Brand recommendations

[SpikeAZ]

Hello, I will be setting up a 110g reef tank soon, and I feel I have everything needed to get started.

However, I was wondering if anyone here has some recommendations for a good sea salt and a good test kit?

The brands I mostly see around here are oceanic, instant ocean, and coralife.

 

[GoodFish]

I use instant ocean and i have no complaints

 

[hammerhead911]

Coralife works for me

 

[RLG2182]

Oceanic. And by the way... Welcome to AA!!

 

[lando]

Welcome to the forum!!!
You will ask 12 different people here and get 13different responses. I use Coralife and like it just fine.

 

[steve-s]

You will ask 12 different people here and get 13different responses.

So very very true. Suffice it to say though, there is no such thing as a "best brand".

Above all no matter what you choose, find one that works with your tank inhabitants and maintenace you are able to provide and stick with it. Don't buy based on price, buy based or performance and do not continually switch...

Cheers
Steve

 

[Brenden]

I use oceanic. I would give you 2 response but it is the only one I ever used.

 

[captivereefs]

for test kits use salifert or seachem and salt oceanic, tropic marin and instant ocean are all good.

 

[malkore]

for test kits, either SeaChem or Salifert. SeaChem's a little cheaper for basic marine test kit, and calcium kit. Salifert is arguably more accurate, and thus a little more expensive.

I started with Instant Ocean salt, but it NEVER would fully dissolve, and had low calcium, high alkalinity issues. I switched to Oceanic, and my corals look better now.

 

[SpikeAZ]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

What is the ease of use for the seachem and salifert tests?

I used to use Hagen, but I wasn't able to really tell the difference between values sometimes.

 

[mjvincent]

Instant ocean.

 

[malkore]

SeaChem kits are pretty easy to read. Salifert is a foreign brand, and the English translated instructions are a little awkward, but the kit is very accurate.

probably the only hard Seachem kit for readability is the pH kit. 8.0 to 8.1 is hard to discern.