Who makes the best salt?

[xenon]

I have been using Instant Ocean salt and it SUCKS!
It's low in calcium, high in alk and low in magnesium.

I want to be able to mix my salt and do a water change without having to test the batch and dose everything to a decent level.

I am not asking for much, I just want calcium at 400-450, alk at 8.0-9.0 and magnesium at 1350-1400.

Does that seem unreasonable?

We pay enough for salt we shouldint have to spend even more on supliments for water changes!

The more I read on salt brands the more confused I get. It seems they are all high in metals. GRRR!

[Billybeau1]

Forget about the metals. Not a concern with most popular salt brands.

IO is a fine salt as it is very consistent bucket to bucket and is why a lot of reefers use it but supplement the cal and mag. The alk is initially high, but once mixed in the tank, is not an issue.

If you want higher calcium and mag, then you have a few choices.

Reef Crystals (made by IO but with more cal and mag)
Coralife - High Cal and Mag but a little lower alk (9 or so)
Tropic Marin Pro - Higher Cal and Mag (going by word of mouth) Haven't tested this brand yet.

[powdertang05]

i used about 50 buckets of salt every 3 to 5 months and sell about 100 i only sell tropic, oceanic,kent everything else it just a really really cheaply made salt ive never had good results with coralife, io, io reef,red sea. keep in mind you get what u pay for. why use a salt thats costs you 20 bucks on a reef that's cost you thoasands, i just dont get it.

[Billybeau1]

You buy and sell what you want to buy and sell. But I can tell you, IO, RC and Coralife are not cheaply made and are , in fact fine, consistent salt mixes.

Oceanic is garbage if you ask me. How the heck can the average reefer use a salt that rings in about 580 calcium and a whopping 1650 magnesium. Insane.

Kent still hasn't proven a thing to me considering the low alk fiasco last year.

If you want to post fact, post facts.

If it's your opinion, thats fine, everyone is entitled to one.

I guess Drs. Foster and Smith use the cheap IO Reef on their coral farm because its cheap :rolleyes:

[drummereef]

I've had no problems with my IO salt. :)

[Billybeau1]

drum, the only people I've ever seen complain about IO are either too lazy to supplement or mis-informed as to what salt is better for their tank.

There is a salt out there for everyone, I believe. Just gotta do some research and find it.

[HowardW]

Out of all the various salt mixes I've tried and tested over the years, I feel both Seachem and Red Sea have been the closest (or slightly above) NSW levels as far as the major ions which we are able to test for. I now use Red Sea because I like the idea that 85% of the stuff comes out of the ocean via solar evaporation.

[drummereef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10061672#post10061672 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Billybeau1
drum, the only people I've ever seen complain about IO are either too lazy to supplement or mis-informed as to what salt is better for their tank.

There is a salt out there for everyone, I believe. Just gotta do some research and find it.

Too true my friend. I find it almost perfect for my needs. The only thing I do is bolster the Ca by 70ppm, like Randy, when I make it up. During the week I dose Randy's 2-part. Even the mag has held steady for months now. xenon's a smart guy, he'll see the light. :D