Why anything but Instant Ocean?

[jduong916]

I don't mean to offend, but I'm curious as to why anyone would use salt other than Instant Ocean. I don't know if this is only my experience, but every single other brand I've used (including reef crystals) has left my mixing station full of a brown film. I've tried many different salts and I don't see any difference in tank health when compared to IO. They all seem to perform the same, but IO is soooo cheap and mixes clear (very important to me). I get that some salts come with this additive or that additive, but does that have any impact on tank health? I've never noticed a difference in results. Sure you can find a salt that matches your tank parameters, but consistent dosing or a CaRx will get you right back to where you want to be. I just feel like there are so many other things to worry about that salt mix is pretty much a non-issue. Cheap and clear is my only requirement and IO fits the bill.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I'm in the same boat, I used red sea and was paying close to $70 for a bucket smaller than a box of IO at $39. You can get IO just about anywhere and like you I have many more things to worry and care about other than salt.

I see reefers all the time with the "I wonder if I need to change salts"...it's like bro, it isn't your salt.

 

[jduong916]

"I wonder if I need to change salts"...it's like bro, it isn't your salt............LOL I could not have said this any better

 

[squampton]

My tank was small, Red Sea mixed to what I liked without dosing anything and mixed clear and quick so met my needs. I've used IO too, I always managed to not seal it well enough and end up with a more solid block than I liked...lol

 

[lakai]

Switched to io from tropic Marin pro reef. Didn’t make sense to pay 3x when it’s not 3x better

 

[mattzang]

i tried a couple others, other salts aren't bad or anything, but IO works great and looks great and is super cheap

if money were no object maybe i'd try out tropic marine, but it aint so

 

[BAUCE]

I switched from TMP back to IO a few months ago because I wanted to see if I would lose growth and coloration with a way cheaper salt. I didn’t notice a loss of either. The only downside is that I had to start dosing some trace elements after doing an icp test. It’s a unfair though to IO though because I don’t know if I was low on trace elements from before I started using it. My sps corals look great and growth has been great too.

 

[jda]

I doctor up any salt to my liking - acid to lower the alk and dowflake to adjust the calcium. I just want consistency and good price and IO has these in spades.

My IO recipie, for anybody who wants to give it a go:
50g bag of IO into a 44g brute full of COLD RO water. Add 2 tbsp of dowflake (calcium chloride). Mix. Add 20mls of Muriatic Acid and heat. Let mix for a day or two until the pH is back up. Perfect acropora water with dKh about 7.0 and calcium at 425.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Instant Ocean is the only salt I've ever used with this tank. In my old tank, I had tried Red Sea and others with success, but with enough growth you'll have to dose anyway, so it doesn't make economical sense to me to pay for those expensive salts. It is also very convenient that you can get it almost anywhere, even chain stores in an emergency.

 

[BAUCE]

I doctor up any salt to my liking - acid to lower the alk and dowflake to adjust the calcium. I just want consistency and good price and IO has these in spades.

My IO recipie, for anybody who wants to give it a go:
50g bag of IO into a 44g brute full of COLD RO water. Add 2 tbsp of dowflake (calcium chloride). Mix. Add 20mls of Muriatic Acid and heat. Let mix for a day or two until the pH is back up. Perfect acropora water with dKh about 7.0 and calcium at 425.

I do the same thing but with Seachem Acid Buffer instead of the muriatic acid. I was worried the stuff they sell at Lowe’s might have had other impurities in it.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I do the same thing but with Seachem Acid Buffer instead of the muriatic acid. I was worried the stuff they sell at Lowe’s might have had other impurities in it.

As a person who made aqueous hydrochloric acid for over five years, yes, it can have many other things in it. And they don't use reverse osmosis or deionized water in the production...we used clarified river water to keep the cost down. The good news is that you would only use very small amounts in a reef, so the dilution works in your favor. Also, the really nasty stuff in the acid is highly reactive and doesn't last long, so it's most likely gone or converted to something much less toxic by the time in reaches store shelves.

 

[jda]

I am not worried about it. The most nasty stuff that I put into my tank comes from the fish food (who knows what is in that stuff, but I do know that it contains a lot of metals). 20mls to 300 gallons is no big deal... and I also skim, have aragonite and change water so exporting metals and other nasty stuff should happen as well as it can. How does anybody know that the seachem acid buffer is pure? We all know that kalkwasser is not, calcium chloride, baking soda all have levels of impurities. I just assume that this is a risk that we all are taking, whether we know it or not...

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I am not worried about it. The most nasty stuff that I put into my tank comes from the fish food (who knows what is in that stuff, but I do know that it contains a lot of metals). 20mls to 300 gallons is no big deal... and I also skim, have aragonite and change water so exporting metals and other nasty stuff should happen as well as it can. How does anybody know that the seachem acid buffer is pure? We all know that kalkwasser is not, calcium chloride, baking soda all have levels of impurities. I just assume that this is a risk that we all are taking, whether we know it or not...

This is true unless you're buying analytical grade reagents, but that can be very expensive!

 

[Kellie in CA]

I use Brightwell because I like how quickly it mixes. 30 minutes and it's in the tank.

There is nothing wrong with IO though.

 

[BZOFIQ]

My favorite salt is ESV - by far.

That said, I use IO because of the cost.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

I use I/O in all of my systems. It seems to be working fairly well

 

[S2G]

all I use is IO but it definitely leaves a brown film. Doesnt seem to cause issues though

 

[Gernader]

I use regular instant Ocean and I don’t get a brown film because I always clean the buckets after they are empty.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

When asking questions like these, I think a lot of folks forget that this hobby is not really about time or financial efficiency. This hobby is about enjoyment more than anything else. A lot of people enjoy gear, tinkering and incremental improvements in the never-ending pursuit of "perfection."

There's no doubt that IO, like basically every salt mix available, works to grow corals. Jason fox uses plain old Instant Ocean. If you browse back through the Tanks of the Month on different forums, the farther back you go, the more IO you see. Many successful SPS reefers here use IO. That's all the evidence that one would need to see on paper to decide that IO is a totally capable salt.

So if IO works just fine and is used widely by SPS enthusiasts, why don't more people buy it? I think the biggest problem with IO is that it's not "cool." IO has been around for years. It's the incumbent, not the start up. You can buy it at Petsmart or Petco. It's also really cheap. There's nothing cool about that. By comparison, salt mixes that are condensed from the waters of the Red Sea itself or created with "pharmaceutical" quality components in a lab have a much bigger cool factor.

 

[User1]

I don't think it is any different than which car, motor bike, or any other similar thing we do differently. Some prefer a Mustang GT350 while others prefer the GT350 R, and others yet prefer the Ferrari. All three get you to the store to buy a gallon of milk but you very well could get there on foot, bus, subway, or a Pinto.

We all like different things and provided we follow the mixing instructions the salt will be good to use in our tanks and support our ecosystem. Now, are all salts equal - no. And that is why people use different salts. Look at the BRS video on salts, mixing, and storage.

Note - also it is as simple as some people like to support some companies. I'm a user of I/O Reef Crystals. I have for over 10 years now. However, I'm switching over to Tropic Marin. Why? Easy answer is Lou and company are so amazing at sharing information on their products, hobby as a whole, and DIY recipes to lower cost of their products it only made sense. Looking at my overall yearly budget for salt it isn't going to change much so why not.