Free Salt from Live Aquaria

MT. Reefer · Sep 1, 2017

As I was just watching a few You Tube vids from MACNA, I saw that Live Aquaria is coming out with there own branded salt mix. Right now on Drs Foster and Smith, they are offering the 14 lb bag for $24.99 and free shipping and then you get a gift certificate for $25 that you can use for any purchase later on. More salt maybe? They are advertising this as residue-free with correct specs for growing Acropora. Who doesn't love a freebie once in a while. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4685+37818&pcatid=37818

Mike N · Sep 1, 2017

Bait and switch alert!!!!! :mad:
Your title should be 2-for-1 salt from LA.

Kidding of course, thanks for the heads up

adam87 · Sep 1, 2017

Nice!!!

madweazl · Sep 1, 2017

Thanks for the heads up, I wanted to try it out anyways.

LobsterOfJustice · Sep 1, 2017

Interesting - looks like they have it priced the same as IO, although IO currently on sale for cheaper. Did they also just raise their price on IO? I thought I normally paid like $43ish (on sale) for a 200 box.

I was expecting this to come in cheaper than IO, but looks like it will likely be priced the same or more expensive depending on sales (seems IO is constantly on sale, don't think I've paid sticker price at DFS in years).

Idoc · Sep 1, 2017

I wonder whose salt they are just repackaging under their name? Or, are they actually manufacturing their own... highly doubtful that would be the case, though.

DracoKat · Sep 1, 2017

I just bought one to try out

LobsterOfJustice · Sep 2, 2017

Idoc said:
I wonder whose salt they are just repackaging under their name? Or, are they actually manufacturing their own... highly doubtful that would be the case, though.

I think it is actually fairly likely they are making their own. From what I understand their main driver of creating this salt was for use in their facility where they go through tens of thousands of gallons every few days. They say their driver was for improved quality (something that mixes well without residue) but if it were me, it would be all about reducing cost at that scale. Selling some to us is just a side project.

andrew james · Sep 2, 2017

I'm still I search of a salt without anti caking agent and the parameters of nsw. I wonder if this fits the bill. Right now I'm using tropic Marin pro reef and it's making me poor.

MT. Reefer · Sep 2, 2017

Here is the link to the you tube video. The Live Aquaria salt is discussed at the end of the video.

dealseer · Sep 2, 2017

Idoc said:
I wonder whose salt they are just repackaging under their name? Or, are they actually manufacturing their own... highly doubtful that would be the case, though.

This comment surprised me. I think they are definitely making their own. Can you imagine how much salt they go through?

DSC reef · Sep 2, 2017

Not surprising really. Buying bulk salt from the same manufacturer then adding there own special mix is not unheard of nor would it surprise me.

MT. Reefer · Sep 2, 2017

Larry Linne said:
Here is the link to the you tube video. The Live Aquaria salt is discussed at the end of the video.

For some reason I cannot add the link to the Reef Builders MACNA you tube video where the rep from Live Aquaria discusses this salt.

Idoc · Sep 2, 2017

dealseer said:
This comment surprised me. I think they are definitely making their own. Can you imagine how much salt they go through?

Well, it is quite possible that they are actually formulating their own salt since they do go through a lot of water... but probably 99% chance they aren't! If the 10k gallons every 3 days is accurate, then they go through around $1.9M in salt per year (estimating using the cost of Reef Crystals at $25/5gal wholesale... which you know is really about double what a "big bulk user" would actually pay)...plus, they are actually formulating well below 1.026 SG... so realistically they get more mileage than 160g from a 5g bucket...they probably spend about half that $1.9M on salt per year). Now i don't know how much it would cost to manufacture your own salt mix... but I bet after research/development, infrastructure, etc... your looking st a minimum $200M investment. So even at the high side of what they spend per year on salt, it would take them 100+yrs to break even on their initial investment... which doesn't include yearly upkeep, personnel costs, repairs, etc...

So, it makes more sense for them to go to Reef Crystals (or any salt producer) and say..."hey, we want to sell our own name brand of salt... how much would you charge us to change one parameter in your salt and package it with our name?" Way, way less than having to do all the work themselves!

But in reality, what is probably actually happening in order to even more financially benefit Live Aquaria: "Hey Reef Crystals... we are your biggest end user of your product now and paying $2/lb (just an example amt to show how this type of business deal works) for your salt in our facility...we would like to open up an entire new product line for you to increase your sales and increase your salt production to build your business bigger. We will sell your salt under our name, which is highly recognized and trusted in the industry... you'll have exclusive rights, and we will do all your advertising...but, we want to now get our salt from you for our business for now only $1/lb"... (of course the formulation will be slightly different).... This is a win-win for both company's... Reef Crystals just increased their sales and production while Live Aquaria just saved $1M off their expenses each year, plus making a little off each bag of salt sold.... and Live Aquaria didn't habe to put a dime into research/development, personnel, infrastructure, or maintenance upkeep.

