A little advice please...

[starypotter]

Long winded but FWIW I have a 3 LFSs here in 3 different.... well I'm just going to be blunt and say they're in 3 vastly different areas of wealth.

The first is the mid range LFS, they're fairly expensive with livestock (painfully so, I'm afraid I'll never really end up buying from them, but they're in a somewhat wealthy area so they can get away with it) and they have cases and cases of instant ocean and reef crystals. Sells it super cheap too, like beats most online vendors, I paid 48 tax included for a 200 gallon box of reef crystals today. And with that said when I asked him which salt he recommended, keeping in mind he's the one selling and profiting from these salts, he said that for the most part, most people will be perfectly fine with instant ocean.

Then I went to another LFS, much much more high scale, mostly does big fancy tank maintenance and tank builds in McMansion Town but has a storefront. I don't even know his prices because he doesn't post them it's that level of expensive. High quality, but everything there is for 100+ gallon systems, not really for the little guy. When I asked him what salt he recommended he said that I should try to return or sell my box of instant ocean or reef crystals ASAP and that I should buy Red Sea blue bucket instead as a minimum, pro would be ideal.

Now the LFS I go to mostly, which is just as reputable as the other two really but in a less wealthy area with much better prices. It's also been around 3x as long as the others. Not that they don't have several hundred dollar colonies too, but they also have $15 frags. They've got all the salts you could think of, and when you ask the experts there which salt you should get they mostly just shrug and say whichever one you want that they're all pretty comparable and unless you're trying to run some major expert precision stuff with your numbers then it really doesn't matter.

 

[Crimsontopper]

I use red sea coral pro as well. I did similar research recently, and while IO seems to be good normally, you occasionally hear about something being off. Just Sunday I was watching a youtube video where the alk was way off on a new bag of IO. It's certainly the cheapest, but I feel like red sea is more consistent.

 

[grassy_noel]

Here's my take on salt. There are two questions to ask:

1. Does the salt mix up quick, clear, and consistently to roughly the same parameters from box to box? To me this is pretty important regardless of tank type. You just don't want to have to wait two days for your new water to clear up, or have to constantly scrape brown crud out of your buckets. And you don't want one batch to have 300 ppm Ca and the next batch 500 ppm Ca.

2. How sensitive will your tank be to the parameters of your salt mix (Ca, Alk, Mg)? If your tank is sensitive to parameter swings then having a salt that perfectly matches your desired parameters is a huge help. Otherwise your water changes will be constantly taking away from your desired parameters. But if your tank is less sensitive to parameter swings, then it doesn't really matter.

Since you said you're looking for mostly fish with a few softies, I would say your tank will not be very sensitive to Ca, Alk, Mg, so you're probably free to go with any salt that mixes up clear. In that case, I would recommend plain old Instant Ocean, as this is what many institutional aquariums and hobbyists use with no issue.

If you start getting into LPS or SPS corals, you might want to look for a salt mix that matches your desired parameters more closely.

Good luck!

 

[PDR]

Long winded but FWIW I have a 3 LFSs here in 3 different.... well I'm just going to be blunt and say they're in 3 vastly different areas of wealth.

The first is the mid range LFS, they're fairly expensive with livestock (painfully so, I'm afraid I'll never really end up buying from them, but they're in a somewhat wealthy area so they can get away with it) and they have cases and cases of instant ocean and reef crystals. Sells it super cheap too, like beats most online vendors, I paid 48 tax included for a 200 gallon box of reef crystals today. And with that said when I asked him which salt he recommended, keeping in mind he's the one selling and profiting from these salts, he said that for the most part, most people will be perfectly fine with instant ocean.

Then I went to another LFS, much much more high scale, mostly does big fancy tank maintenance and tank builds in McMansion Town but has a storefront. I don't even know his prices because he doesn't post them it's that level of expensive. High quality, but everything there is for 100+ gallon systems, not really for the little guy. When I asked him what salt he recommended he said that I should try to return or sell my box of instant ocean or reef crystals ASAP and that I should buy Red Sea blue bucket instead as a minimum, pro would be ideal.

Now the LFS I go to mostly, which is just as reputable as the other two really but in a less wealthy area with much better prices. It's also been around 3x as long as the others. Not that they don't have several hundred dollar colonies too, but they also have $15 frags. They've got all the salts you could think of, and when you ask the experts there which salt you should get they mostly just shrug and say whichever one you want that they're all pretty comparable and unless you're trying to run some major expert precision stuff with your numbers then it really doesn't matter.

IO is a perfectly fine salt. Others may be "better" but in our systems, I don't think it makes much if any, difference. FWIW you can buy IO on amazon for $47 free shipping.

 

[starypotter]

IO is a perfectly fine salt. Others may be "better" but in our systems, I don't think it makes much if any, difference. FWIW you can buy IO on amazon for $47 free shipping.

IO at that same store is 38 I believe... I wanted to try reef crystals this time for Ss and Gs, a bit of seeing for myself if it's better. I'll likely go back to IO after this box.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Rodney, have you ever heard of or read the book titled, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff"? Well, IMHO, picking a salt is one of those small stuff issues. For a start up system, you'll have basic needs for the first year or two, so even a basic salt like Instant Ocean will work just fine. Hey, it's good enough for the Georgia Aquarium and they use it by the ton! LOL! Once you get to the point that you need to start dosing Ca and alk, you may want to move to a salt that has higher Ca, alk and Mg levels. But it's still just a small deal and cuts back a tiny bit on how much you need to dose. Pick whatever is convenient for you to get. I've used several different salts over the 15 years in the hobby and I don't find $100+ buckets of salt to really be any better than a $49 bucket of Instant Ocean.

 

[Rodney Butcher]

OK salt selection has been put to bed Thanks everyone !! I really appreciate everyone chiming in on my questions even if they are somewhat trivial. My Tank will not be as much mine but more of a collaboration of everyone here on the forum.

 

[oceaninabox12345]

OK salt selection has been put to bed Thanks everyone !! I really appreciate everyone chiming in on my questions even if they are somewhat trivial. My Tank will not be as much mine but more of a collaboration of everyone here on the forum.

Let us know when you get it started!