salt diffrenace
 

How big of a diffrenace is there between d&d ocean salt and other brands like zeovite salt, and instant ocean

Someone on RC tested several different salt mixes for Ca, Alk and MG then posted his results. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714505 The main differences between them is price and marketing in my opinion.

I wonder though how the results are in different batches?

I have had big diffrenace between batchs of salt my self. With d-d h20 I had my mg 2200 in one bucket.
I'm think of swicthing to instant ocean over d-d h2o.

Damn eh? I've been using IO forever. And when I came back into salt I started IO again, I've had fluctuations but never have the MG that high. I wish now that I would have kept a log for all the buckets I have bought.

IME,go for the least expensive salt and than treat yourself with the purchase of a fish or coral.

I started using seachem reef salt and found calcium was 500+ and it was $55 a bucket switched to IO for $40 a bucket and the first 3 or 4 buckets needed some mg and ca added which I bought in bulk from chemaster and the last 3 IO buckets have come in at 420 cal 9 dkh and 1300,1350,1350 mg so no supplementing was required the bulk ca and mg from chem master were a much cheeper option than a more expensive salt let alone a $90 bucket
no noticeable differnce good or bad when I switched those are the only 2 salts I've got experince with

Looks like IO has gotten much better than in the past if the results posted are consistant. I've been using DD on my 25g because I didn't want to have to dose anything with a tank this small and parameters have so far been perfect out of my last 2 buckets. Everything thrives and no algae but on a tank this small a bucket lasts forever. On my new 90g I'll have to give IO another try. I used it about 5 years ago on a 72g and had to dose all the time even with mostly softies and only a couple LPS and had algae problems until I switched salts.

IO pails in the past would get Ca 275-325 and Mg 900-1100 ppm.

Got a new pail ~ month ago (had a small sticker 10-May-10) and measured at Ca 410, Mg 1200.

I have used d-d h2o, tropic, red sea and zeovit. I was not happy with zeovit for the price.
I have been using d-d for the last four buckets with is about one year, and have been happy with it except the last bucket. I think the bucket was not mixed very well. I'm going to have too give IO a try, when this bucket of d-d h2o is done.
I do a daily water change of 1.4G and add 2 tbsp of KH to a 45g mix.