Which salt?

[Jungle_vip]

Hey everybody! Curious to know what brand of salt you prefer and why? I’ve been out of reefing for awhile and getting my tank going in the next week or so. In the past I only used Instant Ocean. Mostly due to availability, cost, and reputation. Is this still the case? Any information or opinions would be great:)

[Frag Factory]

Red Sea blue for me.

 

It's close to NSW levels and is easy to mix and very consistent bucket to bucket.

 

I've tried brightwell neo marine too but quickly switched back. I don't know if I got a bad bucket but dkh was 13 🤔... I lost a lot of coral from that.

[dling]

I have been using IO reef crystals for years. Just received a 200g bucket of Tropic Marin Pro Reef.

I will give it a try once the other salt is gone. I made this choice after watching a salt review from BRS.

They went on to say this it the salt they will start using  after the outcome of their testing . Honestly, I dont

think it really matters that much. I had great success with reef crystals. But as I said it was the review

the pushed my to try something different.

[Clown79]

I've used a few over the years

 

IO - i liked it was cheap and readily available, i didn't like the low params, long mixing time, no batch parameters available

 

RC- readily available, easy to mix but really inconsistent parameters, very low magnesium, hardens easily, no batch parameters available

 

Aquaforest- fast mixing, batch parameters available but it was expensive for the amount you get,  alk was always too low for me but very high maganesium. Some clumping.

Customer service not good.

 

RSCP - mixes quickly, nice ca and mag levels, available everywhere, batch params available, no clumping issues but it has particular mixing instructions, can be stored only 7 days, too high alk for me

 

RS blue - fast mixing, consistent parameters, can be stored, batch params available, doesn't easily clump. What i don't like is its not locally available here. 

[jcreefer]

Red Sea Blue bucket for me.  Alk is NSW (i.e. not super high) and Cal is adequate, so the parameters are where I want my tank to run.  Mg is a bit low for my taste (I like 1250-1350 range, the salt is usually ~1175-1200), so I bring up Mg by dosing on a weekly basis to compensate.  Batch to batch variability is minimal, mixes fast, doesn't leave any residues in the mixing bucket.  Not much to complain about 😀.

 

-Jeff

[mcarroll]

3 hours ago, Jungle_v_i_p said:

Hey everybody! Curious to know what brand of salt you prefer and why? I’ve been out of reefing for awhile and getting my tank going in the next week or so. In the past I only used Instant Ocean. Mostly due to availability, cost, and reputation. Is this still the case? Any information or opinions would be great:)

Same now.

 

Use what's available locally, what's affordable, etc.

[Ratvan]

Whatever is on sale

[Jungle_vip]

5 hours ago, Frag Factory said:

Red Sea blue for me.

 

It's close to NSW levels and is easy to mix and very consistent bucket to bucket.

 

I've tried brightwell neo marine too but quickly switched back. I don't know if I got a bad bucket but dkh was 13 🤔... I lost a lot of coral from that.

Thanks for the info!

[Jungle_vip]

4 hours ago, dling said:

I have been using IO reef crystals for years. Just received a 200g bucket of Tropic Marin Pro Reef.

I will give it a try once the other salt is gone. I made this choice after watching a salt review from BRS.

They went on to say this it the salt they will start using  after the outcome of their testing . Honestly, I dont

think it really matters that much. I had great success with reef crystals. But as I said it was the review

the pushed my to try something different.

Thanks! I’ll def do some TMPR!

4 hours ago, dling said:

I have been using IO reef crystals for years. Just received a 200g bucket of Tropic Marin Pro Reef.

I will give it a try once the other salt is gone. I made this choice after watching a salt review from BRS.

They went on to say this it the salt they will start using  after the outcome of their testing . Honestly, I dont

think it really matters that much. I had great success with reef crystals. But as I said it was the review

the pushed my to try something different.

[Jungle_vip]

3 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I've used a few over the years

 

IO - i liked it was cheap and readily available, i didn't like the low params, long mixing time, no batch parameters available

 

RC- readily available, easy to mix but really inconsistent parameters, very low magnesium, hardens easily, no batch parameters available

 

Aquaforest- fast mixing, batch parameters available but it was expensive for the amount you get,  alk was always too low for me but very high maganesium. Some clumping.

Customer service not good.

 

RSCP - mixes quickly, nice ca and mag levels, available everywhere, batch params available, no clumping issues but it has particular mixing instructions, can be stored only 7 days, too high alk for me

 

RS blue - fast mixing, consistent parameters, can be stored, batch params available, doesn't easily clump. What i don't like is its not locally available here. 

Yeah you have a ton of experience with different salts! Are you using Blue now I’m assuming?

