Best Aquarium Salt Poll

[jft]

Add HW marinemix to poll

 

[jimk60]

IMO, it’s a bad poll design to combine normal IO and Reef Crystals. I used the former for 20 years and would not use the latter since I do not want the vitamins and metal chelators they add.

I have used RC for many years and I am aware of the pros and cons. Can you elaborate on the vitamins and metal chelators as I am not aware of a problem with these.

 

[rtparty]

I mean technically shouldn’t the question be the salt to use without adding two part or anything else to achieve your goals? You can use just about any salt and adjust your dosing or two part, kalk, or other additives to get to where you want to be…at one point a long time ago all of these fancy additives didn’t exist

There isn't a salt on the market like this and there can't be. Corals, bacteria, algae, and other things are going to pull elements out of the water to grow. Those must be replaced and water changes can't do that long term or on a high demand system.

Additives didn't exist because the hobby didn't understand this. It wasn't until Randy and other scientists started bringing it all up. As our knowledge and understanding have changed, so have the products within the hobby.

 

[Rmckoy]

Every salt has its advantages . For me . It was easily available , and affordable at the time .
Aquavitro has worked for me
For many years .
I have thought of switching as the price per bucket has increased over the years but switching from something that’s worked well
For years is hard .
I’ve been considering Red Sea blue bucket for closer to nsw level alk .

 

[Hydrored]

The best salt is whatever salt the person answering is currently using. End of thread.

I personally don't understand the whole "pick whatever parameters you want to run and go with that salt" argument. There is no proof that any set of parameters is better than the next (so long as they're all in range.)

Jda who has an amazing tank runs IO Purple. Hydro above runs Aquaforest. Jason Fox runs IO Purple. Tidal Gardens runs IO Reef Crystals. I think WWC runs Brightwell (I could be completely wrong here.) But my point is you can find successful tanks with EVERY SINGLE salt on the market. They all claim to be the best.

So we have to define what does "best" mean and there is no chance the community as a whole will every agree on something like that. Especially not on the old salt debate. So pick YOUR best and go with it. Is it price? Availability? Parameters? Cleanliness? Company you like? Prettiest bucket/box? You pick.

Because the question was asked, the best salt to me is ESV. Why? It has actual, tangible differences that separate it (pun intended) from everyone else. You won't find a cleaner, more consistent salt on the market all from a company with standup owners who have stood the test of time in our hobby. Price is of zero concern to me with it because I don't routinely change water. A 200g box will last me 3-4 years.

So pick your best and roll with it.

the whole pick your parameters has nothing to do with what’s best, it’s so the new water is close to the existing. I prefer to run an alk of 7.5, I don’t want to buy a mix that comes in at 9


Salt is probably the least of anyones worries as it comes to their reef tank, people will kill far more animals based on laziness than salt

 

[Rmckoy]

When choosing salt and advised to choose one that mixes close to desired parameters .
it’s confusing …

for example : I use aqua vitro and have for years .
it mixes at 9-9.5 dkh
But my system runs at 7.5dkh perhaps the smaller water changes are not enough to increase alkalinity ?
Even with the smaller tanks I have always experienced this weird phenomenon
How can something guarantee mixing at 9-9.5 but the display maintain stable at 7.5 ?

 

[Hydrored]

When choosing salt and advised to choose one that mixes close to desired parameters .
it’s confusing …

for example : I use aqua vitro and have for years .
it mixes at 9-9.5 dkh
But my system runs at 7.5dkh perhaps the smaller water changes are not enough to increase alkalinity ?
Even with the smaller tanks I have always experienced this weird phenomenon
How can something guarantee mixing at 9-9.5 but the display maintain stable at 7.5 ?

All depends on the % of water change. If I need to do an oh crap massive water change I would adjust the alk down



Like anything in this hobby, it’s based on experience and what you are trying to accomplish. My original answer was targeted to a new refer starting a new tank who is more than likely not dosing or doing daily AWC

 

[rtparty]

the whole pick your parameters has nothing to do with what’s best, it’s so the new water is close to the existing. I prefer to run an alk of 7.5, I don’t want to buy a mix that comes in at 9


Salt is probably the least of anyones worries as it comes to their reef tank, people will kill far more animals based on laziness than salt

A 10% water change with 9dkh water to a 7.5dkh system will raise alk to 7.65dkh. Not enough change to even register on our test kits.

People overthink the whole salt thing.

 

[Hydrored]

A 10% water change with 9dkh water to a 7.5dkh system will raise alk to 7.65dkh. Not enough change to even register on our test kits.

People overthink the whole salt thing.

I agree, people could over complicate a wet dream

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have used RC for many years and I am aware of the pros and cons. Can you elaborate on the vitamins and metal chelators as I am not aware of a problem with these.

The problem, in my opinion, with vitamins and metal chelators are:

1. I want to store new salt water for AWC for a month or more. Vitamins may drive bacterial growth as they are consumed, potentially make the water anaerobic if not stirred dosing storage.

2. I do not want to add things that I do not know how much of what is there, and vitamins in the water do not have any demonstrated benefit (a high level tech person admitted there was no known benefit, but users like the claim).

3. I think they are the cause of the grunge coating most RC users get (this doesn’t concern me but it seems to concern others).

 

[Dav2996]

And I dislike it because it as high dkh and IME mixes somewhat dirty. I don’t say that to criticize the salt or that you use it, I say this to emphasize to the OP that it depends on where you want to keep your parameters and what your goals are. The parameters of all salt mixes can be adjusted, but for beginners it makes sense to use a salt that mixes to where you keep your parameters. Everyone has a personal preference, there are pros and cons, based on what your goals are, to every salt mix. Personally I use Fritz RPM because it’s got a DKH around 8-8.5, it mixes clean and fast, and is fairly inexpensive.

I like high DKH because mine can drop from 9 to 8. I get more issues when it drops from 8 to 7. I don’t know why just my tank is weird like that lol . I agree it depends what you want everything to be kept at. I dose matching the salt.

 

[The_ReefB0y_FOX24]

The reason I don't like reef crystals is when I opened the box each and every bag was caked to a brick!