What salt do you use and why?

[Reef Jedi]

What salt do you use and why?

What benefits do you think your choice has over others?

I used instant ocean regular for 20 years. The last two tanks I’ve used Red Sea blue bucket and I’m not too impressed with the residue it leaves in the mixing bin. I run an awc so it needs to be stored for a month.

 

[fishywishy]

IO regular because it’s cheap and I have no problems with it.

 

[Biokabe]

I've used most of the salts on the market. Started with "real ocean water" from PetCo. Moved on to... whatever the LFS sold. Then I switched to Reef Crystals. Moved to Red Sea Coral Pro. Ran Kent for a while. Then to Red Sea blue bucket. Then I was on Fritz (both varieties), and for a long time I was using Tropic Marin. Then back to Red Sea, then back to Tropic Marin.

And now? Regular old Instant Ocean. I never really saw any meaningfully different changes in my tank despite all the different mixes I used. The success of my reef came down, almost 100%, to my overall husbandry; the brand of salt didn't really impact it. So, if it doesn't make a huge difference, why spend more than I have to?

There are reasons to use the different brands, but for most people and most situations, there's no reason to overcomplicate it.

 

[oldpaddy]

I use IO reef salt and always have with no issues for over 10+ years now. I've had tiny frags turn into large pieces. Sps, lps, softies and all sorts of fish and invertebrates. 10 years ago I was working part time for a private fish and coral company, and all we used was IO regular and the 4k+ gallon systems filled with fish, corals and liverock did just fine.

 

[Paul B]

I use the first salt I come across in a store, unless I find a cheaper one. My fish and corals never complained.

 

[Waters]

I use Red Sea Blue because of the numbers it mixes to.

 

[promotheus2070]

aquaforrest for their cheaper price in my region compared to other brand's , and i do like their lineup of product's and easy to use.

 

[Kooma]

Another 13+ year instant ocean user here. I’ve used regular IO, was on reef crystals for about 8 years, went back to regular IO recently as it’s cheaper.

My corals actually have been growing better as of late.

 

[eggie]

Red Sea Blue bucket because it mixes clean and numbers are constant in every bucket.

 

[Pntbll687]

Fritz blue, simply because I work food a distributor that carries it and wanted to try. Its consisten mixes pretty clean. If not Fritz, I’d go back to instant ocean

 

[tsharpe291]

ive used tropic Marin for 20+ years with no complaints, it works for me and I only clean my barrel once a year. never tried anything else and have no plans to.

 

[Reef Jedi]

aquaforrest for their cheaper price in my region compared to other brand's , and i do like their lineup of product's and easy to use.

Interesting! AF is a lot more expensive here, they do make products that are much easier to use than some others.

 

[Reef Jedi]

Red Sea Blue bucket because it mixes clean and numbers are constant in every bucket.

This is why I switched from IO for these last two tanks. However I’m really considering going back to it. Do you get a lot of brown/red residue in your mixing/storage bin? That’s one thing I’ve noticed blue bucket has left behind.

 

[promotheus2070]

Interesting! AF is a lot more expensive here, they do make products that are much easier to use than some others.

For a reference , a blue bucket red sea 22kg is €91.50 and AF reef salt 22kg bucket comes in at €67.50 .
Maybe it is cheaper here due to location . AF is a polish brand if i remember good and that aint far away from belgium .

 

[exnisstech]

9 years on IO. I did run a 50:50 mix of IO and RC for a bit over a year once when I found some RC at a price I couldn't pass up. I don't want to fiddle around changing alk levels in new water. I target 8-9dkh so IO works. Its usually cheaper than others and available pretty much anywhere. It mixes dirty and leaves a residue in my brute but that doesn't bother me. I like the fact it stores well also because I like to keep my container full for emergencies.

 

[Reef Jedi]

9 years on IO. I did run a 50:50 mix of IO and RC for a bit over a year once when I found some RC at a price I couldn't pass up. I don't want to fiddle around changing alk levels in new water. I target 8-9dkh so IO works. Its usually cheaper than others and available pretty much anywhere. It mixes dirty and leaves a residue in my brute but that doesn't bother me. I like the fact it stores well also because I like to keep my container full for emergencies.

Interesting it mixes dirty, being synthetic/lab grade I would have guessed it didn’t leave a residue or as much as blue bucket for example. I wonder if it used the same caking agent or at least that’s how it was explained to me about the residue from blue bucket. I’m really debating going back to IO. Difference this time is I’m storing it. Where as the 20 years I used Io I always mixed and used it with in 24 hours.

 

[rtparty]

My preferred salts are NYOS, ESV, TM Pro or HW Reefer. I’m currently using AF Reef Salt cuz I bought it when BRS had the boxes on sale for like $35 each

Why? Because I thoroughly tested them all and found out as much as I could on how they are made and what quality materials are being used for each.

 

[painter1982]

I think you should use whatever gives you the parameters you need when mixed with little to no adjustment. I use tropic Marin pro reef salt and do a small alkalinity adjustment to get it perfect to my tank. If i used a salt with too high alkalinity then how would I match parameters? I like TM because it clears fast and doesn’t leave brown stuff in bucket.

 

[Freenow54]

What salt do you use and why?

What benefits do you think your choice has over others?

I used instant ocean regular for 20 years. The last two tanks I’ve used Red Sea blue bucket and I’m not too impressed with the residue it leaves in the mixing bin. I run an awc so it needs to be stored for a month.

You just reminded me about residue in my containers. Always wondered what it was. Any idea ?

 

[Freenow54]

I use Fritz says high ALK on red box there is also a blue