What's a good salt to use

[Pagerone]

Can anyone help with what kind is salt I should use,coral life,Red Sea,instant ocean,which one of these should I get what is the best.

 

[cloak]

You can't go wrong with IO IMO. This stuff has been around for ages. They must be doing something right. Different salts have different levels though, (parameters) so if you need to dose they're all pretty much the same. GL.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

I just recently switched from Instant Ocean to Reef Crystals and my coral are loving it.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Red Sea blue/pro here. I've tried IO, RC, Fluval, then went to RSCP. I've noticed less of a disturbance of polyp extension from past salts..

 

[jsker]

Switch to Aquaforest reef salt for price and quality and I am very happy with the results

 

[twilliard]

I am a brightwell user here

 

[sonubhai]

Went from Instant ocean to red sea coral pro to reef crystals to tropic Marin to Kent and now will go back to RS coral pro and stay there. I got the best growth and polyp extension when I was using coral pro. And even parameters.

 

[matt_97055]

I used kent for about three years. I didn't like how dirty it mixed and the inconsistency. So I switched to red sea pro. I really have no complaints with it. I just recently switched to brightwell after my recent tank crash. So I will see how this will do.

 

[Jimbo]

Use whatever matches your parameters. I try to stay around 8dkh so I use Red Sea Blue bucket. Be careful, some brands have very high Alk ( Reef Crystals, RSCP )

 

[Mike_J]

The Aquaforest salts are my go-to and I highly recommend them. Plus, 20 minutes of mixing and it's ready to use!

 

[lewis.maryann08]

Will it hurt mine to switch like doing water changes?
I have been using instant ocean

 

[ndz98]

Switch to Aquaforest reef salt for price and quality and I am very happy with the results

+1 on the price. I use there regular salt and buy it off amazon. It's always the cheapest salt and it gets the job done. But salt is salt when it comes down to it. There isn't a "best" salt I believe. Some of the reef salts just have different levels when you mix that's all.

 

[reefrider777]

I switched from Red Sea Pro to HM Marinemix

 

[Prozack199]

Red Sea Coral Pro Salt!

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

I'm sure manufacturers tweak their recipes, but I do believe there are "better" salts.
I know on most of the Triton results IO/RC/AS/Seachem, and I want to say a couple others have routinely tested high for lithium.(goes from a few hundred times higher than NSW to a few thousand in a couple salts)

I've had some people say 'oh it doesn't matter, I'm not breeding anything!'
But would my Black Sun Coral have had larval settlement if my Lithium was higher?(along with some tunicates, sponges, and other forms of life) It would make a good experiment, but I'll leave that to someone else to try.

Trying to find the link to the actual research, but here's the gist of it.

In the late nineteenth century, Herbst discovered that the lithium ion has powerful morphogenetic effects on developing sea urchin eggs [3]. Since then, lithium has been proven to cause morphological deviations in representatives of almost the entire animal kingdom, but seems most dramatic in primitive embryological systems. Deviations ranging from exogastrulation to cyclopia (development of one-eyed monsters) have been observed in tunicates, cyclostomes, teleosts, cephalopods, and many other organisms. These effects are believed to be a result of the lithium ions ability to interfere with metabolic processes that are responsible for the determination and differentiation of a developing embryo.
http://www.enclabs.com/lithium.html

Also some background
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=lithium+developing+urchin+embryo

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I used Instant Ocean and Reef Crystals until last year when I switched to HW Marinemix. I got tired of the brown slime from RC and IO. The HW Marinemix, mixes clean and fast and I like the parameters of it at 1.025

Honestly, it seems like most of the salt mix options we have today are pretty decent.

 

[pelphrey]

I've been using IO reef crystals for awhile now, mixing it in the same 5 gallon bucket. I have it full and ready at all times covered with a power head running. Power head gets brown and the bucket does to if I don't clean it once a month. Good information @Blackhawk Fan because soon I'm adding much larger containers for fresh and salt water.