Thinking of changing my aquarium salt. Any recommendations or hints?

[troiusmaximus]

I currently buy saltwater premixed from my LFS. They use Salinity from Seachem or so they tell me (how else would I know [emoji12]). Now that I have decided to install my own RO/DI unit and go back to mixing my own water, I am trying to decide which brand of salt to use.

Should I stick with Seachem? Go back to Oceanic which is what I used before buying the premixed saltwater? Or does anyone have a salt mix they swear by?

I stumbled upon a YouTube video advertising Aqua Forest salts. Anyone using those? Also if I am changing salts are there any issues to think through there to make sure I don't harm my corals or fish?

 

[Armydogracing]

I switched to Bio-Sea Marine Salt a little over a year ago and love it. It mixes right away and doesnt leave any residue in the barrel

 

[Armydogracing]

A video of me mixing a new batch

 

[Bluefish9]

FWIW the brown residue most people mention is nothing more than a trace amount of ferric oxide to prevent fungal growth. Its not a sign of inferior salt or anything...

 

[Armydogracing]

That may be the case but when I used RC I recieved to many bad batches that always had different readings so I wasn't comfortable with using it anymore so switched to imo a much better brand of salt

 

[Pugfishluv3]

I prefer red Sea myself

 

[Salty1962]

I switched from RS Pro to AF reef salt w/ AF BioS Pro and AF build and so far my tank looks better.

 

[Gomery12]

 

[troiusmaximus]

I switched from RS Pro to AF reef salt w/ AF BioS Pro and AF build and so far my tank looks better.

Interesting. Is that equivalent to using their probiotic reef salt? If so, why did you go the route of the reef salt with separate additives?

 

[Salty1962]

Interesting. Is that equivalent to using their probiotic reef salt? If so, why did you go the route of the reef salt with separate additives?

Better control of nutrients

 

[1MJG1]

Red Sea all day

 

[Eggyoke]

BRS promotes this and looks like a good product.

 

[KingBlingTX]

It depends primarily on what levels you want to maintain in your aquarium for Calc, ALK, & Magnesium. Many of the commercial salts have higher ALK than I want to run in my tank, so that narrows down the choices considerably. You can find successful reef tanks using any of the commercial salt mixes on the market today, so I would find the one that most closely matches the levels you want to maintain in your tank and go with that one. One of the forum members here has been compiling a list of tests for many of the salts. I'll find it and post a link.

 

[KingBlingTX]

Here's the link- https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/saltmix-parameters-bring-on-the-test-results.233233/

 

[troiusmaximus]

Here's the link- https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/saltmix-parameters-bring-on-the-test-results.233233/

Thanks!

 

[120reefkeeper]

I'm an Aquaforest user [emoji6]. Love it. Mixes up clean and clear in 15 minutes and is ready to use.

 

[rchraska]

I am following along too, as I am thinking of making a switch from the Red Sea Pro. I am leaning towards the regular red sea (blue bucket) or Aquaforest reef salt.

 

[Elementalj]

I switched from reef crystals to tropic marin about four months ago. Reefcryatals was giving me crazy high alkalinity levels. It was dang near impossible to stabilize from the start.

 

[tankstudy]

Most of the salts on the market can keep corals going. Its the Alk/Calc/MG that varies between the products. I tend to keep my tank at 7-8 DKH so Instant ocean does a perfectly good job. When I was keeping SPS/Clams and etc, I was using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals ~10-12 DKH.

Once you understand Alk/Calc/Mg better you can use literally any of the salts and just dose/change the parameters to your liking. A big $$$ money tag does not mean its better salt. It might be worse if your corals actually don't dig the parameters that are produced by the salt.

 

[Bluefish9]

I am following along too, as I am thinking of making a switch from the Red Sea Pro. I am leaning towards the regular red sea (blue bucket) or Aquaforest reef salt.

I chose the blue bucket too. I think a lot of people are leaning that way.