For the most part, when comparing the basics of each brand, salt is salt and every SPS tank will likely require some kind of Ca and Alk supplement to maintain these levels between water changes. The main difference is in relation to the many other elements that make up each brand of salt and although the exact role of many of these elements is somewhat unknown most will agree they are still important. For the most part you get what you pay for, the more expensive salts will have more and better trace elements overall. I have used almost every brand of salt available in attempts to find the magic brand but unfortunately it doesn't exist. I ended up sticking with Reefers Best because it's a high quality salt that has produced consistent results and it has a higher amount of elements than most. The bottom line is, nutrient export aside, you can get away with smaller water changes in comparison so even though it costs almost double it doesn't actually cost that much more to use. I also prefer RB because it comes in boxes instead of pails, boxes make way more sense to me but others may prefer pails.
The thing also to keep in mind with IO is that most people do use it, but that doesn't mean it's the best, not that it's a bad salt I just wouldn't label it as high quality. IO is the cheapest and most available salt on the market. Most who use it will use it for this reason and many haven't used much else. So for this reason you're always going to see IO at the top of most polls.
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