Reef Crystals vs Red Sea Coral Pro vs Oceanic vs Kent

[mujtba]

Instant Ocean Reef Crystals - 160 Gallon $31.99
Red Sea Pro Coral Salt - 175 Gallon $29.99
Oceanic Sea Salt - 200 Gallon $39.99
Kent Sea Salt - 200 Gallon $55.49


I know QUANTITY wise, red sea is better because you get more for your money.

BUT, which salt performs much better and gives you about 400ppm for calcium and all the other good stuff well balanced WITHOUT the need to add additives..

sorry in advance about nother salt question..

I switched from Tropic Marin to Red Sea Pro for like 6 months and did not see a dramatic change or see much coraline grow... any advise? i wana switch to a good salt.

[tecoral]

Salt threads can get outta hand but FWIW....As far as I know, there is no perfect salt mix. The demands on your system by your livestock will dictate what additives you will have to add. FO systems you can have more leeway with than reefs. I can tell you about 3 salt mixes, 2 are on your list.

IO, Ca-275, alk-11dKH, Mag 1050

Oceanic had very high Ca-500ppm+, very low alk-5or so dKH, and decent Mag at 1250-1300.

Reef Crystals (what I use now) tests out for me at Ca-410, alk-12.3dKH, Mag-1075

All tests were at 1.026sg/refractometer, RODI water and Salifert tests. Hope that helps a little.

[Frick-n-Frags]

I switched to reefcrystals too, to minimize screwing around as much with tweaking the parameters

[mujtba]

so the reef crystal price is rite?

[marinelife]

Where can I get Red Sea Pro Coral Salt for 175 Gallon $29.99
I use Reef Crystals right now

[elkinsda]

I use instant ocean, but in my experience i have to boost alk.

[Runfrumu]

looks like oceanic is the best as far as not having to add anything. I may switch from reef crystal's when this bucket is done.

Also I've heard that if you use a bucket of salt for water changes that you will get different reading's for each batch of water you mix since it was designed to do 160 gallons at one time. Since the mixture has settled and you may have more of the calcium at the bottom than at the top. Sorta like when you shake rocks and the bigger ones come to the top. I was told you were supposed to use the 15 gallon boxes for water changes.

Any truth to this?

Any

[schigara]

I have read all over about Oceanic having an out of wack Ca and ALk levels. I don't know if this is something that happened a long time ago and just keeps getting brought up because for the past 5 months, I have been using Oceanic and has not been true at all.

I get an average of 450ca and 9dkh salifert test with Oceanic. This measurement is taken 24hours after salt is added to the RO/Di water in the rubbermaid and SG is 1.025 with refractometer.

I tried one bucket of ReefCrystals because everyone seems to go nutty for it. I think people love it because you can get it almost anywhere, only thing I can figure. With the same exact testing, I saw 380ca and 8.0dkh with RC's.

To recap 5 month period.

3x 200g buckets of Oceanic---- Average 450ca....9dkh
1x 160g bucket of RC's--------380ca...................8.0dkh
Mag was very close on both salts

PS. 2 years ago when I first had this tank going, I only used regular Instant Ocean and I remember the ca being around 350. I don't remember what the alk was like.

[schigara]

I think there is some truth to this. When I open a new bucket I'll put half of it in a perfectly clean bucket and shake up both halves and then I will start mixing them back together. My levels per water change stay very consistent.

Originally posted by Runfrumu
looks like oceanic is the best as far as not having to add anything. I may switch from reef crystal's when this bucket is done.

Also I've heard that if you use a bucket of salt for water changes that you will get different reading's for each batch of water you mix since it was designed to do 160 gallons at one time. Since the mixture has settled and you may have more of the calcium at the bottom than at the top. Sorta like when you shake rocks and the bigger ones come to the top. I was told you were supposed to use the 15 gallon boxes for water changes.

Any truth to this?

Any

[jnc914]

There is not much difference between the salts mentioned, other than price. I use Tropic Marin and supplement B-Ionic to get the calcium and Kalk to where it is most beneficial for my LPS and coraline growth on the rock. That being said, I have contemplated using either the Reef Crystals or Oceanic to save some $$$$, it adds up when you are doing weekly/bi-weekly water changes.

[marinelife]

do a search on Oceanic, I would not use it.

[schigara]

I could do a search and have in the past and like anything, some bad comments and some good.

Is there something in particular you read that stands out as a reason for concern? Do you have any experience with the Oceanic salt?

Originally posted by marinelife
do a search on Oceanic, I would not use it.

[marinelife]

People having death after using it. I have never used it as all I find is more bad than good. I used Instant Ocean for years and switched to Reef C last year because it was only a few dollars more. I can not get much variety of salt around here. IO is $55 and I can order RC shipped to my door for $34. I did have a sample of Red Sea Pro Coral Salt and I would use it if it was not $45 shipped to my door. I use a bucket of salt a month. Locally we have IO and Red Sea, If I travel an hour I can find Kent and Oceanic.

[schigara]

See, theres a problem. I have never not tried a different salt just because of some unfounded hearsay. I would never make any comment about a salt until I personally tried it.

I have tried IO, RC and Oceanic and I stick with Oceanic because the tests I have done on each personally and I only comment on these 3 because I have had experience with them, not because of what I have read or what someone told me.

Also I am not brand loyal. If someone shows credible evidence that another salt will perform better, I will try it for myself.

