So tropic marin to...
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homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
Salt is salt, don't fall into the marketing hype.
Theres just as many beautiful tanks run on regular old IO, as every other salt out there.
The salt mix you choose does not make, or break your reef.
Theres just as many beautiful tanks run on regular old IO, as every other salt out there.
The salt mix you choose does not make, or break your reef.
homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
With the price of tropc marin and some of these other "darling" salts out there, it's no wonder there are so many threads about no water changes lately.
When your salt is reaching a $1 a gallon to make, you might as well buy it from the LFS premade.
When your salt is reaching a $1 a gallon to make, you might as well buy it from the LFS premade.
Or a lot of us started realizing water changes don't actually do what they've always been claimed to do. Those who promote water changes the most are salt companies and vendors. Wonder why
OP
OP
VanDalsenReef
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I barely do them as my system naturally has low nutrients. I'm having to dose nitrates
SlugSnorter
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what happened to marin pro? im out of the loop. I hear Brightwell Neomarine, or HW Marine are similar
DopamineKata
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BRS did an investigation on that. Those cheap salts aren't as cheap as they seem.
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VanDalsenReef
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They made a turkish facility because of the uptake in demand for their salt and the process of creating the salt was not to their standard on a batch or two and people are losing livestock because of it
SlugSnorter
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interesting
GillMeister
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I think this understates the problem. No one should expect a premium salt made only with 'pharma grade' materials could have impurities that wipe out entire systems. Read enough of these threads and it seems like the problem was widespread and costs are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I switched to RSBB last year when TM couldn't be found, and they raised their prices. I now have the brown stuff in my mixing station. The difference is it's not killing my corals like the Turkish TMPro. Whatever this is in my salt mix occurs naturaly and it's not harmful. Whatever TM put in certain batches of salt is most definitely not meant for a marine environment. I'll add that my corals are now growing faster than they ever had before.
fulltang
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I'm also considering switching from tmp, since I haven't started adding to my tank yet. I'm trying my very best to minimize any additional maintenance so I'm scared to go with something like IO. Is something like fritz reliable and clean? Or should I look at something else
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VanDalsenReef
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Stick with tmp. They've closed the turkey facility. No one knows for how long but the German facility still has fantastic salt
GillMeister
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The reason a lot of people moved away from TM was the lack of supply. Closing the Turkey facility might have fixed the quality issue but it definitely makes the supply issue worse. I switched to Red Sea blue bucket last year. My corals seem like they accelerated growth after I changed, though it's a stretch to say it's salt related.
Oh, and the price of TM Pro keeps going up. Supply, quality, and price trending in the wrong direction makes it an easy decision for me.
Acros
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Every time a salt discussion comes up, someone will post this comment.
The cheaper salt in that investigates series is about 50% cheaper than the price they show, and the more expensive one is about 50% more expensive now.
There are more problems with that video. I have never had any precipitation from Red Sea blue bucket or reef crystals, but brs did. I also do not mix above 1.026 salinity.
It’s all marketing content. I used to watch their videos and still occasionally do. However, I stop watching the moment they discuss any product they sell. Can’t believe biased data.
areefer01
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Why change? You have been using it. If you have a German source you are set. If you have Turkey bucket there is a process to return.
If you want to change for whatever other reason you may have then find a salt that matches your water parameters within reason, cost, mixing and storage criteria, and make the change. Don't over complicate it.
Acros
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I have never kept it that long. If you are to believe the ‘BRS data,’ they did not see any more drop in alk in the blue buck compared to TM pro.
I usually keep my blue bucket salt mix for about two weeks without heat or circulation. I used to make RODI, add the salt and let it mix for 30 minutes or so before starting to heat the water. I let it mix for a few hours (mostly overnight) and then pull the heater and pump. Doing it that way left very little black sand-like particles at the bottom of my bucket. After a week or so, it will start to develop a very faint green film on the bottom and sides.
In one of these salt threads, I read someone suggesting to heat up the RODI water before adding salt. I followed that instruction while making my last batch (heated up the water to 78f and then added the salt). The salt mixed, leaving minimal (almost negligible amount) black particles on the bottom of the bucket. It was the clearest batch I have ever seen with Red Sea blue bucket or instant ocean RC. Now that the water has been sitting in my bucket for two weeks without heat or circulation, it is still crystal clear, and no green film or crud has developed.
