Better way to start, Salt Mix + Ro or Saltwater from LFS?

[|n0_0ne|]

Just wondering if anybody had any recommendations for a better way to start out a nanoreef. Do i go with the saltwater from the big container that gets delivered to my LFS or do i just use RO and some Salt Mix?

 

Also, any recommendations for salt mix? I used to use Kent in a 40g a few years ago.. not sure whats out now.

 

Starting a 7g MiniBow w/ 32w Smartlite Retro lights, aquaclear 150, ebo jager 50w, small powerhead.

 

Looking to have a couple of fish and a few soft and hard corals.

[tinyreef]

imo you should start it yourself. it's good practice (for newbies, i know you mentioned the 40g) and you know where the source is. lfs water may be good or just 'change' water. that change water can be from a pristine reef or sludgy reef or even from one of the fish setups (parasites, nitrate-laden soups) :x

 

let's not start another looong discussion about salt mixes. X) the only thing i think everyone agrees on is that red sea is awful. there's a couple of others that are questionable but i'll let others chime in.

[Crakeur]

I would say either ro/di water or distilled water (which is what I use). Tap water has too many potential issues.

 

As for salt, tiny is right, we don't need another thread on the salts we use. If Kent worked for you in the past, by all means, use kent. The one thing I would suggest is whatever you start with, don't switch immediately if the results aren't wonderful. Give it some time before switching and if you do switch, give the new salt ample time as well. Nothing worse on the tank than jockeying salts too frequently.

[|n0_0ne|]

i've doing some more reading on the board, saw all the salt mix debates.. didnt mean to bring it up again... anyways, kent didnt really work out to well last time, so i guess I'll give IO a try.

 

Thanks for the response.

[PFB]

For what it is worth, I asked the same question 2 months back when I was starting out.

Received different opinions, so here is what I did.

I started with pristine RO/Salt mix.

Let that run one week , then added LR, approx. 1 lb of LFS LS and approx. 1 gallon of LFS reef water from a very established tank.

Then over the next two weeks, added .5 gallon of water each week from friends established tank plus LFS.

The end result was a unnoticeable cycle, with absolutely no hair Algae.

I now have one Turbo and 3 blue legs in a 3 gal. and they are constantly on the move looking for something to dine on.

The only problem I have is nuisance Algae that grows on the front of the glass(acrylic since it’s an Eclipse.). Turbo prefers rock over glass for some reason.

My sand and rock is completely algae free and I have at least 4 different types of Macro growing.

FYI, IO Reef Crystal now, started with plain IO. (don't want to get in to any debate here, I don't have enough experience with salt)