Time to buy salt, which?

hawk82 · Feb 7, 2020

I started my tank on regular IO in the purple bag. Ive used it all up now, and wondering if I should just stick to that, or switch to something else. Tank is a 40 breeder, no coral yet. I plan to have soft corals, zoa, leathers, mushrooms ect... no plans for SPS or LPS. I was just wondering why IO is so cheap. I see on amazon right now the 50 gallon bag mix is only $8.97. Many of the other salts the 50 gallon mix size is around $30 dollars. Does the low price reflect on quality?

JMetaxas · Feb 7, 2020

I use Reef Crystals at $13 per bag on Amazon. Great salt for the money.

W1ngz · Feb 7, 2020

People get somewhat fanatical about salt. For a tank that's just starting, and heading for mostly softies I can't think of any reason to spend the extra money. Put the savings in the 'new corals' jar.

IO is a fine salt that a lot of people have used for years. If it's cheap and works for your needs, no one can fault you for using it (though I bet some will try).

ca1ore · Feb 7, 2020

IO is excellent value. I have been using it exclusively for over a decade .... after wasting time and money futzing around with a bunch of premium salt mixes .... none of which performed any better. IO goes on sale periodically and I stock up. Pricing is wacky though, and makes no sense. I can get the 200 gallon IO box for $52 or four 50 gallon bags for $36. Sometimes reef crystals is cheaper, like now with the 200 gallon box. Go figure.

ZoWhat · Feb 7, 2020

hawk82 said:
I plan to have soft corals, zoa, leathers, mushrooms ect...

Expensive, discerning salt is for those reefers into SPS, mostly Acros, in which they test for Alkalinity (dKH) at least once a day. With softies I would test your water for Calc, Alk, Mag, no3, po4 like once or twice a month. CHART your results and look for trends, absorption rates.

With that said.... those corals typically dont require (nor absorb) a whole lot of FRESH major minor & trace elements. So as long as you're "in the ballpark".... I wouldn't be a weekly WC fiend. I would stick with IO-RC on-the-cheap.... and do monthly WCs

Those corals can do well in "not so pristine water" IF IF IF you have the right amt of light (PAR) matched up with a lot of blue light 400-500nm light with a hint of white light >AND< a kickbutt skimmer pulling excess nutrients out before it become a tank-issue.

Thise soft corals could benefit in color with dosing some select trace elements. Aftrr yeeeeeears of my own research on my own zoas/palys dominated tank.... I DONT do a whole lot of WCs. I dose daily Brightwell REPLENISH and Lugols Iodine and get very strong zoa color. But I also pump out the correct PAR lighting heavy in the 400-500nm wavelengths

So, save your money on salt and INVEST it into a great skimmer and phenomenal lighting...leaving the expensive salt on the Vendors shelf.

MUSHROOMS are a great Distant-Early-Warning coral bc if smthg is wrong (worthy of running elements tests), they'll slightly shrink telling you "smthg ain't right"

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Billldg · Feb 7, 2020

Agree with others, asking which salt to use opens up a whole debate on which is better. We all have our favorite salt for some reason. IO is a great salt and you really can't go wrong with it. Many, many great reefers have had great success with it.