Best salt to buy?

[Dmat21]

Curious what’s the best salt to run ? going to be a mixed reef !
and how big is 200gallon of salt lol is it based on tank usage size?

 

[aherre07]

I use IO Reef Crystals and usually just buy it when its on sale. Currently is on sale for 36.99 at Amazon for 160g bucket. Other times throughout the year the 200g box goes on sale as well. Never had a problem with it mixing clear rather quickly.

 

[Pkunk35]

I’ve used and liked very much: instant ocean, Red Sea pro, tropic Marin with the last being my fav for clear mixing and clarity (no debris at all)

only salt I absolutely hated was neo marine by brightwell. Love the company but hated this salt due to debris and Some sludge. It never did seem to bother anything tho admittingly

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Hands down... Tropic Marin

 

[bblumberg]

+2 on Tropic Marin Pro

 

[Adamantium]

I’ve used and liked very much: instant ocean, Red Sea pro, tropic Marin with the last being my fav for clear mixing and clarity (no debris at all)

only salt I absolutely hated was neo marine by brightwell. Love the company but hated this salt due to debris and Some sludge. It never did seem to bother anything tho admittingly

That's so weird. NeoMarine is the salt I've had the most success with. I get zero sludge/precipitate and only find the occasional little bit of what looks like plastic shaving, likely from the bucket/lid (black shard of plastic). But even that is like, one little piece that's easy to remove every 5th water change.

 

[Adamantium]

Also, I'm curious, for those who use Tropic Marin, what do you do about the low Alkalinity? Most people don't run their tanks at 7dKH, but that's what the bucket mixes to.

 

[Alchameth]

Went back to Tropic Marin Pro, got tired of IO mixing crud and high dKH

 

[Alchameth]

Also, I'm curious, for those who use Tropic Marin, what do you do about the low Alkalinity? Most people don't run their tanks at 7dKH, but that's what the bucket mixes to.

I do 10% weekly usually so it doesn't even register, I'm sure there is a little dip, but Kalk keeps mine between 8.5-9

 

[arking_mark]

So a couple thoughts on salt mixes.
1. Your target parameters
2. Consider you're dosing regime
3. Consider you're water change regime

For many years, I used IO Reef Salt as my main salt due to its elevated parameters. I did a bi-weekly small 5-10% water change to keep my tank at more normal sea water parameters. Basically, the elevated IO Reef salt parameters were replenishing my tank...no dosing.

For my new build, I'm going with the Triton method and an incremental AWC (already implemented now on old tank). In this case, I needed to switch to a salt that mimics natural sea parameters so that the dosing maintains the the proper parameters. I went with Brightwell Neomarine Salt which has a 7.5dK and will allow a target 8dKH or slightly higher dKH and other parameters be maintained by the Triton method.

So when picking a salt mix, you need to make sure it works with your target parameters and tank maintenance plan.

 

[A2dahlberg]

I'm thinking of

Red Sea Fish Pharm ARE11220 Coral Pro Marine Salt for Aquarium, 55-Gallon​

for my first tank. I only have a 13.5 gallon tank.

 

[Jeffcb]

For Mixed Reef, Red Sea Coral Pro. I could be wrong but I think Red Sea is one of the only made from real ocean sea salt.

 

[A2dahlberg]

For Mixed Reef, Red Sea Coral Pro. I could be wrong but I think Red Sea is one of the only made from real ocean sea salt.

So it should mix clean with no crud left over, right?

 

[Jeffcb]

So it should mix clean with no crud left over, right?

Mine does. Mixes quickly as well.

 

[Daniel92481]

There will be a million different answers here, but hey I’ll play! Red Sea blue bucket.

 

[Piker]

Curious what’s the best salt to run ? going to be a mixed reef !
and how big is 200gallon of salt lol is it based on tank usage size?

Dude, I mix up red sea blue bucket, tested it just for this thread, and it's perfect. 8.6 alk, 440calc at 1.026. Your mileage may vary.

I haven't read this whole thread but BRS and Tropic Marrin are getting busy in the back room right now, so I'm sure there are a lot of people out here speaking for Tropic Marrin on their behalf. Pick one and stick to it... many of the greats do awesome with plain old instant ocean (Jason Fox for one and matter of fact a showcase tank I saw on tidal gardens youtube last night).

 

[josvanmeer]

Red sea pro coral

 

[Phil D.]

So it should mix clean with no crud left over, right?

I have used Red Sea Pro for many years now. I heat my water first then add the salt and let mix for an hour. The instructions on the bucket say not to let it mix more than 4 hours and you can use it after mixing for a half hour.

 

[A2dahlberg]

I was looking at

Tropic Marin ATM10581 Pro Reef-Bucket for Aquarium, 200-Gallon​

but BRS was out, could get it on Amazon for $13? for 200g. Budget wise I going to have to with RSP pro 55g for $36.

 

[SaltyWaitress]

B-Ionic!