cheap salt vs expensive

[honkey sauce]

I think when you spend 80$ for a bucket of salt all your paying for is a few extra Tbls of carbonates,calcium, mag and str.If you look at most brands of each marine and reef salts thats all the difference there is.So I ve been adding my own 4 additives to cheap salts for a total of 35$ a pail.

do you think my method is at par with expensive salts or am I missing something about 80$ salt

[Pescador]

I don't know how much of a difference there is but in my opinion with 70 trace elements added in Tropic Marin Pro I am willing to pay more for good quality control.
I only use 50g once a month so three pails a year is a small part of my overall reef expense.

[honkey sauce]

ya but you can also add reef chem trace elements

[FishFun]

I used a cheaper salt as well, & added & buffered etc then got sick of it. I got a bag of the good stuff used it & liked the results. Now I buy the $80 bucket & will never look back. Corals & much happyer as well, I did notice the differance. I found I added so much trace elements all the time that is was not much more to buy the salt with the additives allready in it, plus you don't have to add it anymore :mrgreen: . Nothing wrong with the other stuff its great salt I just like a more stable tank without additives & such. I was always adding mag could hardly keep it a 1200, with the new salt its over 1500 calc is always 440+ etc etc etc.
Just my 2 cents :biggrin:

[FishFun]

Forgot to add, some salts (cheaper ones) expect you to use tap water & in tap water it allready has some trace elements to make up the differance, but way more bad stuff in tap water!!!!!

[andsoitgoes]

I used a cheaper salt as well, & added & buffered etc then got sick of it. I got a bag of the good stuff used it & liked the results. Now I buy the $80 bucket & will never look back. Corals & much happyer as well, I did notice the differance. I found I added so much trace elements all the time that is was not much more to buy the salt with the additives allready in it, plus you don't have to add it anymore :mrgreen: . Nothing wrong with the other stuff its great salt I just like a more stable tank without additives & such. I was always adding mag could hardly keep it a 1200, with the new salt its over 1500 calc is always 440+ etc etc etc.
Just my 2 cents :biggrin:

okay - so I must ask, what is it that you're buying?? ;)

[FishFun]

Oceanpure pro! I used IO & liked it & still like it. Oceanpure pro works best in my tank. Every tank is diffrent so ulltimatly you need to test salts & see what works best for your system. By the way If I didn't like it you would know, LOL.

[andsoitgoes]

Oceanpure pro! I used IO & liked it & still like it. Oceanpure pro works best in my tank. Every tank is diffrent so ulltimatly you need to test salts & see what works best for your system. By the way If I didn't like it you would know, LOL.

Hmm - now, where the HECK can I find this in the GVRD?!?!

I'm running lowish on my container of whatever it is I have (IO?) and I'm looking for new stuff.

Help! :)

[honkey sauce]

i use Zeomag in my cal. reactor so i never have a mag. problem.
Personally I think the sodium base dosent change from marine to reef salt.
And marketers are banking in on the use of the word reef and pro.
They know people spend lots on there system and if the claim better results
reefers are willing to spend more.

I m sure they know people are lazey too , so the more you the less you know spend.
But I too need to know more on this subject:question:

[FishFun]

:frown: Well I cant help you there, but you must have a lfs with some type of reef salt you could try. The diff between pro & reg is about $5 well worth it. BTW a pail of IO here is about $70 & oceanpure pro is $75. Ive buffered added & did all that stuff to keep all my levels & found what works for my tank, but as I said I like stable if thats lazy then :sleeping: lol. Dont for get every tank is diffrent. If it works great for you & you like it then its the best!!!

[BCOrchidGuy]

Well, I've tried expensive salt and found huge differences from one batch to another. I started to use Kent when it was made by IO and I liked the Kent salt but now it's made somewhere else and I didn't like it as much. Now I use IO, I figure with the Randy Holmes Ca and Alk all I have to buy is some decent Magnesium (Kent Tech M) and I couldn't be happier. I have been curious about the salt that they sell out at Hidden Reef, I meant to pick up a pail and see what it was like but got carried away with frags and forgot about salt. I think it's Ocean Pure, $29 a bucket, I figured it would be worth a try.

Someone recently made a good point about salts with higher Ca, Alk, Mg etc and what they had to say was pretty much, unless you do a 100% water change you'll usually have to dose your calcium, magnesium and alkalinity anyway because even with a $100 bucket of salt the extra Calcium etc is gone with in a day or two.

Save money on water conditioners, you don't need aloe etc, just get a cheap chlorine/chloramine remover and don't over dose it. I bought some cheap stuff, for my 5gal make up tank I have to use 1/2ml of conditioner. I used the old syringe from a Salifert test kit and use the 1/2ml I need to, I figure at 1/2 ml/2 weeks I should get 20 years out of my 250ml bottle. I wonder what my tank will look like in 20 years... when I need to start shopping for a new fangled water conditoner.

Doug