Best Sea Salt for Reef Tanks?

[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.

[sphelps]

I've had success with virtually every salt I've tried and I think I've tried almost all of them. In the end I'm not sure it really matters but I currently use Reefer's Best because it's one of the few that mixes exceptionally well and has always been consistent. If I had to pay $100 or more for it I'd probably use something else but at $80 I'll continue to use it until the price increases or it becomes less available. I also prefer the box which is easily recycled, I have no need for more buckets.

IO is by far the cheapest and certainly works just fine but I find it requires more work. Takes longer to mix and sometimes needs to be aerated to prevent precipitation, especially if you plan on supplementing with it.

[Coleus]

Originally Posted by abcha0s@conceptaquatics

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 They are also outdated as new salts have come onto the market.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

I am also with Brad on this, I have used reef crystal over years and then try out the Seachem Reef Salt and then Royal Natural” salt.

I am literally don't have to dose any Mg with Seachem Reef Salt but i found it take longer to mix and it also leave some residual. The Royal Natural on the other hand mix very fast, i can mix and use it in 10 minutes with no problem.

However, different salt will give you different level of Mg,Alk, and Calc so i have to retest my water and change the dosing amount to my tank which is the sucky part.

Anyway, i think i am going to stick with Royal Natural salt from now on instead of switching.