Salt....

[X-Treme]

Just for curiosity.......... what is everyone using.... or what does everyone think is the best all around salt?

[Chaotic Cricket]

Just for curiosity.......... what is everyone using.... or what does everyone think is the best all around salt?

Oh god you didn't just ask this did you....here we go :)

I think they are all much the same. I've used Instant Ocean reg and reef crystals, tropic, Oceanic, Kent, A few others i cannot seem to find in Canada anymore. Currently I use OceanPure Pro simply because I needed a batch of salt and forgot to order from my supplier. It tests quite well on par with others, better than some, worse than others. I think for salt unless you get a "BAD" batch it's mostly the same. There are few higher grade "scientific" brands out there that seem to be used by a few institution type places, but when you learn that a few huge aquariums and research places (when not using real ocean water) use the likes of instant ocean its hard to justify the nearly double cost of them. I would say use the stuff you get the best deal on, without buying the cheapy stuff because there is a slight difference. Everyone always argues this has 2% more of this or 5% less of that blah blah. But most of these tests are based on someone who is stubbornly claiming what they use is the best and they lack the equipment to do REAL testing, since most test kits we purchase can be proven to read diffrently on the same samples. I found small things like time it takes to mix fully, how well it stores if i leave it open by accident, what kind of sedimentation is left over if a leave it for awhile etc are little things that keep me using a brand. When world renowned scientists admit they are unsure of the makeup of natural seawater (what exactly is in it) i find it hard to believe the "chemists" at the salt places do either. :) That being said majority of people i've seen use instant ocean reg or reef crystals soley for the fact (imo) it's so readily available and good deals on it are usually had.

[marie]

I use instant ocean. It probably isn't the best but it's kept my animals alive for years so it can't be all bad :mrgreen:

[EmilyB]

Kent for 8 years now. Missed the bad batch thank God, but glad it's back.:biggrin:

[niloc16]

instant ocean for me. its always done my fish and corals well. some people mix brands for a new batch of saltwater to gain the benefits of both salt mixes. just an idea

[Joe Reefer]

Reef Crystals :wink:

[danny zubot]

Ocean Pure Pro for me. I bit cheeper than the others in my area but tests pretty much the same with the exception of Mg, which is way higher.

[Murminator]

Red Sea :mrgreen:

[justinl]

filtered ocean water. lol, I'm being as natural as possible.

[christyf5]

IO or Kent, whichever is available to me at the time. I do have a preference for kent however (and I missed the bad batches as well).

[BC564]

Ocean Pure Pro...........Used to use Instant ocean...

[Ruth]

Well I tell ya this subject can definately provoke some heated discussion. Personally I will never use Instant Ocean again as I was one of the victims of the bad batch of salt from a few years ago and lost my entire tank and was so discouraged I just about quit.
Today I use Tropic Marin Pro on most of my tanks and Seachem reef salt on another. I am happy with both salts - both mix well, have consistent readings from batch to batch and bucket to bucket.
For a while I was using Formula salt and if I could still find a realiable supply of this salt I would still be using it.

[Raf]

I have used Coralife, Instant Ocean and Kent, out of those, I use Kent as I find the IO is slow to disolve and I dislike the format the Coralife salt is packaged in the buckets. I am sure there may be better salt than Kent, but for the $$, it is damn good.

[Pescador]

I'm using Tropic Marin Pro, I've used IO and Reef Crystals in the past but I like how Tropic Marin mixes up without any residue left behind. I had a hair algae problem that cleared up when I switched but I can't say 100% that it was just the salt.

[kwirky]

Ocean Pure Pro for me. I bit cheeper than the others in my area but tests pretty much the same with the exception of Mg, which is way higher.

agreed, it's a nice price, and it's mg is higher. i test for mg, and really, i don't think i should bother. 25% change once a month, and my mg stays at ~1500 all the time.

the chemical make up isn't much different, all in all, though. I was using reef crystals before oceanpure, but the reason i've been sticking to oceanpure is that it mixes so damned fast. literally 20x faster. I feel confident I can mix up change water only 24 hours in advance, and only have to worry about aeration, and not whether the salt is mixed. makes things very convenient, and convenient is good ;)

[mark]

Starting this hobby with IO four years ago, can't say I've had any problems with the brand.

[Doug]

I have used Instant Ocean for many years. I now raise the calcium & magnesium levels when mixing, following Ben,s amounts {which I believe are from Randy,s RC recipe} and using his mag & calcium additives. I did have problems with some of the buckets with higher alkalinity but current ones fine.

I also have some Sea-Chem and like it. Seems like a good salt.

[Chaotic Cricket]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/12/aafeature1

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Ocean Pure Pro. Like someone said, it mixes really well and that goes a long way in my books. Have also used Seachem Reef Salt, which was also good to me.

[mark]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/12/aafeature1

interesting read

[Chaotic Cricket]

interesting read

Aye it is...

[BCOrchidGuy]

IO or Kent, I used Kent before when it was made by IO, both have worked well for me. I tried that one with the little bottle but didn't like trying to mix it, learned later that I should have just put the bag in a bucket and added enough water to make it like soup then added the little bottle to that and mixed my water from there.

Doug

[revgeoff]

Started with Red Sea and now I'm a Kent user.

[Skimmerking]

Instant ocean here

[canadawest]

Been using Kent for over 6 years and has always seemed to do well for me.

I did read that artilcle in Advanced Aquarist recently, and was pleased to see that Kent scored pretty well in most areas compared to the competition.

I also like the fact that it's one of the most reasonably priced compared to the others. :)

[BCOrchidGuy]

Kent used to be made by IO, basically it was IO with a secret package mixed in while in the big mixing drums. If I'm not mistaken Kent is now made by Oceanic, not sure how much the chemistry changed but I would imagine it did change somewhat. I still like IO but I did use Kent to set up my 20 gallon tank that I've got everything in until the 60 is ready to go. I've got a bag of Kent salt for the 60 once it's ready but then I've got my bucket of IO for after that.
Frankly, I think all salts have the potential to be good, we all tend to like what we like regardless of what different reports tell us about urchin larvae survival rates etc... I like what I like and as sad as it is, there is no scientific evidence to tell me why I like it, the evidence tells me it's not a bad salt at all so that's great. If the evidence told me it was the worst salt, would I change salts? I can't say I would, if it's been working for me why change a good thing.

Doug