What salt mix is the best?
- Thread starter ppatrick_reef
- Start date
I have used Reef Crystals, Instant ocean, Tropic marin, and Oceanic.
I have to say that from my experience Oceanic disovles litteraly in seconds where as the other require longer periods ( IE 10 minutes min. to get every granual "visible" to disolve.)
I am a bit biased though as I will not use anything else in my systems.
Instant ocean clumps and hardens faster during storage than Oceanic, reef crystals, and tropic marin even when kept in the same type container.
Reef Crystals is over loaded with to many nutrients for "my" taste, as is tropic marin.
I guess I have just had better luck with Oceanic.
I have to say that from my experience Oceanic disovles litteraly in seconds where as the other require longer periods ( IE 10 minutes min. to get every granual "visible" to disolve.)
I am a bit biased though as I will not use anything else in my systems.
Instant ocean clumps and hardens faster during storage than Oceanic, reef crystals, and tropic marin even when kept in the same type container.
Reef Crystals is over loaded with to many nutrients for "my" taste, as is tropic marin.
I guess I have just had better luck with Oceanic.
In a recent study, Coralife faired a medium score compared to other salt mixes. One of the worst ones, being one of the most expensive, being Red Sea. Surprisingly, natural salt water did not do better in those tests. Also, some of the "brand X" salt mixes and the like were the ones that topped the score card.helipilot":3k10hc02 said:
Bottom line, I use a "band X" salt mix from japan that sells dirt cheap compared to others. Yeah, it does take more than a minute to disolve and will clump up in the bucket... but between you and me, for a difference of 50% in price, I have a few minutes to spare and my wrist is still strong enough to break the clumps with a plastic cup, even at 40 years old!
My 2¢
Thanks everyone for sharing your opinion. It seems like most people focus on how fast it dissolve. Why would this matter? I thought most people would focus on the content in the salt and price. :-/
Hmm... Len said that I'll get a lot of disagreements on this topic. How about which salt mix are bad? So I could reduce the number of choice.
Sponge_Bob, thanks for your opinion (again). What brand X are you using? Where do you buy it from? Do you stick with one brand X for long period of time or you keep switching?
I've bought almost all of my equipment from eBay and saved BIG BUCK! However, it seems like buying salt mix online is not a good idea because of the weight. Am I wrong on this? Does anyone know an online store that sells good salt mix with low shipping cost?
Please advice,
Patrick
Hmm... Len said that I'll get a lot of disagreements on this topic. How about which salt mix are bad? So I could reduce the number of choice.
Sponge_Bob, thanks for your opinion (again). What brand X are you using? Where do you buy it from? Do you stick with one brand X for long period of time or you keep switching?
I've bought almost all of my equipment from eBay and saved BIG BUCK! However, it seems like buying salt mix online is not a good idea because of the weight. Am I wrong on this? Does anyone know an online store that sells good salt mix with low shipping cost?
Please advice,
Patrick
There have been a few articles about, a particular advanced aquarist one is in there too. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/11/aafeature1
I don't think there is any one "perfect" salt. Instant Ocean seems to be the best as far as not introducing stuff you don't want, but then again it also is a bit lacking on the calcium & magnesium, but mixes to a higher than normal pH. Oceanic on the other hand is loaded with calcium, but it also has quite a large numbers on other metals, aluminum, manganese & zinc.
Personally how fast it disolves really should not matter. You should NEVER add salt directly to a tank and then water and mix in the tank (only exception to this is if the tank is completely bare and it's the initial mixing), you really should have your water mixed up for 24 hours just because you physically can't see salt crystals doesn't mean that everything is mixed up nicely. As long as you have a decent powerhead in your mixing container then after a day most all the salt should be mixed in nicely.
Now what should YOU use? There is no perfect salt IMHO, but you should choose one based upon your setup and what you want. If you have nothing but fish or soft corals, I would probably say go with instant ocean. If you have stony corals and need higher calcium go with oceanic unless you have a calcium reactor then I'd say go with something else, instant ocean is nice but it's lacking in calcium so you'll go through your calcium reactor media quicker.
