Why anything but Instant Ocean?

[jduong916]

We all use the same water lol . I think it has something to do with heat & sitting for a few days. It doesn't affect anything, but definitely a brown residue all in the brute.

I thought different areas treat their water different

We all use the same water lol . I think it has something to do with heat & sitting for a few days. It doesn't affect anything, but definitely a brown residue all in the brute.

i thought different areas treat their water differently and add different chemicals.

What do you mean by work? That they sustain life? Sure. But the fact that every salt doesn’t mix up to the same parameters shows that they are all different. AF mixes to 7.8dKH, I saw someone post IO is around 10. My Fritz was 8 to 10 (which is why I changed, every box was different). I also like to see the icp test that comes with the AF. My AF mixes up with a pretty clean bucket, some precipitate if I let it sit. The Fritz was a mess if it sat more than a couple days. I tried Tropic Marin Bio-Actif but couldn’t get past the haziness. It bothered me. I also like that AF provides tons of information on their product. I like the purple buckets and having the salt in a bag within the bucket is nice. These are some of the reasons why AquaForest is my preference. I also only have a small nano so two buckets of salt get me through the year. I’m ok with $135 in salt for the year. If I had a monster system, then maybe I’d try it, but idk.

I understand the parameters are different, I’m just saying In my experience with the differing parameters I have seen no difference in the actual tank. For sure if you have a small tank getting the salt that matches what you want is ideal, but since I dose, regardless of what salt I use my parameters end up where I want. I guess this is more for larger tanks, if I had a small tank and I could get by with water changes and no dosing id definitely want salt with parameters that I like. The cost wouldn’t really be a factor at that point

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

One thing to note on the BRS video. They price I/O at $55 for 200 gallons. I buy it for just over $30 for 200 gallons, retail. That makes the cost difference even more significant. I have used many many different salt brands, and I have found that they all perform about the same. Since, in my experience, they are about the same, I'm going with the least expensive and most available one. If there was a noticeable difference, I would absolutely spend additional money for a truly better salt. I am not hesitant to buy quality products but I am hesitant to simply waste money...

 

[shred5]

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.

Pretty much all I use..
I have tried most salt after being in the reef hobby 30+ years and even sent bags from manufacturers to try and always end back at I/O. With all my tanks I need cheap and stable and it is..



Tropic Marin is another salt I do like but cheap. I will use it if I can buy cheaper.


I will say this most salt are good and should really have little effect on how successful you are. People put way to much stock in different brands of salt. I have had some bad batches of salt though but never I/O.

 

[Joedubyk]

Because I have thousands invested in my live stock, and Tropic Marin mixes super clean with no sludge. They also have more trace elements. I will pay more just to *BE SAFE*

 

[Potatohead]

A few days ago somebody claimed IO was crap and I think I called him the same. I've used every salt mix known over the years for SPS and IO just works. RC is the problem child with it's high alk if you arent expecting it.

Salt mixes arent regulated by the FDA and such their quality standards arent enforced. The trace element myth is marketing bunk. Proven years ago in commercial tests of salt mixes. Its sodium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and sodium bicarb. The rest is industrial contaminants. Want purer salt you will need to get food grade ingredients and make it your self.

400 ppm of potassium is industrial contaminants?

 

[Shaummy]

I have tried to drink the IO Kool-aid a couple of times over the years and a few other brands along the way.

So why not IO for me?

One, it doesn't mix up to the parameters I want to keep in my tank. I know that I could "adjust" it to meet those parameters, but I don't see the logic in it unless no other product would meet my needs without those adjustments.

Two, as many have mentioned, when I tried to use IO (and RC) I would get that brown sludge in my mixing barrel, and while benign, I just didn't want to deal with cleaning it out that often.

Full disclosure, I've also tried these others which ultimately came down to parameter levels that my tank did the best with balanced with the overall cost: Fritz, Oceanic, Red Sea all didn't fit what I had in my tank.

What do I use? I use Coralife salt. It mixes Alk ~8-9dkh and the Calc and Mag seem to do fine for the corals in my tank.

I'm in the camp of..find what works for you and try to stick with it as long as you can unless something in the tank starts to decline due to some change in the mix or you introduce corals that really need different parameters to do well.

Happy Reefing!

 

[jduong916]

I have tried to drink the IO Kool-aid a couple of times over the years and a few other brands along the way.

So why not IO for me?

One, it doesn't mix up to the parameters I want to keep in my tank. I know that I could "adjust" it to meet those parameters, but I don't see the logic in it unless no other product would meet my needs without those adjustments.

Two, as many have mentioned, when I tried to use IO (and RC) I would get that brown sludge in my mixing barrel, and while benign, I just didn't want to deal with cleaning it out that often.

