which salt?

[dorky]

Im in the market for new salt. I have use IO in the past but want something different i heard bout Red Sea Coral Pro salt and Salinity. I have heard good and bad things bout both of em. So far I have 40b sps tank it still new and taking slowly but have couple of sps right now. I want do know which salt do u prefer using for ur sps tank and why. I know that salinity is very pricy but they have such an awesome bucket :nerd: and i know that Red Sea Coral is good but which one is will allow the corals to grow instead of stunting their growth.

 

[mayday610]

Is there a reason why you no longer want to use IO? I have been using IO reef crystals for years and whenever i tried a switch in the past i always ended up going back to it. One reason is that its largely available in my area, and another is that it seems fairly consistant. In my opinion there is no "perfect, always consistant" salt mix out there. I test every batch of salt i buy before it goes into my tank. For one, i want to make sure that the correct chemistry is there, and for two, i do it so i can suppliment my mix to match the chemistry of the water in my tank. As far as coral growth goes, just buying a certain brand of salt isn't going to do it. Its not going to be the key factor to wether your corals grow or have stunted growth. There are too many other factors that contribute to this. I agree that some salts are superior over others, but i know that you are never going to find a salt with a perfect review out there. Its our job to test our salts and componsate for the lack of A, B, or C. If you are dead set on Salinity or Red Sea Coral Pro, I have heard good things about Red Sea. I have not really had any real experience with either of the brands, because of what i just stated, but i suggest you just do searches for reviews on those brands. It will give you a variety of views from different sources. Just make sure the reviews are current. Just like with any company, products can change over time as management and practices change. Reading reviews from years ago may have nothing to do with the product as it is today.
I am interested as to why you would like to switch salts and i'd also like to tag along on your journey to find out what salt you decide on and your feed back!

 

[Mr. Microscope]

I really like Kent Reef Salt. Very high Mg, Ca, and Alk. Water changes seem to be enough to keep up parameters.

 

[kuyatwo]

once i am finished with the sybon salt i bought from PA i am gonna switch to Seachem Aquavitro Salinity. Each batch made is independently tested and results are posted on the bucket with the batch #.

aquavitro . salinity

look on the right side of the webpage you will see the batch guarantee

 

[KSzegi]

What salt you switch to probably depends on why you are making the switch. I just recently switched over to Aqua Craft after being involved with the testing that they did here on R2R. I have now done several water changes on 3 different tanks with it and I have been the happiest with it of any salt I've used. I switched over from Red Sea Coral Pro - and Coralife before that. No major complaints about either of the others but overall the Aqua Craft works better for me and my tanks. With salt you are going to get all kinds of opinions - I think you need to figure out what you are looking for and give a brand of your choice a try and see if it works well for you.

If you haven't, you should get some entries into the Aqua Craft salt giveaway contest - you just might win a bag to try for free!

 

[Me z]

salt mixes will depend on what you want to use them for. Figure out where your tanks numbers like to settle and find a salt mix that will maintain those numbers for you. I am very picky about the salt I use as many mixes throw my chemistry way out of whack. I found a good one that maintains the numbers I want. I dont know what numbers you are shooting to maintain so its hard to say what mix you should use.

 

[dorky]

Well real reason y I want to switch salt is because I've been using to the same one for about 4 n half years n I just want to switch it out n see a different result. Don't you ever get bored using the same brand salt for long time that you wanted to test out other brand to see if it better or crap than the one you currently using?

 

[mayday610]

Well, i can't argue with you there! For me, if its working i'm not going to fix it :) But i do see your point because i often play with other things. I have a tendency to change my plumbing around about once a year lol. I was just wondering if you were having negative results is why i asked.

 

[fragmatic]

It switched to Red Sea "new formula", my change water out of the bucket when at 1.026 salinity and 79°f, my Alk is about 8, my ca is 430, my Mg is around 1275, pH 8.3. This works out with my part 1 & 2 dosing to boost up to Ca 480 & Alk 10 to 11.

