The best saltmix you are using

[shenyong]

Which brand of salt mix is the best so far?

[Lyscer]

I think it all depends on what type of corals you are trying to sustain. In my tank I loved Oceanic because it has higher traces of Magnesium and calcium which SPS like. My brother-in-law used oceanic and it pushed his calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity through the roof and things started to die off. He has since switched over to Instant Ocean and his parameters stay fairly stable with no other dosing.

[shenyong]

Originally posted by Lyscer
I think it all depends on what type of corals you are trying to sustain. In my tank I loved Oceanic because it has higher traces of Magnesium and calcium which SPS like. My brother-in-law used oceanic and it pushed his calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity through the roof and things started to die off. He has since switched over to Instant Ocean and his parameters stay fairly stable with no other dosing.

well, i have a 180g mostly sps, and i never mixed salt by myself. I've been buying salt water from my LFS since i 1st have my tank started. Since most of the reefers mix their own saltwater, i feel like i wanna do it myself too.
Anyone out there can teach me how to mix it? I'd be appreciate :-)

[rbonick]

I vote for the DD h20 salt. I get consistent calcium and magnesium levels with every batch

[ngn8dogg]

red sea pro/ tropic marin pro are very good

[reefmutt]

I love the DD H2O salt. The parameters are perfect and the consistency is also very good. I started a 300 gallon tank and within 2 months I had happily growing sps in it.

[reefworm]

Crystal Sea/Forty Fathoms for bioassay research.
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategor...-Forty-Fathoms

[briangg57]

I've been having great results with Oceanic and Instant Ocean mixed 50/50

[shenyong]

anyone out there with great experience with salt mix?

[Greg 45]

Using Get Tanked Aquarium salt

[cbusreefer]

I myself see no reason to buy anything but instant ocean. It's cheaper than most of the other brands and contains no additives. If you're going to be dosing/ run a CA reactor, why would you want to use a brand that throws your parameters off when you do a water change?
With that being said, if you don't plan on dosing, i myself would probably go with Reef Crystals or the like and you'd probably be fine with most softies.
My $.02

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I use Instant Ocean and boost it with magnesium via MAG flake and calcium via Dowflake. That method is cheaper than most any other salt mix (cheaper than IO alone) and gives exactly what I want in a salt mix.

[fshaqrmman]

I have also always used IO and Kent Marine.
Recently just started a tank with Seachem SeaSalt....anyone have any experience with it?

[m3fan8ic]

I've been using Reef Crystal and I don't have any issues.

[s ruppa]

Originally posted by shenyong
well, i have a 180g mostly sps, and i never mixed salt by myself. I've been buying salt water from my LFS since i 1st have my tank started. Since most of the reefers mix their own saltwater, i feel like i wanna do it myself too.
Anyone out there can teach me how to mix it? I'd be appreciate :-)

mixing your own saltwater is very easy ( and probably cheaper)

you just need a container to hold the water. rubbermaid brute garbage cans are cost effective.

a heater, powerhead and refractometer to check the SG of the mixed water

i have found approx 1/2 cup of salt per gallon of water is close.

combine the salt and water in the container with heater and powerhead. let it circulate for about 24 hours. check your SG. add salt to raise the SG and RO water to lower as needed.

steve

[DheereCrossing]

Originally posted by Randy Holmes-Farley
I use Instant Ocean and boost it with magnesium via MAG flake and calcium via Dowflake. That method is cheaper than most any other salt mix (cheaper than IO alone) and gives exactly what I want in a salt mix.

I don't get it Randy - how can IO+Dowflake+Magflake be cheaper than IO?

[troyman]

seachem salt mixtures contain alot of silica what we are trying to keep out of tank

[ReefEnabler]

I use Coralife salt.

[newclean]

I used

Coralife - Ca, Mg, alk were high but something wasn't quite right and I never got the colors in SPS

Seachem - Ca, alk high but Mg deficient Better colors but bulk magnesium is probably needed. I needed 2 kg of Seachem mag to boost one bucket's worth or salt.

I agree with cbusreefer about throwing your parameters of in a water change. If you are going to the trouble of maintaining Ca and alk with daily doing to minimize the swing of ions in your tank, then why would you want to deal with a spike from a necessary water change.

It might be possible though, to use the water change to have the same Ca, and alk boost to your system as one day's worth of dosing (two-part), and then skip the dosing that day.

[tkeracer619]

I use whatever I have. I buy whatever I can get cheapest.

Reef Crystals or Instant Ocean is probably my favorite so far and they are cheap. Get salt through dr foster and smith. The flat rate shipping is sweet. Get a couple locals to order 2 buckets each and you can get the salt for ~$32 landed per bucket

[joeycadre]

tropic marin

[HowardW]

Originally posted by troyman
seachem salt mixtures contain alot of silica what we are trying to keep out of tank

Not true at all............in fact, I recently sent a freshly mixed sample of Seachem Reef Salt @1.0264 to a lab for testing and the silicate level was actually quite low and in line with known NSW parameters.

[mrpet]

Originally posted by HowardW
Not true at all............in fact, I recently sent a freshly mixed sample of Seachem Reef Salt @1.0264 to a lab for testing and the silicate level was actually quite low and in line with known NSW parameters.

good to know i use seachem so far its fine....

[Beach Magnolia]

There's an interesting thread on this subject in the Reef Chemistry forum here at Reef Central.

I'm currently using Red Sea, but have used Kent in the past and was VERY happy with it. I did some informal research and one point and found a report that claimed Kent was one of the most consistent from batch to batch.

I also noticed when using Kent that the problems I was having with my Blood Red Shrimp went away (molting too often, lost coloring and looked pinkish and kind of transparent, lost his front claws) After just 2 or 3 water changes my shrimp started looking like the way he was supposed to look and the too frequent molting stopped. He even grew his broken off antenna and front claws back.

I have a very simple setup without all the extra equipment - mixed reef - and dose 2-part. I rely on a good quality salt to keep everything healthy.

Kent is more expensive than some of the others however, and I'm seeing good results from Red Sea. What I've read about it is positive as well, so I may stick with it.

[plancton]

I never stir my water salt mix well, I haven´t seen any issues either. I used red sea salt and then switched to seachem and haven´t seen any differences, all I do is mix the right ratio of salt in a 5 gallon water plastic bottle(the ones you normally buy for home consumption) I used RO water and mix the right ratio of salt put the cover on and shake the bottle and leave it there for 2 days before using it, then shake it again right before pouring the saltwater into my sump.

I mean, are there any issues because of this?, I´ve seen most people use big plastic containers put the mix and use a powerhead to mix the whole thing. What´s the difference by not doing this?