Modern up to date salt surveys??

[BCOrchidGuy]

Does anyone know of an up to date NON biased comparison to the S 15 tests?

The LFS guy tells me that he uses Reef Crystals in his tank at home and has never had a problem with it, he says he doesn't need to dose anything BUT he does 10% water change weekly.

 

Anyone else like Reef Crystals or had bad experiences with it?

 

I know this topic has been beaten into the dust but I am thinking that we may have to admit, there is no best salt.... they are all just mediocre... or are they?

[Crakeur]

if the salt mix you are currently using is working well, do not switch. it can only screw up your tank.

[Dave ESPI]

I havent seen one, but there was a comparison on trace elements in the 2000 ANNUAL issue of Marine Fish & reef magazine that was a good read.

 

Reef crystals are not good IME. Im sticking with Tropic Marin.

The bio-sea is decent, but some of my corals didnt care for the Marine Environment. perhaps time will tell.

[OscarBeast]

Nope sorry, but you might find this interesting.

 

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/...ature/index.htm

[SteveC]

I've been using Reef Crystals since I started my nano about two months ago. So far, so good, I guess. It's hard to tell for just two months. I haven't put any corals into my tank since I'm still waiting to see how my hitchhikers do.

 

I have cup corals, Caribbean star corals, fire coral (or some kind of hydrocoral, although it's dark green which is weird for those), some kind of octocoral (telestria sp. I think), a small colony of porites, and some non-photosynthetic gorgonians that keep disappearing and coming back. Except for the last, they all seem to be doing well.

 

One thing that I've noticed is that Reef Crystals mixes to only about 330 mg/L of Calcium at 1.024 sg, so you might want to supplement. I also bought one package that was wet inside the sealed bag for some unknown reason (I returned it, of course, but it's something to keep in mind if you're mail ordering).

 

What worries me more than the quality of Reef Crystals itself is whether or not it's really any different than Instant Ocean (both are made by Aquarium Systems). I was thinking about switching to Bio Sea but the mixed results that are being reported here, plus the fact that I have to buy so much of it at once ($25 minimum order, and one 50g batch is $24.99, and yes, one penny matters--I asked!) have made me decide against it for now.

 

Unfortunately I can't find a retailer in my area that stocks Tropic Marin, so I'm thinking about ordering some from Big Al's. With that in mind, I wonder if anyone has any suggestions on what the best "ghetto" salt is: Reef Crystals, IO, Coralife, Red Sea, Crystal Sea, or Kent? I think these are available in most areas, and they're the only ones I can find in mine.