Choosing a salt

[White Hair]

I’ve decided to start mixing my own salt water, Since i started my tank i’ve been using lfs salt water, what do i need to know before purchasing salt, just a little research says match the dks ,and several. other items, so are some salts better than others and what do i need to consider before purchasing, thanks

 

[steallife904]

going to get a ton of answers to this. the easy answer is to find one close to what the parameters are a your LFS is using or use same salt they use if your happy with how it has worked.
I use Brightwell neomarine reef salt. Its very close to natural sea water parameters and I have had the best result with this salt compared to many others I have used but that's just my experience. There are many other good ones.

 

[Slawman]

Try to get one that dissolves easily in your water and one that you can get reliably. I use NSW these days however these were the biggest issues for me when I used to mix. I was very surprised to find some brands would dissolve completely in 20 minutes and some would actually never completely dissolve under the same circumstances......

 

[Gareth elliott]

Having used about 12 different salts.

i pick by price and something within 1.5-2 dkh of where i keep my tank. I have killed coral, i have never done so with my salt choices.

 

[Dbichler]

Make sure to use rodi use a pump and heater mix for around 24 hrs. Salt brands make little difference imho. Some mix dif. Some have dif. Parameters. I like io because its cheap.

 

[Big G]

I like Red Sea Coral Pro (black bucket) and Red Sea (blue bucket). Mixes easily and quickly. Very little residue in my mixing tanks. I mix the blue and black bucket 50/50 for my mixed reef tank.

 

[Crabby48]

To expand on others suggestions What salt can you buy locally?

 

[bblumberg]

There is a BRS TV about this topic.

 

[madweazl]

My only advice would be to use one that you can find locally (helpful in case of emergency). If you're only doing 10-15% water changes, the differences in parameters really isn't large enough to consider an issue. I was using Instant Ocean but switched to Tropic Marin Pro about five months ago (Instant Ocean for the three years prior to that on this tank). There is no noticeable difference in the tank but my checking account is substantially lighter. Petco had a 20% off sale last week where I could have purchased three buckets of Instant Ocean for $101; I pay $100 for a single bucket of Tropic Marin. I don't care what anybody tells you, it isn't worth it. I have one bucket of it left but I'd be hard pressed to continue using it after that.

 

[PatW]

All of the major salt mixes on the market today can work just fine. I suppose people use salt so much that the bad stuff never gets a toehold on the market.

I started with Instant Ocean. It has a scummy residue i my mixing container and I wanted a higher Mg level. I went to Reef Crystals and it mixes cleaner.

Bulk Reef Supply has some videos on the subject.

 

[Biokabe]

Just about any salt mix will do the job, even the oft-maligned Instant Ocean. It all depends on what your goals, demands and tolerances are.

Instant Ocean, for example, can have quite a bit of variability from batch to batch, and it's not terribly rich with many of the elements we need for our corals. It also dissolves slowly. So if your tank is tolerant of variability in water parameters (FOWLR or soft/LPS-dominated) or you typically have plenty of time to mix your salt, then Instant Ocean works just fine.

Myself, I'm not too fond of the residue that IO leaves behind, and I tend to procrastinate doing a water change if I have to wait for it to fully mix, so I'm starting up with Tropic Marin as soon as my current batch of Fritz salt is done. That said - Instant Ocean is perfectly adequate for even the most demanding of tanks so long as you keep up with your maintenance and dosing. So I won't say it doesn't matter, but you can't really make a 'wrong' choice.

 

[CoralReefer1019]

don’t mean to hijack thread but how long do you all mix new salt water? I usually mix Five gallons for 1 hour then perform water change

 

[CoralReefer1019]

btw I use Fritz but will probably go to Reef Crystals next

 

[mike550]

Great advice on this thread. I started a new tank six months ago with TM classic sea salt. I switched to TM Pro Reef which was a bad idea because the salt is intended for people who like to manage alk, Ca, Mg, etc. Ended up messing up my tank params. So I switched back to TM Classic and tank is doing much better.

My point is find a salt that satisfies your needs now but be open to switching as your tank changes (more corals, etc)

 

[Jerry Ebner]

I use reef crystals from instant ocean.. My LFS has plentiful supply and I've had zero issues in 3 years of reefing. Use what works best for you.

 

[lilgrounchuck]

I switched to RC a few months ago and like it. Tank runs great, it mixes fast and clean, and you can usually re-up on amazon for ~$30/bucket.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think many of us start with instant ocean and graduate over time to one that satisfies our needs such as dissolvability, ca/mag/alk needs etc