Which brand of salt? - Aquarium Advice

partypalooza5 · 06-30-2009, 02:47 AM

I can't decide!!

It seems like Instant Ocean is a trusted brand, but Coralife also seems pretty good (plus you get a T-shirt with the bucket!) I just really don't know which to pick. Anyone have good/bad experiences that they are willing to share?

Or is brand really not important because it's all basically the same thing...

divedeep1689 · 06-30-2009, 03:08 AM

i have used instant ocean since i started so far its kept my tank healthy

thincat · 06-30-2009, 05:00 AM

I've used both. Instant Ocean as stated is good. You have to really let corallife mix well before using or you get lots of it not desolving. It's also harder to keep Alkalinily up with corallife. Other then that it's okay.

Tank2379 · 06-30-2009, 08:25 AM

Are you going FOWLR or are you going to convert it over to a Reef? If you go FOWLR I would just go with the Instant Ocean. If you are going to go Reef in the future I would go with Seachem Reef Salt.. JMO

**ccCapt** · 06-30-2009, 08:59 AM

IMO, you want to use a salt that is close to natural seawater parameters. (400 ppm calcium, alk 8 dKH, mag 1300 ppm)
Check this thread from RC. It will give you a good idea on the differences between many of the most popular salts.
Reef Central Online Community - A General Guide to Salt Mixes

Personally, I started with Instant Ocean then switched to Red Sea and used that for well over 15 yrs. I then switched to Red Sea Coral Pro when that came out and I've used that for the past few years. I just picked up a 200g mix of Instant Ocean for $35 and I am going to use that and bump up the calcium and mag before I add it to my tank.

**neilanh** · 06-30-2009, 09:54 AM

Personally I use Reef Crystals.

Like Tank said, are you going FOWLR or Reef, as it will help sway the opinions.

AWT did a lab grade analysis on a dozen or so different types of salt. This doesn't paint a complete picture, but it is a very good reference of what to expect in my opinion.
http://aquariumwatertesting.com/AWT_...lysis_0208.pdf

HN1 · 06-30-2009, 10:13 AM

We've been using and pretty happy with Oceanic after switching from IO. It seems to have helped quite a bit with our algae issues. We just ordered a bucket of Seachem Reef though so our fingers are crossed.

partypalooza5 · 06-30-2009, 11:22 AM

My long term plan is to start out with FO then make it a FOWLR then make it a reef (over the course of years so I can learn the basics and move up from there) From what I've seen Instant Ocean looks promising. (Or Reef Crystals) Is there any bad effects of initially filling with Coralife salt then moving to Instant Ocean?

thincat · 06-30-2009, 11:45 AM

No, most important is to match the parameters with what you got in the tank. If you are not happy with them than make changes slowly. Temp, SG are most important, then match Ca and Alk.

**melosu58** · 06-30-2009, 06:22 PM

I use Oceanic and have from the start 11 + yrs ago. It keeps great calcium numbers but suffers a little when it comes to alk. No one brand of salt mix is absolutely complete or we would all be using it. I`m sold on oceanic and dont plan on any change.