Instant Ocean vs H2ocean

[Kit with Cat]

Hi everyone,
I've searched the forum, but couldn't find anything on this yet. Anyone know if there is a real difference between Instant Ocean salt and H2ocean salt? Its just that H2ocean is soooo expensive compared to Instant Ocean.
Thanks so much for your help!

[paddyob]

I used both. H2Ocean has kept my parameters a lot closer. IO I won't touch again.

IMO IO is beginners salt... Cheap / affordable.

There are tons a salt threads on here. Tons.

[paddyob]

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=52807&highlight=H2Ocean

[Bblinks]

I have used both instant ocean and h2o, h2o when mixed tend to have brown film residue and occasionally have foreign material such as pieces of small dried wood. It does mix okay but I found myself cleaning my 40 gallon mixing bucket every couple of weeks( I do weekly water changes). I also found different result in parameter from batch to batch but it's not off by much.
Instant ocean on the other hand has always tested fairly stable with not the greatest reading cal around 380-400 depend on te salinity, alk is around 10-11, and mag around 1200-1250. Because I do weekly water changes I do like the price of io, all I do is add extra calcium and mag which isn't very expensive. IMO I like the stable parameter of instant ocean. When I switch from io to h2o I didn't really seen any diffences in my sps, i did only used about 3 buckets then I switched to reefers best which cost even more, but finally settled back to good ol io. The sps seems to be happier with io than any other brand of salt. Depend on what your system is running on eg probiotic system or the good old refugium to export your nutrients and what parameters you want to keep you tank at, you have to consider all the variables and just try it on your tank. As long as it works on your tank, and all the corals are happy it doesn't matter if it's a 40 dollar bucket or a 100 dollar bucket, if it works then go with it.
Btw I highly recommend you testing every batch of salt as with even the most reliable source can have a bad batch, that includes io, reefers best, h2o and the other major brands.

[ponokareefer]

I've tried both and prefer IO. Parameters were actually better with IO than my bucket of H2O, so I'm not sure why you would pay more to dose even more. I've tried various brands over the years as there are arguments about why X salt if better(and more expensive), and always come back to IO.

[paddyob]

I've tried both and prefer IO. Parameters were actually better with IO than my bucket of H2O, so I'm not sure why you would pay more to dose even more. I've tried various brands over the years as there are arguments about why X salt if better(and more expensive), and always come back to IO.

I also tried a bunch in the last few years. Everyone has results they look for and individual environments to support. Hence arguments either way on X brand vs y brand.


Good luck.