Wal-Mart sells 100M+ bottles of Wal-Mart brand ketchup per year... you don't think they actually produce that themselves? Of course not, it's Heinz or Hunt's ketchup with a slight difference and repackaged under Wal-Mart's name, lol.

Forsaken77 · Sep 4, 2017

Idoc said:
Well, it is quite possible that they are actually formulating their own salt since they do go through a lot of water... but probably 99% chance they aren't! If the 10k gallons every 3 days is accurate, then they go through around $1.9M in salt per year (estimating using the cost of Reef Crystals at $25/5gal wholesale... which you know is really about double what a "big bulk user" would actually pay)...plus, they are actually formulating well below 1.026 SG... so realistically they get more mileage than 160g from a 5g bucket...they probably spend about half that $1.9M on salt per year). Now i don't know how much it would cost to manufacture your own salt mix... but I bet after research/development, infrastructure, etc... your looking st a minimum $200M investment. So even at the high side of what they spend per year on salt, it would take them 100+yrs to break even on their initial investment... which doesn't include yearly upkeep, personnel costs, repairs, etc...

So, it makes more sense for them to go to Reef Crystals (or any salt producer) and say..."hey, we want to sell our own name brand of salt... how much would you charge us to change one parameter in your salt and package it with our name?" Way, way less than having to do all the work themselves!

But in reality, what is probably actually happening in order to even more financially benefit Live Aquaria: "Hey Reef Crystals... we are your biggest end user of your product now and paying $2/lb (just an example amt to show how this type of business deal works) for your salt in our facility...we would like to open up an entire new product line for you to increase your sales and increase your salt production to build your business bigger. We will sell your salt under our name, which is highly recognized and trusted in the industry... you'll have exclusive rights, and we will do all your advertising...but, we want to now get our salt from you for our business for now only $1/lb"... (of course the formulation will be slightly different).... This is a win-win for both company's... Reef Crystals just increased their sales and production while Live Aquaria just saved $1M off their expenses each year, plus making a little off each bag of salt sold.... and Live Aquaria didn't habe to put a dime into research/development, personnel, infrastructure, or maintenance upkeep.

Wal-Mart sells 100M+ bottles of Wal-Mart brand ketchup per year... you don't think they actually produce that themselves? Of course not, it's Heinz or Hunt's ketchup with a slight difference and repackaged under Wal-Mart's name, lol.

My brother wanted me to split this 300-400 pound huge barrel of Aquavitro salt for $250 each, it was $500 total. Problem is, I don't use Aquavitro salt and had no interest in lugging 20 buckets of salt from his house to mine, with a 2 door coupe. You should've seen us trying to get the thing out of the van at his house. They put it in on a folk lift.

We had to swivel it around until it just fell off the back of the van. I thought that salt was gonna explode when it hit the ground. It was in almost like a giant cardboard-type barrel with metal rings around the top and bottom. Biggest batch of salt I've ever seen. Now watch it all get hard as a rock because it's not sealed properly and kept in the garage, lol.

Roggio · Oct 1, 2017

Idoc said:
Well, it is quite possible that they are actually formulating their own salt since they do go through a lot of water... but probably 99% chance they aren't! If the 10k gallons every 3 days is accurate, then they go through around $1.9M in salt per year (estimating using the cost of Reef Crystals at $25/5gal wholesale... which you know is really about double what a "big bulk user" would actually pay)...plus, they are actually formulating well below 1.026 SG... so realistically they get more mileage than 160g from a 5g bucket...they probably spend about half that $1.9M on salt per year). Now i don't know how much it would cost to manufacture your own salt mix... but I bet after research/development, infrastructure, etc... your looking st a minimum $200M investment. So even at the high side of what they spend per year on salt, it would take them 100+yrs to break even on their initial investment... which doesn't include yearly upkeep, personnel costs, repairs, etc...

So, it makes more sense for them to go to Reef Crystals (or any salt producer) and say..."hey, we want to sell our own name brand of salt... how much would you charge us to change one parameter in your salt and package it with our name?" Way, way less than having to do all the work themselves!

But in reality, what is probably actually happening in order to even more financially benefit Live Aquaria: "Hey Reef Crystals... we are your biggest end user of your product now and paying $2/lb (just an example amt to show how this type of business deal works) for your salt in our facility...we would like to open up an entire new product line for you to increase your sales and increase your salt production to build your business bigger. We will sell your salt under our name, which is highly recognized and trusted in the industry... you'll have exclusive rights, and we will do all your advertising...but, we want to now get our salt from you for our business for now only $1/lb"... (of course the formulation will be slightly different).... This is a win-win for both company's... Reef Crystals just increased their sales and production while Live Aquaria just saved $1M off their expenses each year, plus making a little off each bag of salt sold.... and Live Aquaria didn't habe to put a dime into research/development, personnel, infrastructure, or maintenance upkeep.

Wal-Mart sells 100M+ bottles of Wal-Mart brand ketchup per year... you don't think they actually produce that themselves? Of course not, it's Heinz or Hunt's ketchup with a slight difference and repackaged under Wal-Mart's name, lol.

Can you explain your 200,000,000 figure and where it came from?