And the mix is printed right on the face and lid of the bucket.

 

[FlyinBryan]

I talked to BRS today and they kinda sold me on that Red Sea Coral Pro. I haven't ordered it yet because as stated earlier, it's not readily available and having it shipped constantly could be a hassle. Plus I think the ups driver would be ticked off if he had to keep delivering it! Ha
Also as posted above, IO RC, I keep coming back to that. My big concern though with it is that it doesn't seem to have that staying power I'd like to see. It seems to weaken if you will very quickly. In other words, my trace or welso, will puff up for a few days after a water change, and then go back to being small for a week. But I'm a relative noob, only a year and a half, so I may not be describing that right.
I tried Tropic Marin, the bagged type, it might have been the junk salt because it was awful. I had to add everything to it. However, I have experience with and have heard a lot of good things about IO RC.

 

[dorky]

Well, i can't argue with you there! For me, if its working i'm not going to fix it :) But i do see your point because i often play with other things. I have a tendency to change my plumbing around about once a year lol. I was just wondering if you were having negative results is why i asked.

Wow I couldn't see myself changing plumbing every year 0_o! Lol well the IO salt isn't alway working my experience with it is tht I constantly have to keep my eyes on alk n cal it never stable for example my grandmother brought this beautiful athina fish n 6 line wrasse well it die during the allcalmation n I thought I had the alk stable it went kinda high after the water changes n needless to say they got very upset n decided not to buy anymore expensive fish ever again grr. But whenever I get a new fish I tested before buying n even I carefully dose cal I just gave up dosing all together cuz of times n $$$

 

[dorky]

I'll prolly go with Red Sea cuz salinity seen to be way overprice but I think I get both n experiment it i have three tanks sumpless 56g, 10g wit hob filter and 40g with sump my main focus will be on the 40 n 56 cuz there life in it n nothing in the 10g

 

[mayday610]

I think its a great idea to give them both a try if you can afford to buy them both. When you do, it would be great if you would share your results, parameters, and thoughts on each salt.

 

[YVR]

Loyalty to salt brands is always a contentious issue. But since we are on the topic, I have always been happy with Tropic Marin and they have produced some great results for me and other friends I know who use them. I currently use TM's Pro Reef on my 90 gallon SPS/LPS tank and Tropic Marin Bio Actif in my 50 gallon softie tank and love it!

 

[bct15]

I switched from IO RC to red sea coral pro, very happy with the swap. It is hard to explain but it seems like everything in my tank liked the switch.

 

[Mark L.]

Some time back I watched a video of a guy whose entire hobby was making/growing frags. He had thousands of them in multiple tanks. He doesn't sell them or give them away really. His goal was to see how many he could successfully have. Anyway he was asked what kind of salt he uses. He explained that he couldn't find one perfect salt. What he does is makes his own. He buys and mixes 3-4 different brands together so his water doesn't get a buildup of one certain chemical. I've tried this with mixing Red Sea Coral Pro with Oceanic Sea Salt. My corals seem to love it and I've seen great growth. May be something to think about. I wish I could find the video now.

 

[dorky]

Wow I would love to see that video. Another question how do you know if ur corals is happy when they alway seem to be happy to begin with?

 

[Ligershark]

im using salinity...no sps though, only dose for alk and ca

 

[dorky]

That what I went n got well I got the barrel it way more than I needed but having 56,40 n 10g it would be fine cant wait to see how it turn out

 

[tj51]

I've followed many "salt brand" discussions, and IMO the most important quality for a salt should be consistency. I'm sure that a majority of us dose. If a particular salt brand tests at say 450 cal. and another at 420, how hard is it to dose a bit more cal. on the 2nd brand? I look for a salt that I can see tests out at the same level and I don't have to keep changing my dose. However, I also like a salt that has some of the trace elements that I don't dose, therefore I do like to stick to a "reef" salt