Mixing own salt

[Jonandjo]

Hi guys and gurls I’m looking for some advice and experiences with different salt manufacturers.


I have recently been told that my favourite salt mix "red sea coral pro" is to go up in price because of BREXIT. I totally understand that manufacturers have to pay more therefore distributors charge more and finally LFS has to past costs on to ourselves.


I have been looking at other manufacturers and costing the difference in price per litre. One thing I have found not all manufacturers state what the salt will contain (i.e. Ca xxx, pH x.x etc.) so this makes comparing a problem. Then some quote you'll get xxxLtr/xxkg but when you read further on that’s mixing at a SG of 1.021 and there is no information for mixing at 1.025. One company gave an evaluation of their mix based on a pH of 7.0 that is just not helpful.


I know it sounds like I'm a miser but if you work out that a salt is costing 4p a litre more and you change let’s say 25ltr a week that’s £0.04*25 = £1.00 over a year that’s £52. Alongside all the other stuff we have to buy it’s quite a lot of money.


I mix 100ltr at a time and store to use over 4 weeks, with red sea I put 4 jugs of salt in mix for an hour and it’s done. I’ve had no problems with it, water parameters are within reason what is stated on the tin. So I was quite happy but now they want to charge more I need to compare the market.


So if you peeps on here could let me know what you use I could get a clearer view of what’s out there.


I have attached a excel document of what I managed to find out up to now.


Thanks in advance.

 

[ebushrow]

Salinity has that info available...they also have a per batch quality certificate that says exactly what the bucket you buy will mix up to.

 

[kalare]

Been using Instant Ocean for 20 years, through nems only, softies only and now SPS/LPS/nems. I briefly tried Red Sea (not coral pro) blue bucket, since it was very highly reviewed and had NSW parameters...highly sought after by the ULNS folks. It was too expensive for me and I realized I should not be changing what works. I also tried salinity for around 2 buckets worth. Now I'm back on cheap cheap Instant Ocean, corals still thriving, fish still thriving. Sometime people get caught up in the "my parameters must all be perfect" and go buy expensive salt to get it that way, but IME, IO works great and helps the wallet.

 

[Jonandjo]

Salinity has that info available...they also have a per batch quality certificate that says exactly what the bucket you buy will mix up to.

I've read about salinity and there seems to be various issues around mixing it. Have you found any problem with it.

 

[Jonandjo]

Been using Instant Ocean for 20 years, through nems only, softies only and now SPS/LPS/nems. I briefly tried Red Sea (not coral pro) blue bucket, since it was very highly reviewed and had NSW parameters...highly sought after by the ULNS folks. It was too expensive for me and I realized I should not be changing what works. I also tried salinity for around 2 buckets worth. Now I'm back on cheap cheap Instant Ocean, corals still thriving, fish still thriving. Sometime people get caught up in the "my parameters must all be perfect" and go buy expensive salt to get it that way, but IME, IO works great and helps the wallet.

Do you have to supplement calcium and magnesium much?

 

[kalare]

I use a calcium reactor, so I never need to supplement Ca. I've honestly, never, ever, tested for Mag. I like the KISS method, too much testing for this and that and here and there and worrying about every single parameter would make this hobby not fun for me. Everything grows and is colorful. The only things I test for are Ca and Alk. And very rarely I test for Nitrate and Phosphate, if I feel like knowing information I'll probably do nothing with .

 

[ebushrow]

I've read about salinity and there seems to be various issues around mixing it. Have you found any problem with it.

No problems so far with sps or mixing ....I also use reef crystals and find as long as you shake the bag up that it is fine as well....RC does leave a residue in my 1 mixing barrel, but seems to be consistent enough for the LPS

 

[Jonandjo]

No problems so far with sps or mixing ....I also use reef crystals and find as long as you shake the bag up that it is fine as well....RC does leave a residue in my 1 mixing barrel, but seems to be consistent enough for the LPS

why do you use reaf crystal as well as salt?

 

[ebushrow]

why do you use reef crystal as well as salt?

I do not use the RC and a salt, just the RC.....

I am not sure if you were actually looking to make your own salt...However, if you were to truly try to mix a reef salt from scratch, the list of ingredients and costs associated in qty's (need to buy in 1000kg quantities for most chemicals to be even close to reasonable) that would make your eyes roll back in your head would not be worth it and end up costing you more than buying it twice as much as you already do.

Reef Crystals and the like all have the information available with what they expect the salt to mix up to....it is not always accurate though...I think it is due to batch to batch inconsistency (maybe 1 batch was mixed better than another, etc.).

Complete control of the make-up of your reef water is not as important as some think IMO. If you live in the oceans as corals do, with the currents constantly bringing fresh water to you, I know that there are waves of different nutrients coming through at different times....corals are adapted to that....as the oceans cool in the winter along the coast or currents change, the nutrient content and mineral contents change....albeit very slightly, but they do...and the corals seem to be no worse for the wear. Thus I have found no real issue switching salts with my corals....sometimes the algae like one more than another, but the corals really don't seem to care. However, with some salts you may need to add trace elements and increase the cal and alk for what you typically have....however, this isn't a really big deal either...you just test each time you mix and add accordingly.....I really do not see the benefit of many of the higher price salts on the market today....I have tested at least 10 of them and found almost no difference with my reef.... I have recently started testing the "probiotic" salts and have even less to report with affect...

I am not sure if I answered anything here...kind of went off on a tangent...hopefully this helps though.

This thread may also be helpful
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/saltmix-parameters-bring-on-the-test-results.233233/