Need advice on salt and substrate

[ReganY]

Way too many brands out there. Just want to see what people recommend. I'm looking for crushed coral and salt that's good for reefing.

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[Craigdillman]

Id start a poll....

[WarDog]

Originally Posted by Craigdillman

Id start a poll....

+1

[ReganY]

Originally Posted by Craigdillman

Id start a poll....

It's a good idea, unfortunately I don't even know which brands to start with. Was hoping for input.

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[spit.fire]

Coarse gravel, thin layer. Don't buy the live stuff, its a rip off


As far as salt goes it depends on a lot of factors ;
What kind of corals you want to keep
How often are you going to do water changes (not how often you plan to)
Are you willing to dose
What size of tank and what kind of budget do you have
Are you premixing the day or week before or mixing before you do the water change (I don't reccomend this)

[ReganY]

Originally Posted by spit.fire

Coarse gravel, thin layer. Don't buy the live stuff, its a rip off


As far as salt goes it depends on a lot of factors ;
What kind of corals you want to keep
How often are you going to do water changes (not how often you plan to)
Are you willing to dose
What size of tank and what kind of budget do you have
Are you premixing the day or week before or mixing before you do the water change (I don't reccomend this)

That's quiet the list of what ifs. Although I do plan on doing water changes once or twice a month. I would like lps and sps corals. I'd probably mix when I need to.

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[WarDog]

I think people put too much emphasis on which salt to use.

[spit.fire]

I just buy whatever is expensive

[coolhandgoose]

Originally Posted by spit.fire

I just buy whatever is expensive

That's hilarious!

I use H2Ocean.

[Myka]

I'd suggest using Instant Ocean until you find a reason not to. It's cheap and easy to find. I don't like Reef Crystals because the calcium is super high, and I don't think the difference between it and IO is worth the price difference. Both Instant Ocean and Reef Crystals have high alkalinity so that will help you out while you're not dosing. I also like H2Ocean, and have used it for years on my reef tank, but the cost keeps going up on it, and it's now a $100 bucket of salt. It's a natural seasalt though, it's not synthetic. So yeah, just stick with IO for now.

For substrate though, I would not suggest a gravel. I would go with a coarse sand like Caribsea Seaflor Special Grade or Caribsea Aragamax Select. Gravel gets too much gunk stuck in it, and fine sand blows around the tank and makes a mess.