Are all salts the same?

[Malibu361]

Ok , I am just about out of my current salt mix (Tropic Marin , pro reef) and I was wondering does anyone suggest a different brand? Is one better than another ...?Or is it all a matter of opinion ?Thanks Sal

 

[prattreef]

Are they all the same? No. Are the differences between them significant enough to spend a lot of time worrying about? Not in my opinion. None of the studies are conclusive, in fact they all come to different conclusions :splitspin so use whatever works well for you. I do think there are more problems with people switching salts than with using a specific brand consistently and working to compensate for any shortcomings if need be.

Oh, I use Instant Ocean and have for a very long time.

 

[Malibu361]

Curious how much does a pail of the instant ocean cost ??Thanks

 

[Reef Reaper]

The salt you use is supposed to be the best. I use Instant Ocean and have not had a problem. My salt is half the cost of yours!!

 

[meschaefer]

House of Fish, a site vendor has 160g bucket of Instant Ocean available for $34.97. With 10% off for members and a Frag Swap pick up.


I used Instant Ocean for years, I have recenlty switched to Reef Crystals as it has higher Calcium and ALk, wich cuts down on the supplments I need when dosing 300 gallons of water.

 

[tosiek]

what salt does he use?

And there is a post here linking the S-15 report but i can't find it. gives you graphs and stuff on how much of what is in 15 picked major salt brands. The most expensive brands aren't the best, one beeing fauna marin. Most differ by amounts of calcium/alk and mag which are the big ones people look for and then the rest of the trace elements.

That beeing said, instant ocean, reef crystals, and coralife are the more used brands and have the most balanced trace elements in them along with their low price for 5g buckets. 35$+ for the IO, RC, CL while the FM brand is going for 70-100$ pending where you go.

 

[Malibu361]

I was thinking about switching to instant ocean

 

[NYreefNoob]

< used most of the salts and went back to red sea coral pro for the high calcium, io is good as well but has a low mix on calcium

 

[Malibu361]

I found a guy on ebay selling instant ocean pails for $40.00 shipped is that about what the go for ?

 

[MikeyZO]

I use the tropic marin pro reef and I've had good results with it.

 

[Keith P]

And there is a post here linking the S-15 report but i can't find it.

I would have loved to see it.

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hi Malibu361

As stated by prattreef,

Are they all the same? No. Are the differences between them significant enough to spend a lot of time worrying about? Not in my opinion. None of the studies are conclusive, in fact they all come to different conclusions :splitspin so use whatever works well for you. I do think there are more problems with people switching salts than with using a specific brand consistently and working to compensate for any shortcomings if need be.

Oh, I use Instant Ocean and have for a very long time.

there are differences, so many that this article, perhaps the one tosiek is mentioning, from Craig Bingman, which I believe is also a member of MR, and Marlin Atkinson may give you an idea of what they were/are.
As to the brand or formula to use, do like prattreef indicates, the one that works well for you, be it a low trace element formula such as the one of Crystal Sea, or another one.

Cheers
Pedro Nuno ;-)

 

[e.muehlbauer]

I've always been happy with instant ocean. I tried Reef Crystals a few years ago...while it had higher calcium than IO, I actually found that its alkalinity was lower...however they may have revised the formula in the intervening years. I didn't think it was worth the extra expense...I find that while my alkalinity may fluctuate, my calcium level is always at 400 or above.

 

[duke62]

i use oceanic and very happy

 

[tosiek]

ive switched out from fauna marin pro to coralife and noticed a drop in P04 as FM was tested at high and ive always got a reading off of the elos test kit with that salt.

 

[marrone]

After being unable to get rid of hair algae I switched from TM-Pro to Coral life and I notice after about 1 1/2 months, doing weekly water changes of about 10-12gals, the hair algae uneventfully went away. My cal levels also are higher since using Coral life, though I still have the same problems of low Alk with both salts.

I have a conversion with a person that worked at a LFS this weekend, about TM Pro and Coral Life salt and phosphates. He told me the problem with using TM Pro is that it comes in a large bucket and once you open it up, and don't use all of it right away, you start to have problems with Po4. With Coral Life it comes in 3 bags in a bucket, which you can seal after each use. Because of this you're keeping the air out of it and keeping Po4 in check. I'm not sure if this is true or not, as I never heard of it before, but it is some what interesting to think that exposing the salt to air will have some effect on it.

 

[duke62]

if thats the case you can store anyother salt in those large ziplock bags and put them in the bucket they came in

 

[marrone]

Well that was one of the things he mentioned to do. Basically measure out what salt you're going to use on a weekly basics and then seal it in a ziplock bag. This way all the salt is seal and free from the air.

 

[MikeyZO]

I dont see how it's possible for a solid substance as simple as sodium chloride, to undergo some sort of chemical reaction with normal air which will increase it's phosphate level. Yes I know it has different things added to it, but its still basically salt, which is a stable substance in the chemistry world. Why would AIR of all things change it's chemical compound, because, after all, that is exactally what this person is suggesting.... Air changes the chemical compound of TM Pro salt in such a way that the phosphates increase. Seems a bit far fetched. I'm not yet saying that this person is wrong, but I would like to see some imperical data on this. In fact, I may just experiment since I use TM Pro. Oh, and just as a quick reference, my tank tested via Hanna Meter .05 in phosphates after 7 months, and that was before I started using phosban in a reactor, and with using TM pro from day 1. And as far as I've been told .05 PO4 is pretty darn good.

On a side note, Marrone, it is very interesting that switching salt had that overall positive effect on your tank... so I wont rule the possibility out. But I'm thinking there may be some other reason the salt switch worked. Not saying it wasnt the switch itself, just saying that the PO4 idea wasn't the issue. Did you by any chance take measurements of your PO4 before and after the switch?

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Seachem reef salt will keep your alk and Ph in check and the calcium too,Low in P04.