Another salt poll

rhythmicfire · #1 08/08/2007, 11:57 PM

It's about time for me to get more salt. Right now I am using regular Instant Ocean salt. I was considering using on of the following:

Oceanic
SeaChem Reef Salt
Instant Ocean Reef Crystals

Or I can stick to using regular IO salt. I heard from some that Oceanic salt has a lot of calcium, but not enough elements to help KH, and that is low on alk.

What do YOU recommend?

delsol650 · #2 08/09/2007, 02:30 AM

I used most of them. I really liked Tropical Marine Coral Pro, and now using Red Sea Coral Pro

rhythmicfire · #3 08/09/2007, 02:51 AM

did you have any problems with any of them regarding not enough alk, too much calcium, dissolving problems...anything like that?

delsol650 · #4 08/09/2007, 02:59 AM

Out of all of them I hated Oceanic the most...Calcium was 600 or so... I checked it a couple of times to be sure too... corals didn't like it either.

otterpop510 · #5 08/09/2007, 03:01 AM

i think i asked the same thing last summer. i'm sure if the search function ever worked you could pull up a bunch of answers for this. interestingly enough, other than tm-pro preferences seem to vary by region. i think the bay area crowd seemed to respond to io-rc and oceanic, while another thread down in socal seemed to like oceanpure pro when asked last summer..

that being said, i mix 50/50 of oceanic and io-rc crystal. seems to do pretty good with the balance of alk/cal/mg for me..

joe56 · #6 08/09/2007, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by delsol650
I used most of them. I really liked Tropical Marine Coral Pro, and now using Red Sea Coral Pro

Where do you buy your Red Sea Coral Pro Salt mix from? I've been looking for an LFS that carries it.

Thanks.

northbay-reefer · #7 08/09/2007, 03:56 PM

I have used, kent, IO,coral life, and some others, and even combinations of those salt together ... what I've found that IO seems to give me the most consistent reading and buffering of my alk and ph. Granted I have to add additional cal and magnesium to off set the lack of those two things, but once I have done that everything is perfect

jmc74 · #8 08/09/2007, 04:24 PM

I use oceanic, and i have tried Kent, I hate Kent, so i went back to oceanic, I have not had any problems, it disolves really fast, and it is ultra cristal clear, unlike the Kent, that was areally dirty salt, I also used before Ocean Pure, and I didn't like it, it clumps and is not a clean as oceanic, i think about all the salts I seen , most people recomeded oceanic...

ogredawg19 · #9 08/09/2007, 04:45 PM

Oceanic: As mention high Calcium (560+) and low alk 2

Instant Ocean: Low Calcium and didn't dissolve as quick as the other salts I've used.

Ocean Pure: Got it from Lucky Goldfish in Oakland and it's just like Oceanic. Calcium is as high and alk is as low. I had a bad batch that caused algae outbreak.

Red Sea Natural Salt: I liked it, Calcium was 420 and alk was still a little low 2.5. A little pricey because I can only get it from Petco who sells it for $19.99 for the 50 gallon mix bag.

Coralife: Currently using this brand and so far Calcium is where I want it (440) and alk is 3. And it's only $10.99 for the 50 gallon mix.

dieselgrk · #10 08/09/2007, 08:12 PM

i use reef crystal and am happy with it however i've been very tempted to try tropic marine pro reef...the stuff is expensive but all the euro guys love it!

tuberider · #11 08/09/2007, 08:41 PM

I use a mix of Reef Crystals, and regular Tropic Marin. The TM is expensive and hard to find locally, but I like it to "cut" the RC as RC is "rich" for lack of a better term.

northbay-reefer · #12 08/09/2007, 10:07 PM

I think I will switch to reef crystal, Kent always leave a white film on the water surface when I mix the salt.

Now who got the 15% coupon from dr foster and smith ??

that post got deleted so fast I didnt get a chance to copy the code

hiepatitis · #13 08/10/2007, 01:33 AM

I used TM before and the Ca, Alk, and Mg were all slightly low for some reason. Maybe i had a bad batch but I w.ouldn't spend the money to try again. I'm using Oceanic right now but it throws my parameters off because it has high calcium (500ppm) and low alkalinity (7 dKH). Thinking of switching to Red Sea Pro Coral or RC.

Charles, what are the parameters for Red Sea?

Anybody know the parameters for RC?

delsol650 · #14 08/10/2007, 01:55 AM

Red Sea Salt was nice for me... its the pro one... calcium measured at 440+, alk was good, pH all good. Its pretty comprable to TMCP. Only think sucks is that most stores dont carry them...

hiepatitis · #15 08/18/2007, 11:40 AM

Dude,

Reef Crystals is off the charts. I bought a bag to test out. Freshly mixed:

SG: 1.026
Alk: 14.7 dKH
Ca: 500+ (out of range)

I'm gonna try that Red Sea Pro

delsol650 · #16 08/18/2007, 04:20 PM

Hiep try Tropical Marine Corol Pro first... you won't be disappointed. I'm going to switch back down the line.

hiepatitis · #17 08/18/2007, 04:46 PM

I already tried it but my batch tested low in alk, ca and mg

delsol650 · #18 08/18/2007, 04:57 PM

WOW, on the TMP CP ??? wow, I used 3 buckets and never had a problem...

on the RSCP the only issue was noted on other forums was a couple batches had a brown tinge to the water, but the manufacturer said that it was no problem... I never had issues.. and with this bucket the water did not turn brown.

hiepatitis · #19 08/18/2007, 05:36 PM

Maybe I'll give it a second try but I don't know if the cost is worth it. What were the measurements you got?

delsol650 · #20 08/18/2007, 08:44 PM

CA and ALK were really good, I never tested for MAG. sorry.

fishme · #21 08/19/2007, 02:09 PM

and now, which LFS has good price on salt?

Thales · #22 08/19/2007, 02:44 PM

Reef Crystals

Good levels of Ca, Mg and Alk.

I would never put freshly mixed salt water into my tank unless its an emergency, so freshly mixed numbers mean little

. At least 24 hours of mixing, heating and aeration.

I used to use IO, but was unhappy with its mag levels.

IMO, the most important thing about salt is consistency which is why I use RC (and previously IO) - I know I can always get them.