Need advice on salt and substrate

[WarDog]

Every salt mix makes salt water with all the extra goodies your corals love. IO has everything you need to be successful, but you will get different readings from different buckets. I hear the Red Sea stuff is pretty consistent, but my LFS doesn't carry it. Reefers Best could have gold flake in it for all I care, and mix perfectly, but I'm not paying over $100 for a pail of salt. If you're just starting out then I'd just go with IO for now.