Instant Ocean or Kent Marine?

[cdeakle]

I have recently seen people discusing that they liked 1 or the other for various reasons. I have also heard good and bad for both sides.

Please tell me your thoughts on the subject and which one you prefer with pros and cons.

Is there a problem with using both? Using one till it runs out and then buying the other because its on sale?

Thanks!

-Puff

 

[PeeJ]

what about corallife? ive been using coralife salt, but i dont have anyuthing in the tank so i dont know if its good or not

 

[Supergenius74]

I used both instant ocean and reef crystals but switched to tropical marin, its much better for many reaons. I bit more money but not much if you buy a descent amount at once.

 

[panmanmatt]

i've esed corallife with not illful effects. all my critters are doing great. of tank's only been up for six months. just ran out of salt so bought IO because it was on sale. i've done 2 water changes with it and everything seems ok still.

 

[MattM]

Instant Ocean, Kent and Tropic Marin are all good quality salts.

Coralife has a tendency to be low in Magnesium, but otherwise is fine. If you are using it with good results, continue to do so, but if you have trouble maintaining alkalinity levels, it could be the cause.

Reef Crystals is usually not worth the money. It's the same salt as Instant Ocean, but with more calcium and trace elements added according to the manufacturer. However, the most recent tests available show that Reef Crystals often has less of the most essential elements than Instant Ocean.

 

[Bone]

I've read posts on message boards that claim IO makes the Kent salt. It seems believable if you look at Craig Bingman's salt study. The ICP values for the salts are very similar but with the Kent salt having greater carbonate buffer values. I just hope I'm not spreading myth-info.

 

[NewMan]

I've read posts on message boards that claim IO makes the Kent salt. It seems believable if you look at Craig Bingman's salt study. The ICP values for the salts are very similar but with the Kent salt having greater carbonate buffer values. I just hope I'm not spreading myth-info.

IO makes Kent Salt 8O :?: :roll: :idea:

any link to those message board?

 

[EmilyB]

Yes, they come out of the same plant but do not mix well IME. At least going from Kent to IO. I choose the Kent product for the higher Ca etc, since I am not running any supplements beyond water changes right now.

 

[Reef_Monkey]

Instant Ocean...just because that is what i have been using! Can't really compair though.

 

[Adam1]

Hi all,

Kent salt is mixed and packaged by Aquarium Systems, maker of IO. It is done according to Kent's formula, but they contract AS to do the actual production.

This is common practice in many industries. Go compare the packaging and ingredients of store brand groceries to name brands. It is no coincidence that the bags/bottles/cans are the same exact size and that the ingredients are strikingly similar.

Adam

 

[MattM]

I've read posts on message boards that claim IO makes the Kent salt....

Yes and no.

There is an industrial facility in Ohio (don't know who owns it) that makes sea salt for Instant Ocean, Kent, Omega Sea, and probably a couple others. Each salt is made according to each company's recipe.

So it's more of an OEM situation. If you think about the difficulty of dry mixing all those elements and getting a consistant mix from batch to batch, it makes sense that each company would not have its own facility.

 

[R33f_$hark]

I've tried both Coralife and IO and I've liked the way IO has worked. :wink:

 

[Bone]

I've read posts on message boards that claim IO makes the Kent salt. It seems believable if you look at Craig Bingman's salt study. The ICP values for the salts are very similar but with the Kent salt having greater carbonate buffer values. I just hope I'm not spreading myth-info.

I would like to withdraw most of this assertion.

I will say that based on the salt study that it looks like the Kent salt has a stronger than average buffer system.

 

[MattM]

I will say that based on the salt study that it looks like the Kent salt has a stronger than average buffer system.

Agreed. Some of our customers don't like it as well because it doesn't dissolve as easily as IO, but it is this added buffer that is difficult to dissolve - not a bad thing.

 

[reefann]

I vote IO
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[tthomasturkey]

The best salt in my opinion is Tropic Marin. We switched to it at our store and have had much better luck with our coral. Brighter colors and more polyp extension.

 

[Anonymous]

I used IO and tried Coralife and then returned to IO. It seemed to mix better IMO. Like stated above, the top brands all seem to work well.

 

[TNDave]

I started out with Crystal Seas and used it for 3 years before I decided to switch. My second salt was Kent, and I was VERY happy with it. I received this information from them about their buffer levels:

I tested our salt mix and here are the results of what you asked for:
Ca= 420ppm
Mg= 1500ppm
CaCo3= 11.5 dKH

Which seemed to be higher than IO. However, based on cost I am now using IO and have been very happy with it as well! I would probably use Kent if I could find it at a price that was near what I have been paying for IO.