I have used half a dozen different salts over the years. Had the best results with Tropic Marin Pro but no longer available out here so I use IO. Tried Reefer's best but almost wiped out my tank with it.

I currently use Tropic Marin. I used to use Seachem Reef Salt but also found it didn't disolve well and I had to always add buffer to keep the PH up.

My sps seems to be doing very well on TM. I have never used the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals.

Has anyone used both Tropic Marin and Instant Ocean Reef Crystals? Which did you like better?

I use H2Ocean, prior used Reefers best, prior to that Reef Crystals.

Reef Crystals was good, but mixed dirty.

Reefers Best was the cleanest and mixed the best, but expensive and at times you couldn't even get as there was non to found.

H2Ocean, is the best of all worlds, I am getting for great price, mixes clean and is a good salt from what I can see.

Please note: I don't mix my salt ahead of time, I don't give it 24 hours prior to putting into tank, and I don't heat. I mix at room temp, about 2 hours prior to putting into display. My results are based on this method. Reefers and H2Ocean both have always mixed clean, when water is put into tank, it is crystal clear, no residue or crap in it.

Only salt I've used I didn't like was Seachem. It left too much undisolved residue for my liking.

I use H2Ocean and it serves me well. The coral all seems to do fine with it.

By the way, Instant Ocean is only $29 bucks at King eds, so that's more like one third of what you pay for the Reefer's Best salt.

I have personally used IO for years without any issues.

H2Ocean hands down. After switching to this salt from IO I experienced great sps growth and color without dosing anything at all. Started with regular bi-weekly 20% water changes then cut back to 10%. Before I started dosing, my parameters were bang on except for the alk which was a bit low Recently started dosing Ca, Alk, & Mg, might try cutting back water changes to monthly to save a few bucks on salt.

I've had success with virtually every salt I've tried and I think I've tried almost all of them. In the end I'm not sure it really matters but I currently use Reefer's Best because it's one of the few that mixes exceptionally well and has always been consistent. If I had to pay $100 or more for it I'd probably use something else but at $80 I'll continue to use it until the price increases or it becomes less available. I also prefer the box which is easily recycled, I have no need for more buckets.

IO is by far the cheapest and certainly works just fine but I find it requires more work. Takes longer to mix and sometimes needs to be aerated to prevent precipitation, especially if you plan on supplementing with it.