Should I switch salt?

[Schraufabagel]

I currently use Red Sea Coral Pro salt which has a dkh of 11.5. I started using All For Reef on my 25 gallon mixed reef tank which I'm assuming has a dkh around 7.5 ~ 8.5. Is it worth the cost of raising the dkh of the All For Reef by addition of alkalinity? Or should I start using Red Sea's blue bucket (which has a dkh of 7.7)? I have a 160 gallon box of each salt.

I only ask because Red Sea recommends Coral Pro for mixed reef tanks that aren't dominated by SPS. I have 5 SPS frags compared to the around 20 - 25 LPS and softies growing in my tank. Most of the softies are already colony size compared to the LPS which still haven't grown much over the 2 - 7 months depending on which one. Ultimately looking for what would be cost effective for good growth.

Hopefully this is the last part of me finalizing my dosing

 

[blaxsun]

I used Red Sea Coral Pro for a while but found the alkalinity was higher than what I would've liked, so I switched to Tropic Marin when I upgraded to a new system. The Red Sea blue bucket is also a good option.

 

[Schraufabagel]

I used Red Sea Coral Pro for a while but found the alkalinity was higher than what I would've liked, so I switched to Tropic Marin when I upgraded to a new system. The Red Sea blue bucket is also a good option.

Sounds good. I may just switch to the blue bucket then. It's far simpler not having to worry about modifying my all for reef powder

 

[Spare time]

Why not just raise the alk through small water changes?


PS You can use either salt for SPS, LPS, etc. Red sea says what they say because they assume you are running the ridiculously low nitrate and phosphate numbers that they recommend and high alk ULNS's are not very great for sps like corals. I have kept all of my SPS at 12.1ish KH with no issue.

 

[blaxsun]

Sounds good. I may just switch to the blue bucket then. It's far simpler not having to worry about modifying my all for reef powder

And you can mix both with water changes to gradually adjust.

 

[Pico bam]

Not entirely sure you have a grasp on how afr works. It will add alkinity and doesn't have alkinity like a salt mix. If you were to just test all for reef by its self it would have an insanely high dkh. Trying my best to explain it. Its a alk booster, aswell as many other things.

Edit: example, I overdosed afr in my 120 once and my dkh went from 6.5 to 11.

 

[Arego]

IO works fine, if you're already dosing you may as well use that and apply the salt savings for AFR. Just a thought. I switched a long time ago from expensive salts and my only regret is not having done it years ago to be honest.

 

[Schraufabagel]

Not entirely sure you have a grasp on how afr works. It will add alkinity and doesn't have alkinity like a salt mix. If you were to just test all for reef by its self it would have an insanely high dkh. Trying my best to explain it. Its a alk booster, aswell as many other things.

Ahhhh, that makes sense. So essentially I could keep using Coral Pro and the All For Reef alkalinity doesn't need to be modified. In retrospect, I think I was thinking about it too hard and your point seems like something I should've picked up on before. My bad

 

[Pico bam]

Ahhhh, that makes sense. So essentially I could keep using Coral Pro and the All For Reef alkalinity doesn't need to be modified

Yes,

 

[Tamberav]

Doesn't matter what salt you use. Don't fall into the trap of "if you have this coral, you should use this salt" - you can literally use any of them and be successful.

Just pick one that fits your budget and has the parameters you like. For all-for-reef, you are just dosing based on consumption anyway so that won't matter.

 

[beehive124]

IMO, Fritz RPM is the best bang for your buck salt. They even have a high Alk mix that is the same price as the regular. It's about $75 for a 55 pound box that makes 200 gallons of water!

 

[Pico bam]

IMO, Fritz RPM is the best bang for your buck salt. They even have a high Alk mix that is the same price as the regular. It's about $75 for a 55 pound box that makes 200 gallons of water!

I can one up this. I wait for reef crystals to go on sale usually the 50 gallon mix bags, snaged 20 of them at 8.50$ a bag. Thats 34$ for 200 gallons of water

 

[Tamberav]

Another good way to save is to purchase instant ocean or reef crystals at Petco for pick up. You get 20% off orders you pick up over 50 bucks. You also get pal rewards to spend on future salt.