Best Sea Salt for Reef Tanks?

[Reefie]

I'm curious to see which brand of Sea Salt is best for reef tanks. I've used a couple brands so far, one caused brown diatoms to break out, so I ended up switching back to the salt I was using previously. However I've recently found out that the brand I use has low concentrations of the essential trace elements (Calc, Mag, etc).

Which brand of Sea Salt contains the actual trace elements that they claim to replenish?

[fishytime]

Aquavitro made by seachem is the only salt I know of that is individually batch tested.... So that is the only one I would trust the numbers on the bucket..... That being said, I personally use H2Ocean( 3 years)

[abcha0s]

The trouble is that we all depend on the manufacturers to tell us what's in the salt and they all claim to be the best. You won't have to look far to find a reefer that prefers any one of the brands that you have listed. As the results start coming in, I expect there will be votes for all of the salts (or at least most).

I've seen studies that compare various salt brands and they appear to identify a leader. However, there are criticisms of the studies that show errors in the testing methodology and biases. They are also outdated as new salts have come onto the market.

Even a salt water analysis on a small sample can show very different results than what the manufactures claim. For that matter, the salt at the top of the bucket is likely different from the salt at the bottom of the bucket. When the manufacturers mix in large batches, results will vary.

You also really need to define what criteria make a salt “good”. If you are supplementing calcium, then high levels of calcium might not be a big deal to you. You might look for trace elements instead. If you aren’t supplementing calcium then that same salt might be problematic.

I like “Royal Natural” salt. You didn’t list it on your poll, but if you look around I am sure you can find it. I like it because the manufacturer claims that it is the best, so I assume that it is at least adequate. More specifically, it mixes cleaner than any other salt that I have ever tried. It mixes so quickly that it generally doesn’t even hit the bottom of my mixing barrel.

- Brad

[MarkoD]

I use instant ocean. I dose kalk. My sps are growing well

[Aquattro]

I use Reefer's Best, it's a great salt. It's 100 bucks a box. IO is also a good salt, it costs half that. I'm probably going to switch. Used IO for years, never had a problem with it.

[lastlight]

Reef Crystals here. Considering a trial of the Royal Nature as I am sick of the nasty film/crust/sludge left behind.

[Rice Reef]

The Poll is a bit unclear. Best Price? Best Quality? For me I am using Instant Ocean for the price and I am dosing regularly.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Reef Crystals here. Considering a trial of the Royal Nature as I am sick of the nasty film/crust/sludge left behind.

Maybe your salt is exposed to moisture and the precipitate isn't dissolving

[milano07]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I use Reefer's Best, it's a great salt. It's 100 bucks a box. IO is also a good salt, it costs half that. I'm probably going to switch. Used IO for years, never had a problem with it.

By the way, Instant Ocean is only $29 bucks at King eds, so that's more like one third of what you pay for the Reefer's Best salt.

I have personally used IO for years without any issues.

[MMAX]

H2Ocean hands down. After switching to this salt from IO I experienced great sps growth and color without dosing anything at all. Started with regular bi-weekly 20% water changes then cut back to 10%. Before I started dosing, my parameters were bang on except for the alk which was a bit low Recently started dosing Ca, Alk, & Mg, might try cutting back water changes to monthly to save a few bucks on salt.