what salt do you use or find is best for marine tanks? looking to buy some want to get the good stuff? has any1 used seachem reef salt? 50 gallon mix bag for 15$ plus 10$ shipping.
what salt to use?
- Thread starter evelyn80
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I have always bought Instant Ocean... But a few points to look for when searching for salt it must be Nitrate, and phosphate free, so you don't contaminate from the beginning,in addition to that there are separate salts for reef aquaria too.
I used to always use Reef Crystals...the quality of went downhill...make the switch Seachem, not used anything else since..
low levels of trace elements, mainly calc....they always used to stay at a constant acceptable level....then eventually, i was buying buffers to replenish....The cost of the salt, with the cost of the buffers was more than Seachems salt, for the same size tub...made sense to switch and give it a go....not looked back since..
It may depend on the type of tank you are keeping as to which is "best" for you. In a FOWLR, you won't be as concerned with trace elements so IO (or one similarly priced) may be just fine. I have a great breakdown of the salt mixes from RC, but it's pdf so I can't copy/post it. I've seen a few threads about salt choice on the local reef club site and RC as well. Here's one example. http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17879&highlight=salt+mix
interesting link HN. i was thinking of mabye adding a few easy to keep corals down the road so mabye go with the seachem reef crystals then?
Your choice really. I would probably opt for the cheapest option until I was close to ready for corals. I used store bought IO water until recently switching to Oceanic and have seen marked growth improvement since making the change.
Instant Ocean is technically fine for any application, even reefs. It just matters whether or not you are willing to boost certain levels, which for that particular salt, would usually be calcium and magnesium. I will sometimes switch between IO, RC, and Red Sea, but they all yield similar results with levels adjusted, IME. If you don't want to add things manually, use one of the "reef" salts. In any case, test every new batch of salt for inconsistencies that could mean trouble. Happens to the best of brands out there from time to time.