Time to switch salt mix... would like input, please...

Erica-Renee · Oct 30, 2018

I have been using Kent Marine for years. It mixes clean and does not Leave residue in my Mixing tanks.. IO Salts and others always leave me cleaning the tanks once every few months .

Not sure why More people Do not use Kent marine. they have been around forever and I have heard suggested they make salts for some of the other sellers .. It also gives you more output per box compared to IO or RC salt .

This is the Dreaded salt thread answer opinion .. I should save it as a text file for tomorrows, What salt.
Hi I am Erica ... I have a Salt mix Addiction Problem... Group claps and Says HI Erica ..

dieselkeeper · Oct 30, 2018

I would use a salt that has parameters that you would want your tank parameters at. And then dose for consumption from corals, if you have corals that consume alk and calcium. I use Red Sea blue bucket. Cause parameters are where I want my tank at. You want stability.

Matt Carden · Oct 30, 2018

Docdiggy said:
IO original. 200 gallon box on Amazon prime. $38 with 2 day shipping. Can't beat that. I run dosers so I'm not concerned about lower levels and I also don't do huge water changes that would negatively effect parameters.

I ordered this Saturday not through Prime, same price but mine will be here Thursday

WWIII · Oct 30, 2018

All I can say is if you do switch to Fritz you can throw that magnesium supplement out the window. You won't have low mag at least!

I use fritz with no problems. Mag always stays around 1500. I do awc 150x per day that add up to around 10% total water volume per week, so my tank stays pretty consistent. I've thought about going to instant ocean just for the price, since I'm constantly changing small amounts of water the parameters will stay in line for the most part. I still test like crazy and have an alk monitor, just makes me feel good I guess?

Stickboy15 · Oct 30, 2018

I had a ton of trouble with coral pro switched to the blue bucket and never had any stn in spa again

WWIII · Oct 30, 2018

Oh one other thing is I've been using their high alk mix lately (Fritz). It's fine and it saves me a little dosing on my 2 part. I keep my dkh around 8.

Anyways, a couple months ago I kinda forgot I was using the high alk mix and did a large waterchange when cleaning my sand/sump. That raised my alk in my tank up well over 9dkh. So in the future if I ever need to do a larger water change I will use the blue box fritz. The whole point of telling that little story is to say if I were doing large waterchanges of more than 10% I would use a salt with alkalinity similar to where the tank runs.

Dr.Xipoles · Oct 30, 2018

I use HW Marinemix reefer. Its probably one of the more expensive salts ($76 for 160g at BRS) out there but i switched from Instant ocean because it mixes in 10 minutes, is crystal clear, and leaves no residue. I wish i could say as much about IO. IMO salt mix brand is not as big of an issue cause many of the pros with stellar tanks use IO. Just personal preference i guess.

Jamie Allbritton · Oct 31, 2018

PerplexyHexy said:
Switched to rscp on oct 7th

Have you checked the salt parameters using the batch number? Also what livestock do you have in the tank?

PerplexyHexy · Oct 31, 2018

Jamie Allbritton said:
Have you checked the salt parameters using the batch number? Also what livestock do you have in the tank?

I have not... i have 15 small fish... 3 anenomes...5-6 torches, hammer coral, frogspawn, a bunch of frags... lol

swissgaurd · Oct 31, 2018

im probably on my 15th box of RPM Fritz now
best salt ive used since 1986.im using it to breed clownfish and in my reef .
love the stuffgreat consistancy throught all boxes

vic

clk51212 · Oct 31, 2018

I love Esv little more work but mixes clear in minutes and always spot on. Picked up a digital food scale weigh out the parts and your food to go

Vin's Reef · Nov 1, 2018

I've tried them all. I think the tropic marine Reef salt is what I'm staying with. I just love how clean it mixes. Red Sea was good for two years but I can't stand the precipitate. I hate the brown stuff in my saltwater holding bin. Even worse is trying to clean it. Tropic Marin.

KJAG · Nov 1, 2018

Vin's Reef said:
I've tried them all. I think the tropic marine Reef salt is what I'm staying with. I just love how clean it mixes. Red Sea was good for two years but I can't stand the precipitate. I hate the brown stuff in my saltwater holding bin. Even worse is trying to clean it. Tropic Marin.

I haven’t had even a trace of brown sludge or precipitate with Red Sea Blue Bucket. I did with Reef Crystals though.

VR28man · Nov 1, 2018

dieselkeeper said:
I would use a salt that has parameters that you would want your tank parameters at. And then dose for consumption from corals, if you have corals that consume alk and calcium. I use Red Sea blue bucket. Cause parameters are where I want my tank at. You want stability.

This.

OP, it seems you were using natural sea water from the Scripps Institute initially. Red Sea Coral Pro does not mix to natural sea water levels; in particular alkalinity is high (11.5 dkh).

So of course your parameters would be unstable; 20% of your water is at 11.5 dkh and 80% is at 8.0 dkh, your dkh (in a lab perfect environment) will be 8.7. And the next week, it will be 9.2. Add imbalances in other elements, as well as (IME) the sometimes off results of hobby level kits (I use salifert and hanna), and different patterns no wonder your measured parameters are all over the place.

Again, I would figure out what I want my parameters to be, and pick a salt that matches those parameters. Gradually move your parameters to meet the salt's parameters, and then keep up your alk/ca/mg by dosing and water changes.

Bugsy_Barboza · Nov 2, 2018

Georgia aquarium, Jason fox, Sanjay joshi.... all use instant ocean. Just gonna throw that out there.... I’m tired of cleaning my mixing can for reef crystals I’m about to switch, supposedly it’s the extra minerals from what I read.

Art2249 · Nov 2, 2018

Dr.Xipoles said:
I use HW Marinemix reefer. Its probably one of the more expensive salts ($76 for 160g at BRS) out there but i switched from Instant ocean because it mixes in 10 minutes, is crystal clear, and leaves no residue. I wish i could say as much about IO. IMO salt mix brand is not as big of an issue cause many of the pros with stellar tanks use IO. Just personal preference i guess.

I second the hw marinemix reefer. It has high MG and seems to keep PH higher for me. Alk about 8.6

PerplexyHexy · Nov 10, 2018

So I did a water change today... wanted to test freshly made batch of water and then test after I did water change... I did another 20 gallon change this time... I also shook up whatever was left of the mix in the barrel as well... just cause some people said to do so... here are my results...

And then after putting water in tank

Look alot better... I believe it was from mixing the bucket... I also made the water lastnight and let it mix overnight, which I havent done before... I usually mix the water and use it in an hour or so... whether that had something to do with it or not? Who knows... Will be going with RSCP still for this tank... sucks... all my corals just look like pooo... lost a few sps... only one hanging in there and looking good are my walt disney and vivid rainbow... lost wwc dragonslayer, atl strawberry fields, teel tip acro, all my digis... some orhers... too ticked about it right now... hopefully things get better