[Jungle_vip]

1 hour ago, jcreefer said:

Red Sea Blue bucket for me.  Alk is NSW (i.e. not super high) and Cal is adequate, so the parameters are where I want my tank to run.  Mg is a bit low for my taste (I like 1250-1350 range, the salt is usually ~1175-1200), so I bring up Mg by dosing on a weekly basis to compensate.  Batch to batch variability is minimal, mixes fast, doesn't leave any residues in the mixing bucket.  Not much to complain about 😀.

 

-Jeff

So far RS blue seems to be a very popular choice amongst people for the rad but of reading I’ve done so far. Def leaning that way at the moment too. Thanks!

[Jungle_vip]

1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

Same now.

 

Use what's available locally, what's affordable, etc.

Luckily I live in New England and have a few options for dry goods but I’m not afraid to order online either. Oh how times have changed lol

[Jungle_vip]

1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

Whatever is on sale

Sales are great

[Pod Your Reef]

I really like Aqua Vitro

[MrP]

I use Red Sea blue. The only con with this salt is that it can't be stored once mixed. I have my suspicions as to why...

[mfield16]

Tropic Marin Pro all day for me. You can store it for a long time, there's no residue in the mixing bucket, it mixes really, really quickly. Tests are consistent from the top to bottom of the bucket.

 

The only negative for me is the Alk is too low. I have to increase that a tad every time, but I used Randy's 2-part baking soda formula and it's super easy. 

[505nano]

Fritz reef pro mix (blue box) . Leaves my water super clear and doesn't leave residue on buckets. My tanks have been super healthy since switching to this salt. 

[mfield16]

2 minutes ago, 505nano said:

Fritz reef pro mix (blue box) . Leaves my water super clear and doesn't leave residue on buckets. My tanks have been super healthy since switching to this salt. 

A lot of LFS near me use this one. 👌

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, MrP said:

I use Red Sea blue. The only con with this salt is that it can't be stored once mixed. I have my suspicions as to why...

Never heard of blue bucket not being able to store it. I store water for up to 2 weeks. No water movement in bucket.

 

I just add powerhead/heater before use.

 

 

Never had an issue

 

Coral pro you can only save for 7 days because it will precipitate.

[5*Chris]

I've been using Live Aquaria reef salt. First bucket was on sale through Petco, so figured why not try since I was looking at changing salts. But I'm now on my 3rd bucket and don't see any reason to change. I've read it's just rebranded Fritz pro 🤷🏽‍♂️. Mixes clean, consistent, and corals are happy. 

[505nano]

44 minutes ago, mfield16 said:

A lot of LFS near me use this one. 👌

It's affordable and good quality in my opinion 🙂

[Reefkid88]

I use RS blue bucket. I used to use RS Coral Pro,but the alk was just too high for me. 

 

 I've tried AquaForest,but never again will I waste my money on that salt. 

[Jungle_vip]

So much good information here! I really appreciate all the information I’ve received so far. Based on all this I think I’m between RS blue and Tropic marine pro. I’m super stoked with this thread due to the fact my LFS uses aquaforest and the consensus seems to be negative from majority of people. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

13 hours ago, 505nano said:

Fritz reef pro mix (blue box) . Leaves my water super clear and doesn't leave residue on buckets. My tanks have been super healthy since switching to this salt. 

My tanks run on Fritz (blue box) too. Quite happy with it as well - mixes fast with no residue, no clumping when stored, parameters are consistent - and I'm observing good coral growth & colors in my smallest reeftank. 👍

[mcarroll]

8 hours ago, Jungle_v_i_p said:

So much good information here! I really appreciate all the information I’ve received so far. Based on all this I think I’m between RS blue and Tropic marine pro. I’m super stoked with this thread due to the fact my LFS uses aquaforest and the consensus seems to be negative from majority of people. 

I'm not advocating for AF since you didn't specify which line (they have at least three different salts) and the one I see mentioned the most is a specialty formulation, but...

 

Whichever AF salt it is, if your store is getting good results out of it, that means you can too.   The trick is understanding why they are using it – they may be using it for a good reason, or maybe even for no reason, either can be a clue (find out!) – and whether you have the same reasons at home with your tank.  You might or you might not.  It's worth considering if AF is all the store carries.    FYI:  AF makes "Sea Salt" which might be superficially like Instant Ocean or MEI's MarineMix (ie "plain"), as well as "Reef Salt" and "Probiotic Reef Salt" which have various additives.  You would opt for the "Sea Salt" if you had the choice.  (https://aquaforest.eu/en/product-category/marine-salts/)

 

RS blue is more or less similar to IO, so IMO in that case it's "6 of one, half-dozen of another".  If the store carried both, you could have a policy of buying what was in stock or what was on sale.