Does the salt you use matter very much?

[kdx7214]

When last I had a reef tank (15 years ago or so) I was using Instant Ocean for salt. I understand there were some serious problems with that product in the interim and I would prefer to stay away from it. There are a lot of other options, but are any of them noticeably better than the others?

 

[Kfactor]

Just go for the parameters you want to keep in your tank with the salt you get

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Lots of posts on this issue. All salts will do the basic job. IO is a cheaper, dirtier salt. But it will do the job. Let me give you an example. I had been using IO and it would leave a nasty brown residue at the bottom of the brute bucket. Not a real concern to the tank, just unsightly. Plus it took about a day to really mix up and for the cloudiness to go away. Tonight I had to make some emergency water and I used Red Sea blue bucket. It was completely mixed in half an hour. Completely clear, no residue, SG where I wanted it. So I used it. It’s more expensive but it’s a cleaner salt. At the end of the day, though, they will all eventually do the job. Just depends on how much you want to pay for convenience, etc.

 

[malacoda]

+1 It really just boils down to what parameters you want to run your tank at.

For example, I like to keep my alkalinity at about 7.3. Tropic Marin is one of the few that's made to mix up in the 7-8 dKH range, so that's the one I reach for.

Other than that, 'reliability' is pretty even across the board for all the common brand names.

 

[kdx7214]

Lots of posts on this issue. All salts will do the basic job. IO is a cheaper, dirtier salt. But it will do the job. Let me give you an example. I had been using IO and it would leave a nasty brown residue at the bottom of the brute bucket. Not a real concern to the tank, just unsightly. Plus it took about a day to really mix up and for the cloudiness to go away. Tonight I had to make some emergency water and I used Red Sea blue bucket. It was completely mixed in half an hour. Completely clear, no residue, SG where I wanted it. So I used it. It’s more expensive but it’s a cleaner salt. At the end of the day, though, they will all eventually do the job. Just depends on how much you want to pay for convenience, etc.

I've been looking at the Red Sea stuff and will probably go for it. IO always seemed a bit dirty to me when mixing in the past - but back then there was no easy access to the internet for me to learn otherwise. Thanks!

 

[flashsmith]

Fritz RPM or Red Sea. They both mix clean. I buy whichever is on sale when I need it.

 

[ShakerBreaker]

It doesn’t matter which salt you use, what matters is knowing what’s in the salt you are using. Consistency is key.

I’m a big fan of Tropic Marin salt for what it’s worth, but I’m sure the Red Sea salt is great as well.

 

[DJF]

Last year when tropic marin was unavailable I switched to liveaquaria’s brand; cheaper & on point with advertised parameters; I haven’t looked back & recommend it (they run 10-20% off deals pretty regularly too).

 

[CanuckReefer]

Keep consistent as others have mentioned. I was on Tropic Marin for years and years, I slowly transitioned to Reef Crystals, as it was more readily available and I like its (usually) high Mag content.

 

[Gtinnel]

I use reef crystals. It does leave a residue in mixing station but it's cheap and always available.

 

[X-37B]

I get a laugh out of the which salt is best posts.
I ran ESV for 5 years and just went back to IO regular. $70 for 100gal or $70 for 320gal. I can afford either.
IMO, if you know what your doing any salt will work.
Just pic one and focus on stability and you will have success.

 

[CanuckReefer]

I use reef crystals. It does leave a residue in mixing station but it's cheap and always available.

Same, it's a good salt for my parameters. Then again I don't dose at all, mostly softie dominated. And a few LPS_/SPS It's consistent up at 1400 Mag range. If you dose, then pretty much any salt can be played with imo....

 

[Vyper]

For me it’s just wanting a good clean salt that doesn’t require me to tear down my mixing station constantly to clean it. If I was just mixing small amounts in a brute it wouldn’t be a big deal but 100 gallon mix with 2 200 gallon tanks feeding off of it for auto water changes it is a big deal. First two batches of IO had everything so gunked up with that brown crud it took forever to clean it. Tropic Marin has been great and haven’t had to clean the tanks yet and have mixed more than 2000 gallons of salt water in them.

 

[LPS Bum]

Reef Crystals and RODI water has always been good enough for me.

 

[Aboynamedsous2]

When last I had a reef tank (15 years ago or so) I was using Instant Ocean for salt. I understand there were some serious problems with that product in the interim and I would prefer to stay away from it. There are a lot of other options, but are any of them noticeably better than the others?

I swear by Red Sea coral pro salt. I used to use instant ocean and had a hard time keeping stable parameters also, I don’t have to worry about dosing with Red Sea it has everything already in it.

 

[MamaP]

+1 for Tropic Marin for lack of gunk build up in the Brute. I will say, though, from personal experience, if you leave it in there, even with circulation pumps, for more than a couple weeks, it will have a nasty film at the water line. I'm not totally sure there is one, but I wish someone could crack the code on longer term storage of SW, so I don't have to dump unused SW or make it in small batches. I'd personally love to just make one big batch to last for a few months if it would store well somehow, but that's just me.

 

[Operation Philo Beddoe]

When last I had a reef tank (15 years ago or so) I was using Instant Ocean for salt. I understand there were some serious problems with that product in the interim and I would prefer to stay away from it. There are a lot of other options, but are any of them noticeably better than the others?

I started in 2015 with Red Sea Coral Pro and it left worse brown crud in my mixing container than the Reef Crystals I use now, and RC is way cheaper. I bought 17 boxes of RCrystal, I’ve gone through 10 in the last year and my mixing container is brown but it mixes clear overnight. At $56 for a 200 gal box is hard to beat when you do a lot of water changes. Red Sea Coral Pro left the worst brown crud hands down.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When last I had a reef tank (15 years ago or so) I was using Instant Ocean for salt. I understand there were some serious problems with that product in the interim and I would prefer to stay away from it. There are a lot of other options, but are any of them noticeably better than the others?

I'm not aware of any "serious problems" that would suggest normal IO is not a perfectly good salt (I used it for 20 years and would again), and no, I do not think it matters to the success of a reef tank, as long as you account for the pros and cons of the actual mix used.

 

[Steve180]

Lots of posts on this issue. All salts will do the basic job. IO is a cheaper, dirtier salt. But it will do the job. Let me give you an example. I had been using IO and it would leave a nasty brown residue at the bottom of the brute bucket. Not a real concern to the tank, just unsightly. Plus it took about a day to really mix up and for the cloudiness to go away. Tonight I had to make some emergency water and I used Red Sea blue bucket. It was completely mixed in half an hour. Completely clear, no residue, SG where I wanted it. So I used it. It’s more expensive but it’s a cleaner salt. At the end of the day, though, they will all eventually do the job. Just depends on how much you want to pay for convenience, etc.

I can’t agree more, I use the Red Sea salt and it’ll take like 15min to clear up. Been mixing like that and it has always worked.

 

[homer1475]

For all those that complain about the brown sludge from IO or IORC..... It's simple to clear up.

Just run your water through a sediment filter from an RO/DI unit. BRS even suggests this in one of thier salt mix videos. And even went on to say that IO is probably the most perfect salt once you clear up the brown sludge.

And for all those that say their salt mixes up in a couple hours. I would suggest watching the BRS video on how fast salt mixes up. 99% of them took at least 24 hours to mix homogeneously.

Been doing this with my regular old IO for a few years now and have 0 brown anything in my mixing barrels about 25 200G boxes later.