Salt Mix Brand Question???

[tidepool2]

I've been using Instant Ocean Salt Mix in my reef tank, but yesterday at the fish store I realized that there are salt-mix brands that seem to be for coral tanks. I have soft, LPS, and SPS corals. I bought some Brightwell Aquatics Neo-Marine Reef Salt and some Kent Salt for fish and reef aquariums.

Which salt mix do you think would be best for my live coral and what are the benefits of using these more expensive salt mixes?

Thanks for your help!!!:fish1::fish1:

PS - I have only 2 False Percula Clowns in my reef tank.

[Chiefsurfer]

Check my post in the poll(in reef discussion) for a more complete answer. For here if you are dosing anything in your tank already to handle the calcium and magnesium levels for instant ocean, and have had no severe issues with it, stick with it, no need to change.

[spw4949]

This is a HIGHLY debated subject, you will get tons of different opinions & I would suggest doing a thread search on here & read up a bit, I personally use & would recommend Instant Ocean reef crystals, higher in Mag & Ca than most & I've never had any issues using it.....what type of corals do you have?

[tidepool2]

Thanks for your replies! I'll read those threads.

Here are the corals I have in my 65 gal. reef tank:

Pulsing Xenia
Clove polyps
Zoanthids and Palys
Acans
Frogspawn
Galaxea
Meat Coral
Tube Worm
Ricordias
Dendrophylia
Birds' Nest SPS
Green Sea Stars
Toadstool
Gold-Tipped Clavularia
Flame Scallop
2 False Percula Clowns
Live Rock
Live Sand

[IslandCrow]

Honestly, I get whatever is cheapest (well, in a name I trust anyway), and that's usually IO. For those with a light calcium/alkalinity demand, getting a salt mix specially formulated for reef tanks (like Reef Crystals for instance) may be more convenient. If you have larger demands than the salt can meet, though, you'll just end up supplementing anyway, and at that point, it usually doesn't matter whether you're supplementing a little or a lot. The workload is pretty much the same, so you may as well save a few bucks. There are also differences in the concentrations of different trace elements, but you're pretty much shooting in the dark trying to figure out what effect that's going to have on your tank. Of course, right now, I have a soft coral tank, so I'm definitely doing the "whatever's on sale" thing.

[billdogg]

I'm a big fan of "whatevers on sale" too. Because you should be testing for anything you are thinking of supplementing anyway, save yourself a few $$$ and go with the sale brand.

[sdc19982002]

I use and have always used reef crytals. I like how the bucket looks :)

[tidepool2]

Well, this is quite the controversial topic! My favorite answer so far comes from sdc19982002: "I like how the bucket looks"! :)

Seriously, thank you all for your feedback. I have been using Instant Ocean, but I thought maybe my corals would grow even faster if I tried Brightwell. I've got some water mixed for my next w/c, so we'll see how it goes. Thanks again everyone - your info is helpful to me and I appreciate it!

[spamreefnew]

I/O for me:)

[IslandCrow]

I use and have always used reef crytals. I like how the bucket looks

Yeah, but Oceanic buckets are bigger:)

[sdc19982002]

But the word reef in big letters gives me confidence:)

[IslandCrow]

But Oceanic. . .it says Ocean, and all of our corals come from the ocean, so it must be good! And then there's Seachem. . .it says "Sea". . .of course, it also seems to have something to do with chemistry, which frankly makes my head hurt.

[langtudatinh01]

i use instant ocean. i supplement the tank with kalk and baking soda. my calcium is always 420 to 460. well, i only into LPS so.

[gkb]

I have never had an issue with Instant Ocean, and have used the few dollars I have saved by buying it on some pretty nice corals (and lights, and pumps, and....!

[annularisx]

tropic marin bio actif

[JHall651]

what does dosing baking soda do?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Baking soda raises alkalinity, and if you bake it first, it can also boost pH.

I show how to use it for a DIY two part here:

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php