SaltvsSalt

[IceTurf]

Hey, somethin to ponder but:

I was just curious what the difference between these two salts are in terms of ability to be used in a salt water tank:
lifeStream sea salt, no additives and completely obtained from the sea, but not rated for salt water tanks
*only thing on ingredients is sea salt*
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Seachem ReefSalt
Pretty much your basic reef rated salt

The difference is?

[mr_alberta]

Not sure what Lifestream Salt is but the Sea Chem more than likely contains buffers for maintaining pH as well as added elements such as Calcium and Magnesium as well as elements to boost alkalinity.

[midgetwaiter]

It's not even close to the same thing.

All but one of the salt mixes designed for aquariums are totally synthetic. They are designed to mix with water and provide a decent approximation of natural sea water in terms of mineral content. Different brands have different mineral levels.

The salt you are referring to is made by evaporating sea water and then processing the residue. This won't work in a reef tank for a long list of reasons but the most important one is that the dissolved minerals go through several changes during evaporation. Red Sea actually uses dried out sea salt as a base for their salt but they still add a bunch of stuff to it so it will make something like sea water when mixed.