Tropic Marin or Red Sea Pro Salt - For those that use and have switched

[Haggisman14]

Hey everyone, so I'm asking this question to those that are currently USING Either Red Sea Coral Pro Salt, or one of the Tropic Marin salts.

I've been using Red Sea Pro Salt exclusively for about the last 9 months, and have been pretty happy with it, however I've been hearing a lot of good things about the Tropic Marin Salt.

Is there anyone that has used one of the salts, and switched to the other, or vice versa. I know there are a ton of salts out there, but these are the two that I'm looking at.

I currently do weekly water changes of about 5 gallons every 7-10 days im my 29 gallon biocube. My tank is a mixed cube. Currently no SPS, they all died due to an unknown even about 1.5 months ago, but currently have zoas, LPS, and will be adding SPS back in come April.

Thanks for looking, and I appreciate any feedback!

Marc

 

[A sea K]

I started the hobby using TM reg salt then went to the pro version when I set up my 210. It was expensive so I went to IO reg and buffered it myself to save money, then switched to IO/RC and was never really happy with either. Searching for something better I went to the Red Sea pro salt for awhile and eventually went back to TM pro which is what I currently use and probably always will. It is consistent, mixes easily and very close to the parameters I use to maintain my system.

 

[Haggisman14]

Thanks for the input @A sea K

Anyone else have experience with this switch?

 

[Gareth elliott]

No experience with of either these salt mixes but fwiw i have never experienced any issues when changing salt brands on any live stock. Salt i use now is solely based on its parameters needing no tweaking to match my tank and its price.

 

[Mal11224]

I started out with Red Sea salt and switched to Tropic marin and have been using it for about 18 months. I love it and my tank does well with it. I switch because I didn’t really have any fluctuations in parameters after water changes and I don’t need to dose trace elements. It mixes well too.

 

[SDK]

I recently switched from RS blue bucket to TM Pro Reef when my small coral collection started using more calcium. I was very happy with the Red Sea salt, but because this is a small tank, I am trying to avoid dosing. A combination of kalk in my topoff water and 20% weekly changes with TM Pro Reef salt are so far keeping everything in range.

I don't think you can go wrong with either. I only switched from RS to TM when I wanted a reef salt, because I think the alk is excessively high for my application in the Red Sea Coral Pro

 

[minus9]

I switched to TM pro over a year ago and love it. I keep my alk higher, so I have to add some buffer before I do a w/c, but that's okay with me. Also, BRS just did a video on the costs of salts and how many gallons each bucket/brand makes.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vide...your-salt-mix-really-cost-brstv-investigates/

 

[Chuk]

I went from Pro Reef to Red Sea and then back again. I felt the salts performed similarly for the aquarium but I found you get a bit more salt for the money our of the pro reef and the pro reef also mixes crystal clear almost immediately with little to no residue. The Res Sea Coral pro left significant amounts of precipitate behind and took a very long time to clear up when mixing. I did follow their directions of dissolve the salt in cold water then heat it but still had massive amount of white shmoo left behind. So i switched back to the TM. One downside to the TM Pro Reef was the lower alk which made my 2 part dosing on the water change days go up a good bit. But over all I like the Pro Reef better.

 

[Reef-Tank]

My first salt for reef tank was used Red Sea Pro it good for about 2 weeks and my alk keep stay high and i mostly have soft corals which is don't need that much alk. Then i switch to Tropic Marin Pro and my tank thrived well since after that continue this day still using Tropic Marin Pro salt. Really like it!

 

[Sippiku]

How was the transition from one to the other everyone?
Did anyone experience loss after transitioning?
I currently am using RSCP and am looking into switching to TMP

 

[minus9]

You shouldn't lose anything switching salts, especially to TM. TM pro reef is one of the cleanest salts out there. The only thing I do is bump up the alk to match what I'm running my tank. I find that it mixes to the low 7's and I'm running my tank in the mid 8's.

 

[Mike.P]

What's the diffrence between the TM Pro and Bio-Actif? It seems they both provide a spectrum of beneficial additives, or did I gloss over something?

 

[ScottR]

Hey everyone, so I'm asking this question to those that are currently USING Either Red Sea Coral Pro Salt, or one of the Tropic Marin salts.

I've been using Red Sea Pro Salt exclusively for about the last 9 months, and have been pretty happy with it, however I've been hearing a lot of good things about the Tropic Marin Salt.

Is there anyone that has used one of the salts, and switched to the other, or vice versa. I know there are a ton of salts out there, but these are the two that I'm looking at.

I currently do weekly water changes of about 5 gallons every 7-10 days im my 29 gallon biocube. My tank is a mixed cube. Currently no SPS, they all died due to an unknown even about 1.5 months ago, but currently have zoas, LPS, and will be adding SPS back in come April.

Thanks for looking, and I appreciate any feedback!

Marc

I’m currently using the pro salt. I am switching to the regular Red Sea salt because my alk is always too high. As much as 13.5. The problem for me is, when I get corals or fish from friends or the fish store, it’s harder to acclimate them as most ppl have alk around 8 or so. However, Ca and Mg are always in the right area with the pro salt.

 

[jrill]

I switched to TM pro over a year ago and love it. I keep my alk higher, so I have to add some buffer before I do a w/c, but that's okay with me. Also, BRS just did a video on the costs of salts and how many gallons each bucket/brand makes.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vide...your-salt-mix-really-cost-brstv-investigates/

Just wondering what your adding as a buffer.

 

[Haggisman14]

Hey everyone, just got my new bucket of TM salt. Will be doing my first water change this weekend, will let you guys know how things shake out with the change. Small 5 gallon changes weekly on my 29 gallon cube.

 

[SDK]

What's the diffrence between the TM Pro and Bio-Actif? It seems they both provide a spectrum of beneficial additives, or did I gloss over something?

From the TM website:

Tropic Marin® BIO-ACTIF Sea Salt contains naturally occurring marine biopolymers, which support the microbiological conditions in an aquarium and thus protect and enhance the growth of aquarium fauna.

I'm not sure what measureable difference this makes. I've seen conflicting reviews about this, and nothing yet to make me pay the significant premium for this salt. I'm also very happy with my TM Pro, so I would need to see something amazing to consider switching..

 

[Addicted2Coral]

I've made the switch from red Sea to tropic Marin. Let me tell you, if you run a lower alk system around 8.0, tropic is the way to go. My sps is also noticably happier in tropic Marin as well.

 

[crusso1993]

Here is an interesting thread that was just posted this morning...

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/leaving-red-sea-salt.589177/#post-5978874

 

[Haggisman14]

I've made the switch from red Sea to tropic Marin. Let me tell you, if you run a lower alk system around 8.0, tropic is the way to go. My sps is also noticably happier in tropic Marin as well.

I'm hoping my SPS feels the same way, because to date, I haven't been able to keep SPS for much longer than a few months with out them dying on me. LPS does fine, and as of late my zoa's have been reproducing like made, but just not opening fully for me. Hoping the TM helps my tank out!

 

[minus9]

Just wondering what your adding as a buffer.

Just soda ash. I test the new batch of water, use the BRS calculator and add the right amount. I'll do this an hour before the water change, it's rather simple. I've never used a salt that mixes so clear and without any residue than TM pro.