Saltmix Comparison Chart

[Brat]

you know what since so many of you use Oceanic sea salt, I'll go with that one.

[yote]

I think you'll love the Oceanic salt.

[daugherty]

cant go wrong with oceanic.

[Brat]

yeah, you guys seem to love it and well I'd rather go with something a lot of people use and like.

[sen5241b]

We had a post about this some months ago and I looked at several scientific analysis of the salt mixes. None of them simulate true sea water exactly and most of them are not even close. I use Oceanic which is very good by high in aluminum --I assume this is because the use aluminum equipment to evaporate sea water.


The new planetarium in San Francisco with its massive new 212,000 gallon tank (you heard right) pumps Pacific sea water from several miles away into there system.


See here ...

[jhnrb]

I would be curious to know how you prepare your salt and administer it to your system. I use strickly kent marine and have found it to be excellent and consistent. I switched from IO years ago and went with kent marine. been there ever since, so, lets dont bash a salt for the sake of bashing it. if something is wrong lets post the comparison and data to go with it. Now having said that, im sure some of the new salts are just as good and several may be better depending on the system. Every system is different and will sometimes react differently than others with the same salt. To get a balanced consistent buffer store, you can use Kent RO right to condition your Ro water for 24 hours before addition of the salt. Your salt must be added not too fast to the total water volume you intend to use, aireated and mixed for 24 to 72 hours, brought up to the same temperature as the system while mixing and aireating. Now if you all did that, and you had problems with the salt, id be interested to know. just my thoughts on the matter. ( some systems need to add Kalc and some need a calcium reactor depending on the coral/ load. this needs to be considered also). Bottom line is use the salt that gives you the results you are looking for and dont expect the same salt to always do as well for everyone. IMO

[sen5241b]

I heard recently that you should never put the salt in first. Add RO water then salt otherwise a bad chemical reaction will occur. I let it heat and circulate for 24 hours and then recheck the salinity.

[yote]

I like to fill my can with the RO water and get a couple of Rio 2100s started circulating.Then I'll kinda sprinkle in 24-1/2 cups of salt.Let that mix for a day or 2 then check salinity.9 times out of 10,it'll mix for close to a week before I do the water change.
My problem with Kent,was that even after it mixed that much(water in can was clear)it would cloud the tank and take 2 or 3 days to clear up.Plus my calcium and alkalinity wouldnt come up.No matter what I did.

[Brat]

I thought the R/O right from Kent was only for freshwater.