The best salt ever
 

ok im looking to switch away from instant ocean salt what is the best salt you can buy? there is no right answer, im just looking for as many opinions as I can get this way i can research the salts better and make a decision:mrgreen:

KZ reefers best. No other options for me.

zeo vit right? is it sold in a lfs?

Second the Reefers Best, it's available at my LFS not sure about your location.

Yeah its the zeo salt. I'm sure you wouldn't have a problem finding it in Edmonton. The only drawback is that it is expensive.

KZ RB or the new Giessmann H2Ocean salt.

I think that Instant ocean is awesome, I hav never had a problem with the salt in my travels. I did however try one pail of Tropic marine once.. didnt get a over all complete option about it used only a 1/2 pail.

In my opinion Aquacraft - Marine Environment is the best. It's only available at Aquarium Illusions in Edmonton (close to you)

I'm using Reefers best right now and it's pretty decent too.

I usually find it worth it to ship it all the way from Edmonton just because I don't seem to need to does anything when I use Aquacraft.

Im liking the D-D H2 Ocean Salt Pro myself. Its a real sea salt which is kind of cool. About the same price as Reefers best which seems to be about the going rate for premium salts.

I am switching to Reefers Best though because I am running ZEO. if I were not running ZEO though, I would stick with the D-D stuff. The ALK for a non ZEO tank is way too low in RBS at 7. I think the D-D pro salt has better numbers for a non ZEOvit tank.

both great salts, I started with RBS and have been using H2ocean for a bit now and have really liked the results.

I'm assuming you've seen this? http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1287118

I've tried Instant Ocean, Red Sea, Kent, Seachem Reef, and Tropic Marine Pro... Out of those I liked the Tropic Marine the most. Not sure why, just my opinion I guess.

Wondering what makes the salt "Best"?

I've got no problems with IO other that I spend an extra couple of minutes to add some Mg and Ca when making a batch.

for me not having to add anything else to the salt is what makes it better (but then again maybe I'm just lazy), so I for different setups different salts may work out best.

I thought H2Ocean was made my Deltec??

great keep the ideas rolling i also found this
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/sea.../aa090503b.htm

I just use IO and dose. Dosing costs less for me, and I have never had any issues with IO. Plus the other salts are harder to get and shipping really isn't worth it.

Same for me. I have been using IO since before time began. :lol:

KZ reefers best! My dosing is now almost non existent. Worth the few extra bucks!

what did your KH test out, when using BRS?
i had a few issues when starting it up, found that it was really lowdropped it down to six after a wc, for some reason.

I stand corrected:redface: Deltec H2Ocean salt.

I have used many different brands of salt over the years, and I have never found there to be any difference in my tank's inhabitants. The only difference I have found is ease of mixing, and whether you need to dose to get the params right on the waterchange water. For these reasons, I use IO which is still cheaper even after dosing, and only takes a whopping 45 secs of my time to dose.

So...for those of you who think there really IS a "best" salt, what difference does it make on your inhabitants? WHY do you think your chosen salt is best? Do you have a justifiable reason? If there is justifiable reasoning behind spending $100+ on a bucket of salt (and I don't find lack of dosing a justifiable reason), then I may be compelled to try out one of the newer brands that have hit the market recently.

I once sprung the extra $$ for a "premium" salt, the most expensive Red Coral was selling (before the current owner ran that store), which was Aquamedic. Boy was that ever a lesson. I spent twice as much on that as I could have on say IO, but the difference was that the "parameters" printed on the box were a complete fabrication. Magnesium at 1200! But gee, don't test it because it's really only 700 or so. I was blown away, why go to the trouble of printing numbers on the bucket if they don't in any way match reality? Similar story for Ca and Alk numbers. Complete fabrications.

My advice? Find a salt you like, stick with it, but test it before you use it so you know what you're putting in.

I'm continually behind the curve on this one. People seem to rant and rave about some salt brand, so I'll try it, but I'll finish off what I have before using it. Last year the flavour of the day was RBS, I finally finished off my last bucket of my last batch of salt this morning, and cracked open the RBS, so I'm about to see if I like it too. But then I read this thread and see the flavour of the day has moved onto a different brand. :lol:

To be honest, I never had an issue with IO. I didn't mind the lower Ca and Alk because I dosed that anyhow. Then I switched to Kent and had many trouble free years of use until the bad Alk batch. I sent in for a replacement bucket like so many others but I guess they didn't like me or something because they never sent me the replacement. So I'm not a fan of Kent anymore.

Should have just stuck with IO. :lol:

But I am excited to finally get to try RBS. Yay!

1+ here well said

I agree with you.

Not to mention IO is used by many public aquariums. I myself just can't justify $70+ on a bucket of salt when dosing works just as well.

When you were using Aquamedic, were you rolling your bucket before mixing? I'm doing a batch of WC water now, and finishing off the end of my AM salt... I'll run a test on mine and see what type of numbers I get for CA and ALK.

I've always used IO never had any issues (and I've been using it for 15yrs) so I've never felt a need to replace it.

http://web.archive.org/web/200103032.../1/default.asp

I've seen this before and it's on one of the links posted above but I found this very interesting now that I'm actually considering putting saltwater in a tank in a couple months :lol:

Does anyone here not dose Ca and Alk? I'd like to avoid it as I will be doing rather frequent, heavy water changes in my tank when I get the uncured rock in there, getting less frequent and heavy as the rock cures. Though, in the end, I'd like to do a 10% water change every 5 days once the rock is cured and the tank has cycled.