Help with choosing salt

[Birdman Broham]

What salt do you prefer to use? For a reef tank?

 

[themcnertney]

following.
Just curious what others say.

 

[Birdman Broham]

Bump. Still looking for the best salt to use

 

[rtparty]

There is no best salt. Just what you find to be the best for your tank and situation.

What are you looking for in a salt? Clean? Consistent? Cheap? Locally available? What parameters?

Most people just tell you the salt they’re using is the best because they “see better results” compared to other salts.

The Ultimate Salt Test

I wanted to get this thread up and going before the holidays soak up all my time. I did a live YouTube with Deven from ReefDudes going over things but it is about 1.5 hours long. I will write up a more detailed explanation here in this first post soon. I am a hobbyist first and foremost. I have...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Bump. Still looking for the best salt to use

The way I run my tank, others will have a different opinions. I started with reef crystal salt. Reason's it is available everywhere, widely used and was cheaper than most. I am a big believer in keeping everything stable and not making a bunch of changes in your reef is best practice. I have kept my parameters the same as what reef crystal mixes to, so I continue using it. It is a dirty Salt but I like it

 

[Scrap_Life]

Coral pro black bucket. For no other reason than that’s what I picked when I started last year.

 

[Idech]

I used Red Sea blue bucket for a while and I liked it, but it takes up to 2 hours to mix. Now I’m using Aquaforest reef salt, which takes 20 minutes max to mix.

I rarely do WC though.

 

[The_Paradox]

What do you plan to keep your alkalinity and calcium at? I would pick the salt that closest matches those numbers.

 

[EricR]

Highly subjective but I use Fritz RPM (regular) because it's on the "budget" end of the spectrum and mixes to pretty close to ideal parameters for MY liking.
*other than that, I don't think it matters much

 

[exnisstech]

Reef crystals and instant ocean mixed 50/50 Reason is because I stock up when I find it on sale. It mixes dirty but that doesn't bother me. Alk is a little higher than I keep the tanks but I do smaller more frequent changes and the tanks stay stable so don't do anything to try and match the alk in the new mix.

 

[Doctorgori]

There is no best salt. Just what you find to be the best for your tank and situation.

What are you looking for in a salt? Clean? Consistent? Cheap? Locally available? What parameters?

Most people just tell you the salt they’re using is the best because they “see better results” compared to other salts.

The Ultimate Salt Test

I wanted to get this thread up and going before the holidays soak up all my time. I did a live YouTube with Deven from ReefDudes going over things but it is about 1.5 hours long. I will write up a more detailed explanation here in this first post soon. I am a hobbyist first and foremost. I have...

www.reef2reef.com

I’m only quoting this because this is exactly what I’d say…IMO those insanely long “which salt is best” threads become redundant …. I support and understand the frequency of them, just worth pointing out they are quite abundant…the revisit is perfectly fine however

Reef crystals and instant ocean mixed 50/50 Reason is because I stock up when I find it on sale. It mixes dirty but that doesn't bother me. Alk is a little higher than I keep the tanks but I do smaller more frequent changes and the tanks stay stable so don't do anything to try and match the alk in the new mix.

I buy both and mix them also, mainly because if its a large WC of over 33% I will re-adjust the new water anyway, and if the Water change percentage is under 33% the actual difference in levels doesn’t really matter that much,,
And also because RC’s Alk levels and consistency is crap anyway

 

[exnisstech]

And also because RC’s Alk levels and consistency is crap anyway

I'm almost ashamed to say I've been doing this for close to 8 years and a couple of weeks a go was the first time I ever tested my fresh salt mix.

 

[kevgib67]

I use Fritz RPM simply because it is the only salt my lfs sells, I want to support them, great coral and fish selection and their tanks are always pristine.

 

[merkmerk73]

I also need some help in choosing a reef salt.

I've been using higher Alk salt but I am finding that it may not be the best way to go - in fact it seems like there's a risk of having some alk burn on new coral frags because the system they're coming from is in the ~8

I am also dosing now so I'm not using water changes to replenish higher alk, but rather just trying to keep a stable range.

I am looking for something in the 8.5 range but it seems like I don't have many options
* Tropic Marin Reef Pro - TM has had a major reputation hit lately. Also expensive and seems to often arrive damaged.
* Nyos - some batches are in the 7s and I'd like to maintain 8-9 without having to adjust my dosing to compensate
* Aquaforest - expensive, supposedly high mag issues


I'm open to recommendations.

 

[MDAquatics]

I use Aquaforest Reef Salt. No complaints so far and testing fresh batches is always consistent.

 

[boacvh]

I'd say all salts are equal in the end. Just select one that is near where you keep your alk and one that is easily available at your LFS. Support them and save on shipping.