Cheap salt

Humblefish · Jul 4, 2016

Petsmart has Instant Ocean (160 gal bucket) on sale for $26.49, Reef Crystals is $32.49.

You can reserve thru their website, but it must be picked up at a local store. Sale runs thru 7/5.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up.

Lionfish Lair · Jul 4, 2016

Man, it's all "out of stock" in my area. :-(

DRoth335 · Jul 4, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
Man, it's all "out of stock" in my area. :-(

Same here!

WilRams · Jul 4, 2016

Picked up a total of 3 from 3 different stores nearby yesterday morning!

JasReef · Jul 4, 2016

I got 4 at the same store yesterday! Score!

Jakepen · Jul 4, 2016

Is it a pretty good salt?

Chibils · Jul 4, 2016

Instant Ocean is probably the most inexpensive brand, but also the most commonly used and most widely available brand. There's nothing wrong with it. Other salts do other things people might be searching for, but using IO won't hurt your tank unless you switch rapidly from a different salt.

Jakepen · Jul 4, 2016

Chibils said:
Instant Ocean is probably the most inexpensive brand, but also the most commonly used and most widely available brand. There's nothing wrong with it. Other salts do other things people might be searching for, but using IO won't hurt your tank unless you switch rapidly from a different salt.

So when switching salt, how do you suggest doing it? I have a thirty gallon, so would doing a five gallon change with IO every week be slow enough, or would it be best to mix it with my current salt. Also what does my current salt (HW Reefer) have that IO doesn't?

saltyhog · Jul 4, 2016

You just need to watch your parameters. There's nothing magical about switching salts. If one is much higher in alkalinity than the new one that is where you can get in to trouble. I switched from a very high alkalinity salt to IO that mixes about 9.0 for me. I simply made up the difference with my dosing. If you don't dose then smaller water changes for a while until your parameters stabilize.

twobytwo · Jul 4, 2016

I'm seeing RC for $27.62:

Save 15% when Choosing Store Pickup! View Details

Sigh.... Canada sucks, same Bucket is $87 at Canadian Petsmarts and I'm a 2 hour drive from the border