As to where to get it, I'm lucky, I have a shop that gets pretty much any kind and sell it for $10-$15 per 50g container (depending upon brand, IO is $10, something like Kent is a bit more pricy). Unfortunately this doesn't help you since you don't live here. Online you pay for shipping, and that's the trade off you have to deal with, occasionally in the pastthough places like Dr. Foster & Smith have deals that allow you to get salt without paying for shipping, but that really is not the norm for anyplace. So either buy locally or pay for shipping, no way around it really unless you wait for said deal and stock up for a long time. Another option is to talk to your LFS owner and see if he can get any sort of discount if you buy in bulk, say 1000 gallons worth, you might save a few bucks per container but then you need a place to store that much.
I don't think there is any one "perfect" salt. Instant Ocean seems to be the best as far as not introducing stuff you don't want, but then again it also is a bit lacking on the calcium & magnesium, but mixes to a higher than normal pH. Oceanic on the other hand is loaded with calcium, but it also has quite a large numbers on other metals, aluminum, manganese & zinc.
Personally how fast it disolves really should not matter. You should NEVER add salt directly to a tank and then water and mix in the tank (only exception to this is if the tank is completely bare and it's the initial mixing), you really should have your water mixed up for 24 hours just because you physically can't see salt crystals doesn't mean that everything is mixed up nicely. As long as you have a decent powerhead in your mixing container then after a day most all the salt should be mixed in nicely.
Now what should YOU use? There is no perfect salt IMHO, but you should choose one based upon your setup and what you want. If you have nothing but fish or soft corals, I would probably say go with instant ocean. If you have stony corals and need higher calcium go with oceanic unless you have a calcium reactor then I'd say go with something else, instant ocean is nice but it's lacking in calcium so you'll go through your calcium reactor media quicker.
As to where to get it, I'm lucky, I have a shop that gets pretty much any kind and sell it for $10-$15 per 50g container (depending upon brand, IO is $10, something like Kent is a bit more pricy). Unfortunately this doesn't help you since you don't live here. Online you pay for shipping, and that's the trade off you have to deal with, occasionally in the pastthough places like Dr. Foster & Smith have deals that allow you to get salt without paying for shipping, but that really is not the norm for anyplace. So either buy locally or pay for shipping, no way around it really unless you wait for said deal and stock up for a long time. Another option is to talk to your LFS owner and see if he can get any sort of discount if you buy in bulk, say 1000 gallons worth, you might save a few bucks per container but then you need a place to store that much.
Patrick,ppatrick_reef":14b5d7tz said:Thanks everyone for sharing your opinion. It seems like most people focus on how fast it dissolve. Why would this matter? I thought most people would focus on the content in the salt and price. :-/
Hmm... Len said that I'll get a lot of disagreements on this topic. How about which salt mix are bad? So I could reduce the number of choice.
Sponge_Bob, thanks for your opinion (again). What brand X are you using? Where do you buy it from? Do you stick with one brand X for long period of time or you keep switching?
I've bought almost all of my equipment from eBay and saved BIG BUCK! However, it seems like buying salt mix online is not a good idea because of the weight. Am I wrong on this? Does anyone know an online store that sells good salt mix with low shipping cost?
Please advice,
Patrick
I buy salt in Montreal, and that salt mix is kind of a "brand X made for store X" type. No, I do not switch around once I find a product that I like. I will give you the name, though I doubt that you will be able to find it anywhere else than where I buy it : Dolphin. I know that it's made in Japan and it sells here for $35 CAN for 44lbs. Compared to Instant Ocean, which is a very good salt mix by the way, it is half the price. Using this salt mix, I have found that my tank is more stable in terms of pH and maintains it at a decent 8.2 - 8.3. The calcium is also pretty good in it i.e. that upon water changes, you don't have to add more calcium. I'm not saying that other brands don't do the same, I'm just commenting on that specific product. I used to buy the Red Sea salt mix because it was expensive and I was thinking "Nothing but the best for my tank"... which in my stupid lil' mind translated into "the more expensive, the better". WRONG! While I was using Red Sea, I always had to use Seachem Marine 8.3 Buffer to maintain my pH. Now that I use this "brand X" salt mix, the marine buffer is used only for my African Cichlid tank!!!
HTH a bit.
PS : I don't know ANY online store that will ship you dry goods (salt, rocks, substrate) without a shipping fee. Sorry.
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