- There's no magic in any of the salt mixes.
- The formula for manufacturing synthetic sea salt mix has clearly become fairly stable as there are lots of quality salt mixes on the market these days.
- No salt I'm aware of (none named in this thread, to be sure) "blows the others away". :sorry: Aside from the Ca/alk/Mg numbers which are generally well known and verifiable, I've never seen a big difference between brands outside of Tropic Marin's Pro Reef*. As such, beware of marketing hyperbole and "mystique".
While I don't dislike Red Sea Coral Pro (I promise!), alkalinity in it is a little low for my liking (as is TM Pro Reef) and I never recommend it for this reason. Certainly lots of people buy it (due to price, I think) and presumably make adjustments to alkalinity manually, or just aren't keeping a system where alkalinity matters much. (e.g. Fish only or very few stony corals.) No big deal, as long as you know what you're getting into. In my experience, most people assume they know what they are getting into...then wonder a few weeks/months later why their alkalinity numbers are in the toilet. I've seen this almost
ad nauseum, actually.
Myself, I'm not interested in the extra testing needed just to make sure my water change water is right after I manually adjust Ca, alk or Mg. But if that's your thing, go for it!
I personally use Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals where possible. Both have good (and sensible) numbers and they do right by most people's tanks/habits. For me, no adjustments have ever been needed. They are also usually very reasonable in cost and each has an excellent track record "as long as your arm!"
I also prefer salt that is available in a box vs only in a bucket. Buckets are nice until you have a few dozen of them around!
It's just too much extra packaging to buy every single time. (Never seen RSCP in anything other than a bucket.)
Best of luck!
-Matt
* Around the same time frame a few years ago, I had two strange occurrences related to Tropic Marin Pro Reef. First was the two or three buckets which wouldn't fully dissolve when mixed - they left the water milky with a fine white precipitate of some sort. Had to return them all to the vendor. A little later, I began running into people using TM Pro Reef who had unexplainable problems with dinos (maybe diatoms). One by one over time, after trying all the common algae remedies (generally bullet-proof), I helped/watched them switch salt (almost all to Instant Ocean) and have the mystery algae disappear in very short order. The mixing issue was definitely a fluke. Not sure what the deal was with the algae issue - presumably a fluke as well I'd guess.
