WhatS the BEST nano SALT???????????

What Salt has the highest content of trace elements, good mixing consistency and buffering, basically best reef worthy.

I hope i didnt just start a WAR among reefers

take a with a grain of salt...

I have only ever used IO and have never had any problems with it. It must have all the necessary nutrients, as I do not add chemicals at all, and all of my stock is thriving. It also mixes very well.

Angel

This is my first nano, but have a bunch of marine exp. I have always used Instant Ocean, like my father before me. I saw the Reef Instant Ocean, don't really know anything about that... marketing?

i use bio sea. an im doin sum testing with a salt omega one is comming out with (you know the one that makes the foods n suff) for my lfs and its pretty god so far even tho i just gt dun cycling with it. it mixes pretty good and trace elements rnt too bad in it, but id go biosea all the way

I've only ever heard good things about Instant Ocean. Most salts are good, but my first bucket was Coralife Salt, I didn't like it and I've later heard bad stuff about it...can't remember specifics. Reef Crystals, from the same maker of Instant Ocean, are worthless IMO. It's basically IO with a tiny bit more of calcium and strontium and crap, but it'll still become depleted quickly...not worth the extra $5 a bucket.

Anyone use Seachem Reef Salt? Any negatives to report?

Scott

There is no simple answer to this question, but some people are trying to find out:

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27367

If they can just get around to it, that is.

mdp's gonna get a swelled head but...

i just started using bio sea's (heck, i just started wc's again X) ) but i did do a couple of changes with coralife and then tried biosea. i've noticed measureable improvements (e.g. xenia recovery, polyp expansion, etc.).

Originally posted by tinyreef

mdp's gonna get a swelled head

Too late.

I'm an IO user and have had good results, so tha't s what I'm sticking to for now.

IMO its an Easy Question with an Easy Answer. All congecture and theoretical arguments aside, the best salt for your aquarium is the one your currently using. Unless you've got a compelling reason to change your current salt you shouldn't. Seriously if everything going fine, then chances are that changing salts won't do you any real good aside from the the potential placebo affect it will have on you. Also there is the potential to cause more harm then good, ie Bleaching, invert death, algea breakouts..etc. I know we all like to tinker with our tanks, but really if it's not broke don't fix it. But all that aside.. it seems that currently, the online community would probably deam Instant Ocean, BIO Sea, and Crystal Sea Marinemix (same as Bio essay forumula) the current favorits.

I've tried all three and while i did notice differences in the tank, hard to say wich was better.. I've gone back to IO cause my tank always done well with it, so thats what i'm sticking with.

p.s. stay away from Red Sea Salt. (really bad BAD!! salt - IMO)

god dont get me started on red sea i used it for a few months (4 or 5) and nothing but horrble results

Originally posted by Catspa

Seriously if everything going fine, then chances are that changing salts won't do you any real good aside from the the potential placebo affect it will have on you.......

 

......I've tried all three and while i did notice differences in the tank, hard to say wich was better.. I've gone back to IO cause my tank always done well with it, so thats what i'm sticking with.

 

p.s. stay away from Red Sea Salt. (really bad BAD!! salt - IMO)

Anyone else see some contradiction here?:

Hey hey i addressed the contradition with the "But all that aside"..

yah yah...... excuses these days, SHEEESH!

"Bad results" from red sea.......like what? I've always heard people bash it, but what exactly did you experience. I say this cause I used Red Sea (last of the bag!) for my cycle, but plan on changing it out during my first w/c's.

a few interesting articles regarding the subject....

ratings of most popular brands are here:

http://www.aquacraft.net/s9910.html

Description of S-15 report:

http://www.aquacraft.net/s9911.html

Aquacraft disclaimer:

http://www.aquacraft.net/sp0003.html

Disclaimer/synopsis provided by about.com:

"... Reports from Aqua Craft At Aqua Craft you'll find many salt mix issues discussed ... Being favorable to their own two mixes, read the S-15 Report introduction first ... "

basically the MARINE ENVIRONMENT, BIO-SEA, and CORAL MARINE brands were listed as the top 3........but unfortunately these brands are not available at your average LFS. The highest scoring readily-available/popular brand was RED SEA

jeez, is all that stuff true? i use IO because of it's cheap price, availability, and how good the add said it was. too bad i won't be able to find that marine environment, or Bio-sea salt.

biosea and ME you can just order direct aquacraft

hmmm..... that sucks what they said about IO, esp because it's a very respected salt in this hobby. I wonder how valid their study was:

Considering IO has had so much success in real life usage(not in a labratory), I think it's a mistake to pay double the price for Marine Environment. $30 for a 50gal mix?! Granted that's delivered, but get real!

to answer penguin, no its not true, lot of BS mixed in there. Those ratings and findings, just don't hold true in the hobby. lot of BS.

For instance, IO - industry mainstay, and i've never, ever herd of someone haveing a problem with it. On the other hand Red Sea Salt is horrible, and some of had major problems... in case your interested i believe Red Sea Salt is a byproduct of a de-salting process used for water treatment or somethin.. potential for lot of polutants etc.. with the process. possible reason for why it sucks so bad.

"if it ain't broke don't fix it" - my thoughts on IO;)

I can't find Seachem Reef Salt reviews anywhere. Anybody have any input on this salt? Thanks,

Scott

Well, every test I've seen shows IO to be inferior, after all it is the cheapest salt. I use BioSea, and yes, I have tried a lot of salts, and I use what works best.

as a sideline to the links i posted....the S-15 rating scale was an independent test to reveal misleading claims and batch inconsistencies made by leading salt manufacturers. out of all the hobbies and markets i have been involved, aquarium equipment manufacturers make more false claims than car companies IMO. What kind of state-of-the-art engineering do you need for need for a filter or skimmer?!?! and why then are many hobbyists so unsatisfied with this equipment that boasted such perfection and rigid testing?

IMO, Instant Ocean is widely popular only because of its fancy packaging. In my experiences...the greatest problem with the product was trying to estimate approximate measurements for mixing the same volume of replacement saltwater. Basically I was looking to find a consistent weight or volume of mix to make 1.020 SG of SW...and from there fine tune the mix to the SG i wanted. By weight, IO was very inconsistent from bag to bag.....but that's ok cuz water absorbtion from the air can add weight. But when I would measure with cups, the volume I needed would vary by as much as half a cup. So what was in that extra half cup difference!?!?! hmmmm. I would never put it past any of these companies to falsify info, but i really don't want to be buying a bunch of salt mix filler...