I'm sure people experience death in their tanks using any salt. Making statements like a particular salt causes death without any proof is just ridiculous to people who have experience with the salt and unfair to newcomers who have never tried it.

This is why theses threads usually go to crap. What starts out as useful information based on peoples own experiences which could have some benefit to some newcomers ends up harboring old myths and paranoias.

Originally posted by marinelife
People having death after using it. I have never used it as all I find is more bad than good. I used Instant Ocean for years and switched to Reef C last year because it was only a few dollars more. I can not get much variety of salt around here. IO is $55 and I can order RC shipped to my door for $34. I did have a sample of Red Sea Pro Coral Salt and I would use it if it was not $45 shipped to my door. I use a bucket of salt a month. Locally we have IO and Red Sea, If I travel an hour I can find Kent and Oceanic.

[918ReefCpl]

Alot of people blend IO and Oceanic together...We do that on our 125 gal and have had good luck....the higher levels in the Oceanic balance out the lower levels in the IO/RC + you end up with 400 gal of mix instead of just 200. For 25gal of RO water, we mix up 6 1/4 cups of RC and 6 1/4 cups of Oceanic comes out at 35ppt or 1.026sg. Mag3 used to mix the water overnight + throw in a heater set @ your tank temp and its ready to go in the morning.

[marinelife]

Originally posted by schigara
See, theres a problem. I have never not tried a different salt just because of some unfounded hearsay. I would never make any comment about a salt until I personally tried it.

I have tried IO, RC and Oceanic and I stick with Oceanic because the tests I have done on each personally and I only comment on these 3 because I have had experience with them, not because of what I have read or what someone told me.

Also I am not brand loyal. If someone shows credible evidence that another salt will perform better, I will try it for myself.

I'm sure people experience death in their tanks using any salt. Making statements like a particular salt causes death without any proof is just ridiculous to people who have experience with the salt and unfair to newcomers who have never tried it.

This is why theses threads usually go to crap. What starts out as useful information based on peoples own experiences which could have some benefit to some newcomers ends up harboring old myths and paranoias.

I am one that looks at reviews before buying something and when alot of people have problems with something that tends to make me want to stay away. When it come to my animals I would not want to try it to get personal results when I could kill everything by doing it. Just my thoughts!

[dragonforce]

I've been using oceanic for the last year on my 37g mixed reef. I never test any params but I do change 5g every week. This system has many corals and inverts including soft corals, branching LPS types, montipora and other sps corals, as well as 2 large BTAs.

[schigara]

This is my last post in this thread. I will not continue to feed any more of this

I give up! I guess I am just one of the lucky ones as all my fish, clams and corals are growing well and look great and in Oceanic "poison".

Give us all a break. Hold on....wait.......I think I hear the paranoia police coming.

There was a point in time where everyone, without "credible" evidence, knew the world was flat.

[thor32766]

I use RC

[tecoral]

Oceanic salt is fine. Everyone should be testing parameters before use anyway. Lots of things can go wrong between batches, and thats true of all salt brands.
I used Oceanic for probably 3 years for the high Ca content. It was cheaper for me to add baked baking soda then calcium. That was just my preferance for that tank at that time. The last bucket I tried I tested new makeup water mixed with RODI and found .25PO4 and decided to make a switch. This was a year ago. Im not saying all Oceanic is bad but that bucket was so I dont use it anymore. Lots of people do and this may have been an isolated incident. Oceanic may have even changed their formula since I see their Ca content has come down.

Anyway, it never hurts to get the whole picture, and like we all try to do, just use your best judgement.

[idareefer]

Try coralife, been very stable, alk stable, CA stable & good for sps, tried all the others too, still like coralife

[dendro982]

Love the prices!
For us, up there, it will be:

Instant Ocean Reef Crystals - 160 Gallon $89.99
Red Sea Pro Coral Salt - 175 Gallon $69.99
Oceanic Sea Salt - 200 Gallon $89.99
Kent Sea Salt - 200 Gallon $69.99

My vote will be for Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt
Best effect in my tanks. But when no sale on it, I'm using Red Sea. Switched from IO.

Have a bucket of Reef Crystals - not impressed, and the new water, even next day, is harsher, than other brands in the same situation.

The only bag of Kent salt I ever used had alk around 6 dKH, checked by Salifert kit, when IO was 14+ dKH.

Just bought Oceanic, can't make an opinion yet.

I'll second the use of different salts - Red Sea alone for a long time lacks something, that is present in Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt. Same is applicable for IO, that I used.

My 2 cents.

[mujtba]

Red sea pro differs from Red sea salt... the pro should match tropoc marin pro... so i hear

[akaatomic]

I recently switched from RC to Oceanic. I was not seeing much growth in my hard corals and coraline was non-existant. I figured that I'd try a salt on the other end of the spectrum. Oceanic has more natural ingredients, cal, alk and mag are higher which helps the levels to remain up between water changes. I'm at the end of one 200g bucket of oceanic and I'm getting coraline spots everywhere. It will be a few months before any growth results will be seen, but nothing has died in the last month which is a bonus . I'll give it three or four buckets before deciding if it's an improvement. One odd observation is that Oceanic requires one less "scoop" of salt to reach the same SG (1.025) as RC.

[dendro982]

I had the same with Tropic Marin Pro Reef, after used 8 buckets of IO. Coraline everywhere, but only the light lilac color with white dots, not the deep red.

Good idea about Red Sea Pro - but can it be used with tap water?