Tropic Marin Pro Reef, bye bye

[N.Sreefer]

I switched from red sea coral pro to fritz and found my coral have better growth and ive lost less frags during acclimation that's only personal observation but i def wouldn't rule out fritz. Instant ocean has high phosphates no idea why but ive tested a couple batches and it always seems contaminated

 

[Butcher333]

Not gonna lie this sort of claim needs evidence to back it up

I was in the store. My wife and I were told it was likely the salt. They were working feverishly to save what they could. Samples were sent in for testing. On our next visit, all the Fritz was gone and the wall in the store was lined with buckets of Tropic Marin Pro. That’s all the proof I need.

 

[Drendo]

I’m a big RS blue bucket guy, been using it for years and always clean and consistent!

This is my first choice after receiving feedback here. You are a baller, so I appreciate the comment.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

This is my first choice after receiving feedback here. You are a baller, so I appreciate the comment.

Thank you very much!

 

[mike550]

Back in the early 80's, I used Instant Ocean. It was the only thing available... and it worked great. Used it until I 'retired', long about 2003. No problems.

In 2008, when I got back in, I grabbed a bucket of IO. Why not? Used to work...

Since then, reading, watching BRSTV, and here... went to Reef Crystals, thinking I needed higher Calc/Alk. A few buckets of Reef Crystals, and I was having to wash brown muck from the bottom of my mixing barrel. Don't want that, switched to Red Sea. One bucket of that was enough to convince me to move on. Brown gunk, and, I decided maybe I didn't need elevated Calc/Alk. Switched to RPM, since my LFS carried it at a reasonable price... until he went out of business. Switched to HW Marine Mix. Good salt, but only available from a single vendor in the US. Switched to Tropic Marin Classic, since it was more available... and now, it isn't.

A few thoughts on the gamut... All the salts I tried grow corals. IO, HW, and TM mix clean, the others less so. I dislike elevated Calc/Alk that you get with some mixes.

I just bought 2 boxes of Instant Ocean from Chewy, $40 a box, delivered.

The wheels on the bus go round and round...

Thasks for your thoughts. I really want a salt that can mix clean, and store up to one week. I‘ll look at HW and IO. Of course if I could find more than one retailer that sells the salt that would be good too.

 

[jaganshi066]

I’m a big RS blue bucket guy, been using it for years and always clean and consistent!

Yea same, only issue is the brown residue it leaves in the containers

 

[Sportn]

In the US?

Yes.

 

[CK00020]

Got my bucket today

 

[jaganshi066]

Yes.

Well not all stores are doing that so I don’t know what to tell you

 

[fade2black]

Aquaforest dkh around 8 for 35 ppt.
Synthetic, a plus for me, not as expensive as tmp.
Each batch tested for consistency

Are you using the Sea Salt mix or the Reef Salt mix? Having a hard time finding this in stock as well. Where are you getting it from?

 

[Pistondog]

Are you using the Sea Salt mix or the Reef Salt mix? Having a hard time finding this in stock as well. Where are you getting it from?

Reef Salt, lfs in MA.

 

[William Morris]

Do you think it comes with the broken tab??

i wouldn’t buy any salt with the tab broken

So this is a scam - I purchased it and the vendor is telling PayPal that they delivered it yesterday to my home. UPS tells me it was not delivered to my address. On the UPS website it shows it being delivered to my town but no address. PayPal is on it which doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Will get my bank involved tomorrow.

The good news is I snagged a 200G bucket from SWA.com when they had early in the week.

 

[jaganshi066]

Yes.

Just went to the fish store $90 for a bucket of tropic Marin pro so it’s just your store

 

[Rjmul]

I called BRS to see if they had a secret stash. No such luck. I was told that the delay was because of the new packaging on the smaller quantity boxes. I said “you mean the same packaging that they have been using for a year”? I would have gone with pandemic or weather. Lol

The truth is that they have had a year to get their act together. No problem finding it in Canada and the EU. They haven’t figured out a way to serve their best market and in my opinion that’s on management.

IO is undeniably one of the better salts. Grows coral, fish and doesn't dent your wallet. The caveat is you need to do some calculations if you're doing very large water changes to make sure it won't boost your alk too much.

My only complaint with instant ocean, is the last batch I bought mixed at 11

 

[Rjmul]

I appreciate that, but I go through about 200 gallons worth of salt a month. It would cost me $250 to buy what I need for a month. I think I’m going to use this opportunity as an off ramp.

Using that much salt, I'm honestly flabbergasted you haven't switched to something else already. If I were you, I'd just buy the huge bags of blue bucket

 

[Drendo]

Using that much salt, I'm honestly flabbergasted you haven't switched to something else already. If I were you, I'd just buy the huge bags of blue bucket

I’m equally flabbergasted.

 

[Rjmul]

I’m equally flabbergasted.

It's not worth it man....

 

[aquaregia]

So this is a scam - I purchased it and the vendor is telling PayPal that they delivered it yesterday to my home. UPS tells me it was not delivered to my address. On the UPS website it shows it being delivered to my town but no address. PayPal is on it which doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Will get my bank involved tomorrow.

The good news is I snagged a 200G bucket from SWA.com when they had early in the week.

So this is a scam - I purchased it and the vendor is telling PayPal that they delivered it yesterday to my home. UPS tells me it was not delivered to my address. On the UPS website it shows it being delivered to my town but no address. PayPal is on it which doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Will get my bank involved tomorrow.

The good news is I snagged a 200G bucket from SWA.com when they had early in the week.

I fell for this as well, but mine was supposedly shipped via USPS not UPS. Are you sure yours was UPS?

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

I’m tired of the stress of not being able to get this salt and am ready to change brands. Looking for recommendations from those who have had success changing. What did you change to and how was the transition?

Back to Purple Box instant ocean. Mixing bins are clean. I know its going to be consistent. I know its going to be available. And i know it grows coral. WWC used to use, also JF, Sanjay, i think Tidal Gardens switched to purple box as well. I now for the same price, i get salt, Coral Amino, Micobacter7 and my 2 Part for the same price as Salt You Can No Longer Get Consistantly!

Hate to say it, but what BRS salt testing really said, if you look past the Tropic Marin love fest was “Purple Box is kinda awesome”

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

This salt has been a hot topic the past few weeks!

The summary from what I can gather: Red Sea Coral Pro or ESV B-Ionic seem like good substitutes, while Fritz should be avoided like it's carrying Covid

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tropic-marin-pro-substitutes.807293/

If you look at why this happened, BRSTV investigates, and look at the data, not the “we love Tropic Marin” bias of the videos, which seemed to work because no one can keep it in stock. Turn off the sound of all the videos and watch them. You see stability short and long term, it mixes clean, dkh 10, Ca 400, you can get it anywhere, and it happens to be the cheapest to buy and and the cheapest per gallon when mixed. What is is? IO Purple Box. Users.... Sanjay, Jason Fox, Tidal Gardens, WWC prior to release of NeoMarine. So... Im sure profit margins are better on the boutique salt. Also, regarding “pharmaceutical grade” .... a pharmacist who is a Doctor of Pharmacy can tell you the frequency of pharmaceutical recalls that do not go the the consumer level is 3to 5 times every week.