Coral Choices

[GioReef]

Ok i am planning to keep hammers,torches,zoanthids,mushrooms, and xenia corals in my bc 14. What would be the best salt mix that supplies almost all the nutrients that these corals need? I would also like to do very little if no dosing. I will probably be feeding cyclops or mysis. Right now i am using normal IO just for the cycle and it's doing great. Soon i will start adding corals.

 

I was thinking along the lines of reef crystals, coral pro, or oceanic. Im not asking which is the best in general, im asking which has enough for the corals i will get. And 1 more question... i see coralife salt in every store. Does anyone use it?

 

Thanks

[StevieT]

I use Red Sea coral Pro with good results. Yet, everyone is going to have their own opinion. This salt along with weekly water changes will take care of what you need.

[Paulc]

With LPS corals you might have to supplement Calcium ...even with weekly water changes... just test every now and then to check dKh and Ca levels

[GioReef]

ok so i should be fine with no supplements.

 

Any other opinions. thanks

[GioReef]

Anyone?

[GioReef]

Any others?

[Weetabix7]

I'm not sure if this will help you or add to your confusion, but check these links for salt info:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...5161&st=500

(starting with post #503 on pg. 26)

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t=0&start=0

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1287118

 

Good Ca levels are not as crucial if you don't have sps corals, but some good levels to shoot for are:

Ca- 400+

Alk- 3+ meq/l or 8+ dKh

Mg- 1300-1400

PH- 8.2-8.3

 

I'm not 100% sure on that dKh level for Alk since I measure mine in meq/l, so someone feel free to correct me on that.

[GioReef]

From the last link it shows that reef crystals, oceanic and coralife are pretty good. So do you think i should be fine with those. Out of those which should i pick. I was thinking coralife cause it has good ratings with your ranges, but... i haven't heard anyone use it.

[Weetabix7]

I would avoid Reef Crystals just for right now.

On the whole I'd say it's not a bad salt, but there a few bad batches out there right now and there's no way to tell which batch your salt would be coming from.

I've never tried Coralife and haven't heard from anyone who has, so I'm afraid I can't advise you on that one.

Truthfully, I'm not sure if I'm the best person to advise you in this area since I've been having difficulties with several different salts lately. See the first link I posted to see my recent experiences in this area.

Oceanic would be the one I'd feel safest advising you to use out of the ones you mentioned.