Up until about a year ago I always used IO with good results. For some reason I decided to give a bucket of kent a go and around the same time I also went skimmerless. Soon after, red algae started to show up; sensitive corals died and hardy corals just stopped growing.
Thinking that nutrients were piling up due to the lack of skimmer I jacked up the rate of water changes. The problem got worse fast: carpets of red algae everywhere. Obviously something was in the salt. I bought a bucket of IO and after 4-5 25% water changes over a couple weeks and the tank is finally looking healthy again.
So what gives? Pay more for a competitor's product and get crappier quality?
If I understand correctly Instant Ocean is a very large company relative to other marine salt makers. Theoretically this gives them economies of scale (e.g. better quality to cost ratio). Not only that but if they are indeed supplying commercial facilities then they are more likely to be concerned about brand reputation and hence devote more resources to quality control.
So it is no wonder that the concensus seems to be that to improve on IO reefers have to look at one of the premium brands made by smaller companies, that cost around twice as much.
As an aside, IO also has a premium product (Reef Crystals) at a reasonable price point. Given the reliability of IO I would think that this would be a popular choice yet I don't see it stocked at the big stores that I visit in the GVRD. Anyone know why?
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