Full disclosure, I've also tried these others which ultimately came down to parameter levels that my tank did the best with balanced with the overall cost: Fritz, Oceanic, Red Sea all didn't fit what I had in my tank.

What do I use? I use Coralife salt. It mixes Alk ~8-9dkh and the Calc and Mag seem to do fine for the corals in my tank.

I'm in the camp of..find what works for you and try to stick with it as long as you can unless something in the tank starts to decline due to some change in the mix or you introduce corals that really need different parameters to do well.

Happy Reefing!

I like coral life too and it can be pretty cheap sometimes as well. I only stopped using it because i had the brown stuff left in water bins. I also get the brown film with RC. It's weird that some of you guys get the film using IO when IO is the only salt i've used and not had any residue. I wonder why that is.

 

[Baronen]

Anybody else get low alk with IO? I have been getting readings of 6.7

 

[vanpire]

Anybody else get low alk with IO? I have been getting readings of 6.7

I wish I had low ALK with IO. I keep my ALK at 7, just because it works best for me. I always had to lower ALK with IO. I actually had to lower ALK with all the salt mixes I have used

I mix to a salinity of 1.026-1.027. At what salinity do you mix your salt to?

 

[homer1475]

Anybody else get low alk with IO? I have been getting readings of 6.7

I've literally used thousands of 200G boxes of IO, and have never had it mix lower then 9DKH.

If using the bucket, roll it around(stratification is a real thing), if using the 200G bags, just shake them a bit.

What salinity are you mixing too?

 

[Flippers4pups]

I've used IO for decades. I supplement it with Kalkwasser through my ATO top off.

 

[NashobaTek]

All I have ever used is IO, never had it take more than 5 minutes to dissolve completely. Everything does well and tank looks awesome.
I agree with everyone who said it's like 1 person driving a old pinto and someone else driving a Lamborghini. The pinto driver can afford the other car but likes his car.
This hobby is as cheap and easy,or as expensive and hard as you choose to make it.

 

[Baronen]

I've literally used thousands of 200G boxes of IO, and have never had it mix lower then 9DKH.

If using the bucket, roll it around(stratification is a real thing), if using the 200G bags, just shake them a bit.

What salinity are you mixing too?

1.025. I’ll try to roll it around and see if it changes anything. I thought I was doing the salifert test wrong at first but I did it like 6 different times throughout a couple days and always got like 6.7. I got some esv two part and dosed up to 7.7 and my corals seems happier

 

[lakai]

Because I have thousands invested in my live stock, and Tropic Marin mixes super clean with no sludge. They also have more trace elements. I will pay more just to *BE SAFE*

what if you go through two buckets or more per month.

 

[vanpire]

Because I have thousands invested in my live stock, and Tropic Marin mixes super clean with no sludge. They also have more trace elements. I will pay more just to *BE SAFE*

This implies that using IO or other salt will lead to a higher likelihood adverse effect on my live stock than using Tropic Marin. I also have thousands invested in my life stock. If I thought for one second that there are some risks in using IO and that it would harm my livestock, I would stop using it.

 

[Joedubyk]

This implies that using IO or other salt will lead to a higher likelihood adverse effect on my live stock than using Tropic Marin. I also have thousands invested in my life stock. If I thought for one second that there are some risks in using IO and that it would harm my livestock, I would stop using it.

What's the brown sludge with io? No one knows

 

[User1]

This implies that using IO or other salt will lead to a higher likelihood adverse effect on my live stock than using Tropic Marin. I also have thousands invested in my life stock. If I thought for one second that there are some risks in using IO and that it would harm my livestock, I would stop using it.

You are reading between the lines. They just happen to say they have a lot invested and the lack of brown residue and extra trace elements gives them peace of mind. I don't think anyone in this thread has said IO is bad other than the residue. I tend to fall in that camp as a IO/RC user. I really, really, dislike the residue it leaves.

 

[shred5]

This implies that using IO or other salt will lead to a higher likelihood adverse effect on my live stock than using Tropic Marin. I also have thousands invested in my life stock. If I thought for one second that there are some risks in using IO and that it would harm my livestock, I would stop using it.

Most public aquariums also use instant ocean and they are far more valuable than any hobby tank..
Most breeders use I/O.
Most Aquaculture facilities use it..

 

[jsvand5]

Red Sea blue bucket for me. Fairly cheap, mixes clean, and to basically exactly the parameters that I run.

 

[mkwarner77]

check out BRS video on the cost of salt. It compares the actual cost per gallon of the major salt brands and well as the major elements, minerals and precip amounts. I found it very interesting and informative.