Another "What's your favorite salt?" thread!

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I'm trying to decide on possibly using a new salt, and thought I'd throw this question out here because... well it's what we do as reefers. We talk reef! I'm interested in what salt you've used and seen the best result. I've got a mixed reef, and I'm specifically thinking best salt for acro growth.

 

[brandon429]

my favorite salt is any brand the lfs is mixing with and I don't care which one it is. changes routinely but its been fritz rpm last couple years.

just pls, pls for the love of pete sell it to me at .023 or better I don't want ro .019 where I have to go add more of my old kent salt for a mix lol.

salt brand and params do not matter to my reef it just adapts. literally all major brands have been ran through it, I don't bother asking when they've switched.

 

[jsbzcmcdaniel]

I have tried multiple salts over the past 15yrs and I believe my reef responds best to Tropic Marin Pro. Its expensive but it mixes extremely quick and clean. I have two unopened boxes of Fritz Blue Box I tried and wont use again because of the nasty brown film it creates when mixing.

 

[desagon]

I use Fritz RPM. Its $64 shipped from Saltwater Aquarium. I tend to do larger water changes and this salt mixes at about 8.5-9 dkh and I try to keep my tank at around 8. So, it doesnt cause much of a swing which is nice. Im not about to add any buffers to newly mixed salt. Thats just too much work for me lol. Its also sold at most stores I go to and its never been out of stock when I needed any.

 

[mdb_talon]

I have used red sea coral pro for years, but right now am trying fritz red box because it is more readily available locally. I honestly think most if not all of the major salt brands will be fine depending on how you use them. In my case though I do fairly large water changes every couple weeks. I keep my tank at a high dkh so I want a salt with a high dkh as to not have a big impact when I do a 30% WC. Thats my reason for choosing the salt mixes that I do I dont want to replace 11 dkh water with 7dkh water. If I had an automatic water changer that did 2% daily or something like that it would be much less relevant I would just make up for the difference in my daily dosing.

 

[landlubber]

when i see guys like Jason Fox using the original reef crystals to sustain their business it gives me comfort in knowing that you don't need fancy products to succeed in this game.
i'm in the pick something that's readily available and stick to it camp.

 

[mfinn]

I've been trying a few salts over the last couple years on my lps mixed reef and am currently giving Tropic Marin Pro Reef a try. Seems to mix up fast. Corals are doing ok. Jury's still out.
Reef Crystals on my softy reef for a couple decades.

 

[Arabyps]

I was using Tropic Marin but it keeps dropping out of stock. Very unreliable supply. I switched to LiveAquaria Reef Salt because it is proven by their use, always in stock, mixes clean very much like TM, and costs less (but not cheap). Very pleased with it and as a bonus it goes on sale often (10-20% off - not huge but better than nothing).

https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/3912/liveaquaria-professional-reef-salt?pcatid=3912&c=3753+3756+6853+3912

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I was using Tropic Marin but it keeps dropping out of stock. Very unreliable supply. I switched to LiveAquaria Reef Salt because it is proven by their use, always in stock, mixes clean very much like TM, and costs less (but not cheap). Very pleased with it and as a bonus it goes on sale often (10-20% off - not huge but better than nothing).

https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/3912/liveaquaria-professional-reef-salt?pcatid=3912&c=3753+3756+6853+3912

Interesting! I haven't looked into this one before. I like the levels it claims to mix to.

 

[jaganshi066]

I have tried multiple salts over the past 15yrs and I believe my reef responds best to Tropic Marin Pro. Its expensive but it mixes extremely quick and clean. I have two unopened boxes of Fritz Blue Box I tried and wont use again because of the nasty brown film it creates when mixing.

My Red Sea leaves a residue in the mixing container too and I don’t like that. I want to switch to tropic Marin, but which tropic Marin one do you use?

 

[JosephM]

Good old IO for me. I don’t do regular water changes but the ones I’ve done it mixes up within a couple hours when heated and little to no precipitation. It has around the same values that I want and the best of all... it’s affordable.

 

[jaganshi066]

I was using Tropic Marin but it keeps dropping out of stock. Very unreliable supply. I switched to LiveAquaria Reef Salt because it is proven by their use, always in stock, mixes clean very much like TM, and costs less (but not cheap). Very pleased with it and as a bonus it goes on sale often (10-20% off - not huge but better than nothing).

https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/3912/liveaquaria-professional-reef-salt?pcatid=3912&c=3753+3756+6853+3912

I did notice that it’s always out of stock at my local stores too

 

[boacvh]

Been using hw marinemix. Mixes to the alk I thought of keeping, no other reason.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

I was using Tropic Marin but it keeps dropping out of stock. Very unreliable supply. I switched to LiveAquaria Reef Salt because it is proven by their use, always in stock, mixes clean very much like TM, and costs less (but not cheap). Very pleased with it and as a bonus it goes on sale often (10-20% off - not huge but better than nothing).

https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/3912/liveaquaria-professional-reef-salt?pcatid=3912&c=3753+3756+6853+3912

I just went and read their product description on this salt. It says to mix 1/2 cup per gallon, but what salinity does that ratio produce?

 

[Jimmeh lee]

I currently use Tropic Marin pro-reef, and I really like it. I mix big batches that get used over about 2 months, and it doesn’t leave much behind to wipe out of the container. However, as others have pointed out, it’s still not reliably available.
Once my 200g bucket is used up, I’ll probably switch to either hw marinemix or fritz rpm(blue box). Both mix to similar parameters, with an ~8dkh for alk. Just a bit higher than the tmp. Both are cheaper than tpm, especially the fritz iirc.
I’ll let more research into batch consistency, cleanness and apparent results make that decision for me when the time comes.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

I've been using standard IO for almost 4 years, but I'm now thinking about switching. I don't like the brown residue it leaves in the mixing reservoir and this last box I got has a lot of precipitation, even when heated.

 

[bday1335]

HW Marinemix for me. Mixes well, alk is perfect for where I want to be. Started using it in the latest build and I won't switch again!

 

[tehmadreefer]

Instant Ocean

 

[MichaelReefer]

I'm trying to decide on possibly using a new salt, and thought I'd throw this question out here because... well it's what we do as reefers. We talk reef! I'm interested in what salt you've used and seen the best result. I've got a mixed reef, and I'm specifically thinking best salt for acro growth.

RedSea Coral Pro

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Instant ocean Reef Crystals, I was using TMP but switched to IO Reef Crystals because of the costs and availability.
Plus, Reef Crystals mixes to what I want in my tank without dosing.