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Salt Mixes - will need a new one soon-ish


Sunstar

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Instant Ocean reef Crystals is the mix I can get closest to me. But what other mixes are there and are there some that is better than others? I think there might be a different brand of salt at the coral reef shop. But right now I would like to get some idea of what is a great mix, and what is a piss poor mix.

 

Since I am coming close to needing a new bucket soon - what mixes do you all use, and why.

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Instant Ocean reef Crystals is the mix I can get closest to me. But what other mixes are there and are there some that is better than others? I think there might be a different brand of salt at the coral reef shop. But right now I would like to get some idea of what is a great mix, and what is a piss poor mix.Since I am coming close to needing a new bucket soon - what mixes do you all use, and why.

It seems not many people use the salt mix I do (Kent) but I've really like using it and my parameters are very stable from package to package. It mixes fast and clean and really haven't found anything negative about it. The price is very favorable and I will keep using it with my new 50gal. I've used Instant Ocean and Reef Crystals but have never been as successful with my tanks as I have been with Kent. That's my two cents worth ?
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I started using ESV at my last water change.

A bit of a headache at first to figure out how much of everything you need for the amount of water you're changing but after you figure it out it's pretty easy.

 

a digital scale helps a lot.

 

It's a 4 part mix, 2 dry and 2 liquids.

 

Definitely not as easy as scooping out salt out of a bucket and mix . It takes a bit of work but let me tell you, it mixes clear in a minute and I'm ready to do my water change on the spot. Zero residue in the mixing container.

 

I don't have the space to store buckets with saltwater mixing for days, so this salt works good for my situation.

 

But looks like many TOTM and large aquariums use Instant Ocean which is one of the cheapest, with no ill effects. Only thing is they have to dose for Ca and Mg which you have to anyway with some salts and it's not very hard.

 

Maybe when I'll have a larger tank , I'll switch to something easier to measure and mix . Until then, I'll stick to ESV for my nano.

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I may need to go with instant ocean again. the other salt mixes are a bit too dear for me at the moment. My tank wi ll survive, and I dose for mag and other stuff anyway. I will look into the other mixes next year.

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righttirefire

I use Kents I feel it keeps my levels elevated. Higher than I like but stable. I'm hoping as everything grows in it'll bring my levels to what I want and maintain them... entertaining the idea if red sea coral pro salt. But not ready to switch

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I switched to Kent (from Reef Crystals) and I'm happy with it; it's cheap, parameters is good and it mixes well without leaving any residue. I've been using Kent for a year and a half and so far in my tank, Ca and Alk stays slightly higher than RC so Kent is a keeper for me.

 

Dr. Foster & Smith is selling a 200gal mix for $36 (which is pretty damn cheap) but I already have a case and a half....

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I switched to Kent (from Reef Crystals) and I'm happy with it; it's cheap, parameters is good and it mixes well without leaving any residue. I've been using Kent for a year and a half and so far in my tank, Ca and Alk stays slightly higher than RC so Kent is a keeper for me.

 

Dr. Foster & Smith is selling a 200gal mix for $36 (which is pretty damn cheap) but I already have a case and a half....

 

shipping that to canada would probably be very expensive.

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stellablue, on 28 Nov 2015 - 09:41 AM, said:

I use Red Sea Coral Pro and really like it. It mixes fast and I'm happy with the results.

 

Me too and my corals are very happy with it.....

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It runs at 10, which is on the higher side, but seems to be good for me.

 

Oh, I thought I've read it to be a bit higher before. Still too high for my liking, seems like kent is going to be to high to :(

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I use Salinity. I started with Red Sea Coral Pro and switched. I don't dose. What I noticed was that over a year with the Red Sea I couldn't keep coraline for anything. I even tried to buy a few small rocks that were covered in it just to seed and all that happened was watching it quickly recede. I know growing an algae isn't the objective but I felt that if I couldn't even keep that alive how was I going to keep more sensitive corals alive? Also my frags would never grow. They'd maintain whatever I had bought (ex: if I bought a frag with 10 polyps on it it'd still have the 10 polyps months and months later but wasn't adding new polyps). Salinity was recommended via forums and so I tried it out. Couldn't be happier with the results. Coraline growth is amazing; corals started growing readily. I rarely test honestly, but when I first got the new salt I did and I remember the Calcium was a little too high (but the coraline gobbles it up fast enough) but everything else was in check. I bought their biggest bucket, which was $99 for me in lower Michigan, and with a 29g Biocube it has taken about a year to use it up. It's very concentrated. It dissolves well/quickly and is clear/not cloudy at all.

To find where you might be able to buy some, you can look up "Salinity salt" and you'll get to Seachem's page, which then has a store locator by location. It does *seem* extremely pricey, but when I think now about how long I've had this bucket (as mentioned, going on a year), $99US is actually significantly cheaper than multiple purchases of the Red Sea and it's a higher quality salt to boot. By the way, Seachem has a guaranteed analysis of the various elements to the point that you can type in your individual lot # on your bucket and get exact values for that specific bucket. Again, I can't recommend it more highly if you are thinking of trying a new salt. I believe, like myself, it would be the last one you ever tried.

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If money was no object i'd be back with Salinity again. That stuff did awesome on my old biocube. I just ditched IO and went back to Kent for my new build. Kent has always been a good 'cheap' option for me.

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I've just started using Salinity as well, and it's helping the corals out immensely. Coralline has decided it likes the bare bottom, too. I'm dosing BRS 2 Part at 10mL each per day, with small magnesium doses through the week.

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Hmmmm... interesting anout the corlaine and RSP. I get crazy coraline growth and corals are showing good growth as well. My Alk runs around 9 to 9.5 dkh, so not bad at all.

 

Different tanks I guess......

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Hmmmm... interesting anout the corlaine and RSP. I get crazy coraline growth and corals are showing good growth as well. My Alk runs around 9 to 9.5 dkh, so not bad at all.

 

Different tanks I guess......

 

Honestly, I'm not even sure it's a salt thing. So long as alk, cal, mag, salinity, etc are consistently at a normal level, and there are nutrients in the water, things should grow well. My fear is that I'll need to do a larger water change, and will only have a salt with a dKH of 11 on hand. The alk spike would be pretty bad, since I keep dKH at around 8.5-9.

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My Alk was 9.6 when I did my WC from Tap to rodi (high DKH before with tap - I forget what but it was liquid rock) now its gone down to 8.9

I was told not to tweek my paramaters for a bit until I see what it settles at. I will test my mix when I make up a new batch, and that could be a little while.

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