What Salt do you use?

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

Hmm... so if starting a NEW tank, most people would choose... Instant Ocean?

I wonder if the Tropic Marin Pro (which is probably what I'll start with) is more expensive because they can guarantee the purity of their salts? I've been reading some salt horror stories lately and I'm a little scared that if I don't use a salt that I've NEVER read anything bad about, I might end up with an expensive mess on my hands.

For cycling a tank, I would say you should save the money and cycle with a bucket of IO or another cheaper brand... then switch to your preferred Salt before you start stocking corals heavily... This should help avoid any shock to the system (horror stories)..

[fishytime]

KZ reefers best.

[RuGlu6]

Originally Posted by fishytime

KZ reefers best.

Same here, KZ reefers best.
Just switched from Tropic Marine Pro.

[bigmac]

KZ reefers best works great for me as well.
I've tried Aqua-medic before, but found I had to dose too much. I now don't dose anything.

[Hairytank]

Just switched a couple of months ago from the remainders of my Reef Crystals to KZ Reefers Best . (I was only keeping fish and LR previously)
Way less/no dosing when compared to RC and it was a great price at the time.

[ElGuappo]

Originally Posted by ruglu6

same here, kz reefers best.
Just switched from tropic marine pro.

+1

[ron101]

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?

[Parker]

I normally use IO, I ended up with 7 buckets of Seachem ( very long story ) and I hate it. I'm scared to use it, my tank always looks worse after water changes.

[BobFish]

hi all

Can anyone tell me where i can purchase ocean pure salt i bc canada

thanks