Changing Salt Brands

[MMAX]

I'm wanting to try another brand of sea salt (using Instant Ocean right now). Would I add the new stuff slowly during water changes or how should I go about switching?

[Dez]

I use a different brand of salt every month since I go through a bucket a month. When I'm running low I'll just start mixing half old and half new salt for the last couple of water changes, then I'll solely use the new brand. Sometimes I've run out before buying a new brand, then I'll just switch cold turkey. I haven't seen any negative effects of either.

[MMAX]

What's the best you've tried so far?

[ScubaSteve]

I just made a sswitch as well. Go with Dez's advice. I think Dez will even tell you that every salt has its pluses and minuses, so switching it up is good.

Depends on what you're keeping. My softie tank seems to love seem seachem the best. My SPS tank 'seems' to better on higher end salts like brightwell's. I don't dose anything other than calc/alk so I rely on salt to replenish everything else. I hope that the 'better' salts are better for this. But really when it boils down, I really believe a salt is a salt is salt.

[Dez]

Originally Posted by MMAX

What's the best you've tried so far?

I honestly couldn't tell you. I'm not one to roll buckets, or to test parameters of the salt before I do a water change. I just stick with a few brands - Seachem's Salinity, Brightwell, H2Ocean and reefer's best (basically these are the brands that Marine Aquaria sell and that's pretty much the only store I shop at here, it's the closest and they treat me well there). Although lately I'm leaning less and less toward reefer's best because of the price.

I really don't notice a difference when I do a water change as I am doing them on a weekly basis. I haven't noticed any growth spurts or regression in growth rates.

It's just my theory to mix it up frequently, that's all.

Hope that this helps.

[steve fedyk]

I second that its good to switch up salt brands all the time.
I did like h2o because its suppost to be natural salt, but who knowns.
I just switched from 8 mounths of H2O to IO, and no differance as of yet.