best reef salt???

ZOOT098

Reefing newb
whats the best reef salt to use????

i bought a 5 gallon pail of instant ocean? havnt opened it yet

havnt had to do my first water change yet

when should you do your first water change??

sorry about all the questions but my LFS just kind of shrugs their shoulders and says its up to me, and no two tanks are the same
 
I use these three brands: Seachem Reef, Kent Marine and Oceanic. I've tried others (including Instant Ocean) and always gone back to these three.

You should do your first substantial (10 to 20%) water change when your tank is done cycling. You'll need to bring your nitrates down to acceptable levels. After that, 10 to 20% every week or every other week is what most people do.
 
I use red sea and I havent had a problem with that. It is the cheapest one around me. I just make sure to add in additives to make up for what is not in there salt mix.

Biff has you covered on the water change.
 
I just switched back to Oceanic.The calcium levels are where I like em.Just have to add a bit of buffer to bring the alkalinity up a touch.
 
Tropic Marin Pro is supposed to be very good, some of my friends have had gorgeous tanks using this. I use IO or Reef Crystals, with Reef Crystals being the salt I use now. Just be aware that TM Pro and Reef Crystals are made for tanks that run calcium reactors heavily and their calcium and alkalinity are adjusted for this.
 
I am a fan of Oceanic. I have tried pretty much everything and I will use Reef Crystals if the store is out of Oceanic. I like to buy the pail of 200 gallons when it is on sale for $40.00

-Doc
 
I have used Instant Ocean at least 95 % of the time for nearlt 35 years. Reef Crystals is made by Instant Ocean, and I will use it when Instant ocean is not available. I find all the better name brand mixes good, but each with their own little quirks. All the mixes are pretty much made to be used with tap water though and not RODI water, so pH, calcium and alkalinity adjustments should be considered the norm when using RODI water. Seems very,very few people ever routinely check their newly mixed water for pH, calcium or alkalinity anyway.
 
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Kent and Reef Crystals are the two I usually use. 2 docs has Reef Crystals cheaper than any LFS I have seen (and that's including shipping!)
 
I just switched back to Oceanic.The calcium levels are where I like em.Just have to add a bit of buffer to bring the alkalinity up a touch.

I've been using Instance Ocean and my calcium level is at low 300s and the alkalinity is always on the high side (13 dKH/232ppm/4.64meq/l). Sounds like Oceanic should be perfect for me.
 
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Wes,I've switched to SeaChem Reef salt since that post:D
But Oceanic's good too.I never had any problems with it.
 
I use oceanic and for me it seems to mix better than instant ocean. That was the first batch I used then wifey told me to drain the tank and oceanic gave me more bang for my buck. 200 gallons for 40 as compared to 160 for the same price
 
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