Mixing Salt

[x19]

I did a search on the forum and didn't find any recent threads on this, but after causing $400 worth of damage to my car due a saltwater spill I've decided its time to start making my own. I'm ordering a RO/DI filter system from Melev's reef (he may be a little more expensive, but his site is super useful) and am wondering what the recommendations are for salt brands. I know this could potentially start a holy war, but yeah, its good to get your blood pressure elevated from time to time ;-)

From a very unscientific crowd sourced survey of Foster & Smith and Marine Depot, Instant Ocean Reef Crystals are the number one best sellers so most people obviously prefer that. But what do you think, learned living reefs members?

 

[ccCapt]

Any salt will work fine. I personally like a salt that has it's calcium, alk and mag parameters as close to natural seawater as possible, so I use Red Sea salt.

This will give you an idea of many of the popular salts and their parameters.
Synthetic Salt Mixes - Reef Central Online Community

 

[reeffreak]

I like the mag and calcium levels on the Red Sea Pro.

 

[Bifferwine]

I use whichever of these three is on sale at the time I need salt: SeaChem Reef, Kent, or Oceanic.

 

[Wes888]

hehe. same. I buy whatever on sale.

 

[x19]

I was expecting a little more passion on this topic ;-) I struggle to accept the idea that all salt is created equal, as price and quality are inexorably linked. (marketing can cause a poor product to sell at a higher price for a limited time)

Higher quality additives can lead to things like better dissolving of the mix and absorption or elements by the corals and I'm sure a multitude of other things. For what I can tell from reading nearly 40 pages of discussion over at reef central, the real expert on the topic, a reef chemist, uses exclusively Instant Ocean for his reef tank. Not Reef Crystals, plain Instant Ocean as he says it is the purist most heavy metal free mix. He handles all additives through dosing.

Others seem to swear by the Tropic Marin Pro Reef or DD H2Ocean brand salt mixes as they say it has improved color, and has reduced their need for dosing additives. Marc from Melev's Reef uses Red Sea Pro.

Right now, I've been buying Reef Crystals water from the LFS and am not dosing anything except I'm day 3 into carbon dosing with Vodka. The cost between the mixes is relatively close when you consider the per gallon cost you end up paying about 15 cents more at the top end then the low, and considering I've been paying $1.15 a gallon now....well switching to any mix is going to save me money.

Right now I'm leaning towards DD H2Ocean, as its less expensive than Tropic Marin Pro Reef but seems to have a fairly considerable following. I'm still researching though as my RO unit won't arrive for 2 about 2 weeks.

 

[Sammydog]

I've just gone from using Tropic Marin and switched to Dupla, which is a synthetic salt. I actually prefer the dupla to the Tropic Marin salt. The water seems to look clearer since I switched and it dissolves better. Price wise they were similar for a 10kg bucket.

A lot of people around here though have been having a lot of success taking water out of the channel connecting the lake (it is a very large salt water lake) to the ocean. I'm thinking of giving that a shot for every other water change.

 

[Wes888]

For what I can tell from reading nearly 40 pages of discussion over at reef central, the real expert on the topic, a reef chemist, uses exclusively Instant Ocean for his reef tank. Not Reef Crystals, plain Instant Ocean as he says it is the purist most heavy metal free mix. He handles all additives through dosing.

I use plain instant Ocean a lot as well since it's one of the cheapest and seems to be always on sale at F&S. The calcium is quite low at 360-380. Using Instant Ocean is like using RO water. Basically, you add whatever you want/need afterward instead of depending on what came with the water. :D

I also use Oceanic even they are not on sale since it has very high Calcium and low pH. My tank tends to have high pH all the time. Oceanic is a good mix for me to mix with the plain Instant Ocean.

 

[Cottonwood]

I met the guy who developed Instant Ocean years ago. I was looking at his yardsale and he was nice old guy and we got talking. He said they wanted to make it as close to Ocean Water as they could and keep out all the stuff you dont want, so they developed methods of testing it and manufacturing that hadn't been used before. He told me if I used it I would never have a problem because he made sure it was right. I guess he set up huge aquariums for cities and stuff, and that he basically used the Instant Ocean formula for all the water because it gave such a perfect base to work off of. He could just be a delerious old man, but he knew way too many details and scientific theory and process for me to believe he was just a quack. So that's what I'll be using.

 

[ccCapt]

That's some story. ;)
Science and Heritage

 

[Cottonwood]

You know that might be him...thats pretty much the story he told me...he even mentioned some of the aquariums that they have on there, I remember specifically the Chicago one, and something about Niagra Falls. So he either memorized that or he is William Kelly or a prominent figure that helped through the whole process. I checked our white pages and there is a William Kelly living in town...a couple actually. I'm going to go back to his house and talk to him some more and find out his name for sure! He was a cool old guy either way.

 

[ccCapt]

It's awesome whenever you get a chance to speak to any of the industry experts. I've been lucky enough to meet and talk to many of them over my 20+ years of reefkeeping.

 

[Cottonwood]

Yeah, this was when I was just sorta thinking about doing a reef tank but wasn't sure about it. I dont even remember how we got on the subject, because we started out talking about his telescopes he had in his garage. He was full of information though I was there for at least an hour talking in his garage as people came and went.