Brand of Aquarium Salt

[Bearfan]

What brand of salt does everyone use/recommend?

[Electrobes]

Instant Ocean (speaking for friends here)

[snapcrackler]

Instant ocean has worked great for me. That is what I use.

[e-cat]

red sea

[two11devan]

Have been using IO for about 5 months so far and have no complaints.

[triggers]

I use tropic marin excellent result.

[hicmndr]

I'm a newbie to reef aquariums, but I ran across this article comparing toxic levels of compounds in various salts. I ended up purchasing Marinemix Bioassay salt as a result of their findings.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-0...ture/index.htm

[Biggen]

I am going to go against the grain like ReefRunner does as it pertains to IO.

It's ionic balance stinks!! I have gone through about a dozen bags of that stuff and I always get the same results: ALK high and Ca low.

I switched over to Reef Crystals and it is a little better. The Ca is higher but the Alk remains the same. I think I am going to try Tropic Marlin next time. From what I hear, it is more ionically balanced than most.

[reefrunner69]

Ex IO user

I use Tropic Marin.

Originally Posted by Biggen

It's ionic balance stinks!! I have gone through about a dozen bags of that stuff and I always get the same results: ALK high and Ca low.

Agreed, I have always had great success with Kent.

Cheers
Steve

[reefrunner69]

Agreed, I have always had great success with Kent.

Believe it or not, I have been reading more and more that Kent is IO in a Kent bag....

Originally Posted by reefrunner69

Believe it or not, I have been reading more and more that Kent is IO in a Kent bag....

True IO does package Kent's saltmix I believe but to Kent spec's. I have never had the same issues when using Kent that I have with IO.

Cheers
Steve

[ZekeMM]

I use Instant Ocean. Works great.

I have gone against all grains this go round, and use Coralife

[Biggen]

I have gone against all grains this go round, and use Coralife

It has to be better than their MH bulbs as that product couldn't get any worse.

[scuba_steve]

i like coral life as well and if ya buy the bucket ya get a free waxing t-shirt hehehe

[captivereefs]

Instant ocean.

[CountZero]

Does switching between salts have any negative affects? I have been using instant ocean, but after seeing the price on a bucket of coral life, I thought about trying that.

Will the change in brands affect the critters at all?
Zero

[notmuffy]

Well my theory is since you don't do 100% water changes, you would be mixing the new salt in little by little as you do the water changes. The ones I see all claim to have the same minerals.

I am using Kent, BTW. It seems to dissolve well. Instant Ocean is not as available in the UK - at least, I haven't seen it for sale at any of the 5 fish stores I have been to.

[reefrunner69]

There have been some reports of switching from one brand to another causing problems. When I switched from IO to Tropic Marin, I cut the amount I was changing by 1/2 and doubled the frequency for several weeks, then went back to my normal schedule and size water change, I had no problems.

FWIW, price is not necessarily the best way to choose your salt. It naturally plays a factor, but I do believe in the old addage...you get what you pay for.