Choosing salt

[ErikVR]

Hi all,

I have been using Red Sea Coral Pro salt (black buckets) for a while now.
When I started, only 8-9 months ago, it was €62 per buckets. But it has increased to €100 per 22kg bucket....
Yikes!! That hurts!!

I noticed that Aquaforest Sea Salt is at €49 per 25kg box and their Reef Salt is at €59 per 25kg box.
Now I only have softies and LPS (and plan to keep it that way). Do I really need the elements the Reef Salt adds or is it alright to use their Sea Salt and do my normal dosing?

Thanks for any advices you can give me!

 

[The_Paradox]

I’m a firm proponent of pick the salt that’s closest to the parameters you intend to keep. I’m assuming you’re dosing your tank to something like 10-11KH. Do you intend to keep it there? Are you willing to adjust new saltwater up to that level? If you’re happy with what you are using, is there any way you can increase nutrient export to extend water changes or get rid of them all together?

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

Personally, I just use regular old instant ocean. I've used it for many years and I'm not about to fix something that isn't broke. I have sps, LPS, softies and everything does fine. I mean these days pretty much any commercial salt will work, it's about what works best for you and what you're trying to accomplish.

 

[Pistondog]

I like the aquaforest reef salt. Watch your alk if you change salt.

 

[o2manyfish]

Look at what you want to keep... You said you are a softy and LPS kind of person (not sharting on that at all).

Softies rely almost exclusively on nutrients to sustain health and growth. They aren't building a skeletal system - so the elements in the salt water aren't really that necessary for them. Yes they are necessary for health and stable parameters is key. But they are not pulling those elements out of the water column. With Softies you are better off saving your money on salt and investing in iodide and iodine dosing.

LPS - Is building a skeletal structure. But LPS are really slow growing. They are large fleshy animals (in comparison to an sps) and the animal is intent on feeding the 'meat' of the animal more than building up that skeleton.

While LPS will consume some elements and alkalinity, it's in a much much smaller amount than a tank packed with SPS. Pending the size of your tank and the amount of mass of LPS you have in your tank, most of your levels might be maintained with regular water changes until the colonies get large and mature.

Dave B

 

[Stelioshah]

I had been using the aquaforest reef salt for a pretty long time. The parameters on their website are spot on with what to expect after mixing the salt.

It does leave a brown residue in the bucket. In addition, you can't store it! While in storage CaCO3 starts perticipating which lowers the "boosted" alkalinity and calcium of the reef version.

Having said that, i recently had some extremely bad experience with the 25kg box. I left the salt in the box so it sucked up tons of moisture. I was like okay it is not that important I am just going to have to fix calcium magnesium and alkalinity levels due to precipitation. The more time passed the worse the level drops got.

In the meantime I could not pin point why my corals were getting more and more mad. Polyps bailing out, sps and lps receding. Until a day I started to prepare new salt water for a water change, looked in the box and the salt had a blue tint in its entirety. I was like eehhh it could be molecular iodine forming or something like that. But even after mixing the color did not go away. I bought a new bucket of salt and ever since everything is bouncing back.

It is a good salt, don't get me wrong but DON'T leave it out in the open (but it in a bucket with a seal) and don't store mixed water for excessive periods of time.

 

[KStatefan]

Pick one that is readily available in your area.

 

[ErikVR]

It is a good salt, don't get me wrong but DON'T leave it out in the open (but it in a bucket with a seal) and don't store mixed water for excessive periods of time.

Yeah that's clear. Got like 10 of the large sealed buckets from red sea.
So the Red Sea buckets are now storage containers for Aquaforest salt

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

Honestly pretty much any commercial salt these days will work. Pick a salt that's close the the parameters you're trying to keep and readily available. I just use regular old instant ocean. It's cheap and has worked for me for many years and I see no reason to change it.

 

[Ianderson80]

I used instant for years about 10 years ago. Struggled with growth. I have switched to Red Sea and hoping for better results.

 

[shcrimps]

Personally, I just use regular old instant ocean. I've used it for many years and I'm not about to fix something that isn't broke. I have sps, LPS, softies and everything does fine. I mean these days pretty much any commercial salt will work, it's about what works best for you and what you're trying to accomplish.

up until a couple months ago i did the same while using natural SW through the hobby
switched to aqua forest and i really didn’t see a difference, did so just to see if anything would change
instant ocean is way easier to obtain and cheaper
works best for what i need too
after my little experiment i’m back to that thought of fixing something that isn’t broken

 

[Debramb]

Personally, I just use regular old instant ocean. I've used it for many years and I'm not about to fix something that isn't broke. I have sps, LPS, softies and everything does fine. I mean these days pretty much any commercial salt will work, it's about what works best for you and what you're trying to accomplish.

FYI, just now read Instant Ocean is adding a third salt called Evolution, they’ve added reef support but the best IMO is probiotics to fuel the bacteria in our substrate and rocks. No bacteria. Thought this sounds cool, like you said, they’ve been around forever. You guys know better about corals, only corals we have are a huge mushroom rock and palys that we’re on our live rocks 25 or 30 yrs ago Lol, also, one the side of bristle worms and copopods that were hitchhikers!
Debra