Salt mixes... what's your favorite and why?

[Dr RBG]

Tropic Marin Pro

 

[TriggerFinger]

I bought a blue box of fritz for $44 at my LFS. Mixed quickly and clean and I like it so far.

 

[CrissyCoralsGirl]

I use Fritz. I like the price and my corals seem to do well.

 

[RobW]

I use Fritz. I like the price and my corals seem to do well.

What type of corals do you keep?

 

[kirkle]

have used Red Sea Coral Pro and Fritz RPM. currently using LiveAquaria which is just private labeled Fritz, but cheaper, and they frequently have sales. recently got 205 gal box for $37.50 after discounts, with free ground shipping.

 

[C-Reefer]

I have used fritz blue box for about a year now after switching from IO after a year, to Fritz. Fritz mixes up at 8.5 dkh 420 calcium @1.025. dead on the money for my parameters. Mixes quick, clear, and corals love it. I have a LPS dominant tank with lots of SPS and zoas

 

[LesPoissons]

So the top 4 seem to be:
Instant ocean 200g $55
Tropic marine pro 200g $130
Fritz 200G $64
Live aquaria 205G 50$

I use instant ocean too. Tried reef crystals but all the additive levels were too high since my reef is just beginning.

 

[Shinte122305]

in the last 10 years ive tried everything and kept using expensive salts, finally went back to basic instant ocean and guess what no change lol its just salt. for the past 2 years just basic IO. salt is but 1 of a thousand things that go into a reef tank. my sps love the IO.

 

[RobW]

Well, alright. Thanks for all your insight.

 

[homer1475]

I've used regular IO purple box for all of my roughly 20 years of off and on reefing. Never had any salt related issues, and the best part, it's cheap!

There are plenty of ways to blow money in this hobby, and salt is one of them. At the end of the day, salt is salt. Choose what works for your budget, and what mixes up to the most consistent readings. For me thats IO.

 

[Snitch]

Gosh - I've used so many different types over the years - all of which were brought up except the Fritz and LA salts. I would usually mix up IO/Oceanic 50/50 to get good readings, but when Red Sea came out with their Coral Pro salt, their regular blue bag salt was super cheap, so I tried it out. Had to break that stuff up with an ice pick it was so hard, but man, I really did like the results over everything I ever used.

Take it for what it's worth, buy what you want. Chasing numbers in this hobby will drive you nuts unless you have all kinds of $$$$ to throw at it.

 

[balkin]

Tropic Marin Pro.. I used to use Instant Ocean.

 

[Jamie Allbritton]

I use H2OCEAN Pro. I did use Red Sea pro but noticed I had more algae issues. I like the high magnesium levels of H2OCEAN which I believe has been a factor of algae reduction.

 

[Entz]

AF Reef salt. Clean mixing and has been consistent for me and matches where my tank is number wise.

I have been wanting to try TM Pro, I just can't seem to justify the 20c per gallon more it costs here.

 

[SeaDweller]

I have used all the main stream salt mixes over the years. Personally for me HW and Fritz are what I have found to be best. Both mix up clean, clear and quickly. Alk cal and mag are right where I need them to be for my reef tank. Lastly the price for a 200g box of either salt is great, I pay $55 after tax for a box of Fritz.
List of salt I have used.
IO
IO Reef Crystals
Tropic Marin Pro
Coral Life
Oceanic
DD H2Ocean
Red Sea
Red Sea Coral Pro
HW Marine
HW Reefer
Kent
Seachem Salinity
Brightwell Neo Marine

I have used all the main stream salt mixes over the years. Personally for me HW and Fritz are what I have found to be best. Both mix up clean, clear and quickly. Alk cal and mag are right where I need them to be for my reef tank. Lastly the price for a 200g box of either salt is great, I pay $55 after tax for a box of Fritz.
List of salt I have used.
IO
IO Reef Crystals
Tropic Marin Pro
Coral Life
Oceanic
DD H2Ocean
Red Sea
Red Sea Coral Pro
HW Marine
HW Reefer
Kent
Seachem Salinity
Brightwell Neo Marine

Any chance your issues was from the salt... namely fritz?

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Any chance your issues was from the salt... namely fritz?

Not sure. Icp test showed nothing wrong. I am switch back to HW salt though. Mostly because I cant get Fritz at the $50 price any more and HW always produced a success reef for me.

 

[SeaDweller]

Not sure. Icp test showed nothing wrong. I am switch back to HW salt though. Mostly because I cant get Fritz at the $50 price any more and HW always produced a success reef for me.

When I was looking at maybe getting Brightwell's Neomarine, thought of your troubles when I noticed you posted up in here about Fritz. I've been using TMP exclusively for the last year and noticing its price creeping up alot ($139 at petco!) so i looked at alternatives. BW NM is attractive for the price, but luckily I was able to get some TMP last night for $86 shipped.

How long have you been using the HW?

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Started my first tank with in around 2006-2007. Used it until the LFS that carried it could no longer bring it in for whatever reason. I loved it and had 3 successful mixed reefs using HW. Once I decided m to get back into reefing and set up a new tank finding a good salt was on the list. Finding HW for sale at BRS made my decision easy. Also seeing their you tube videos on HW salt further enforced my liking of HW salts. I used the Professional not the Reefer mix but I ordered the Reefer this time, Professional was out of stock and is more often then the Reefer. Over all I would say I used HW for 5-6 years of my reefing hobby, never once had an issue with their salt in that time.