC was the value for a great salt. I currently use Fritz RPM, which I have no issues with per say, but I haven't bought salt in a long while only to get shell shocked at the price increase!

So, what is the opinion here on IO/RC now that the price has basically doubled? Still worth shelling out extra $$ for it now or should I be looking at something else now? I also know about the discounts you can get with autoship and first time customer stuff, but I don't want to have to do that every time I am in need of salt now.

I have also noticed its not just IO/RC, it seems pretty much every salt has gone up. I used to buy buckets of Tropic Marin Pro Reef for $92 a bucket, which is why I switched over to RPM because it just got too expensive.

I have a small tank. When I do a water change, I usually have a few gallons of “used” water. If I boil it, will it be like new again?

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I have a small tank. When I do a water change, I usually have a few gallons of “used” water. If I boil it, will it be like new again?

I'm just going to say no and leave it @ that.

 

[BobTheBlenney]

The best value I found for quality salt was Red Sea Coral Pro. I bought 55 lb (200g) from BRS in June for $85 and $2 shipping. I've only done a few water changes since then but the corals already seem to be responding well.

 

[Pyrogens]

I have a small tank. When I do a water change, I usually have a few gallons of “used” water. If I boil it, will it be like new again?

I sincerely hope this is just sarcasm. If it's not, I promise I'm not trying to be rude but I have to answer a resounding no!

 

[Pyrogens]

The best value I found for quality salt was Red Sea Coral Pro. I bought 55 lb (200g) from BRS in June for $85 and $2 shipping. I've only done a few water changes since then but the corals already seem to be responding well.

I know beggars can't be choosers, but I do not support Red Sea and their products. I'm happy to know it works well for you though!

I'll probably just end up caving and trying to just find a sale on RC since I'm so used to it, or I'll just cave and buy another RPM box...lol.

 

[Uncle99]

I just moved the water change frequency from twice monthly to monthly so now I only pay half what I did and Red Sea loses volumes.

It’s been a year with zero effects.

Win win….ha…Red sea.

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

I use regular old instant ocean and keep an eye on the petsmart sales. Can pick up a 150g bucket for 38 bucks if your time it right.

 

[BaliReefBox]

I started with AF sea salt as my local person had a bucket... He no longer stocks it so i have to hunt it down on Tokopedia and Shopee (like local Amazon) and it is still hard to find at the right price cause I have to get 22kg shipped in. That being said it mixes really easily and to the parameters I keep the tank at. I currently have 110kg stock piled, so i an wait it out for awhile till the next seller has it on sale.

 

[albano]

So I haven't decided what I'll be doing yet, but I just got wind of a price INCREASE (what a surprise ) to the 200G Box of RPM. I paid $65 6ish months ago, now it's up to $75. I feel like switching to once a month water changes permanently!

3 months ago, I bought 10 blue boxes of 1 bag RPM for less then $500 from my LFS (Plus tax).
I’d guess that he still made some profit, but knows how to keep his customers happy.