Kessil

Looking to switch Salt

Bruce Spiegelman said:
After trying many others for years I have now been using Instant Ocean for at least the last 8 years. It's reliable, mixes clean, inexpensive, and can be stored seemingly forever and remain stable.
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Same here, I've used ESV, Tropic Marin Pro, Red Sea Pro and Blue, Oceanic and Reef Crystals. I've found Instant Ocean Purple lid buckets ideal for my coral parameter needs. At about $30-$40 a bucket when on sale it's the best bang for the buck and widely available at Petco or Petsmart if needed in an emergency.
 
SupraSaltyReefer said:
Same here, I've used ESV, Tropic Marin Pro, Red Sea Pro and Blue, Oceanic and Reef Crystals. I've found Instant Ocean Purple lid buckets ideal for my coral parameter needs. At about $30-$40 a bucket when on sale it's the best bang for the buck and widely available at Petco or Petsmart if needed in an emergency.
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Some of the most successful reefers in this community and others, as well as the largest professional aquariums, have used it for decades. Stability is everything.
 
Whatever is on sale and available locally, so usually IO from petco or various sales at AC.

I do mix my salt and let it sit for quite a few days (unheated) before using it. I just like having it on hand - any issues with this? Other than the brown gunk which doesn’t really bother me, I guess.
 
SepToob said:
I do mix my salt and let it sit for quite a few days (unheated) before using it. I just like having it on hand - any issues with this?
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I believe it is only an issue with some salts. Red Sea Pro black bucket I believe calls out not to store more than several hours. I have zero knowledge of salts with carbon dosing packaged in.
 
I bought some Tropic Marin on the BRS sale. I usually use Red Sea Pro black, but I'm sick of having the residue in my mixing container (gumming up my pumps in there) and the major alk drops bother me. The TM reef salt I bought is 7dkh, but I usually run ~8.3dkh, so I'll have to dose to it before adding, but based on https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cont...ore-saltwater-after-mixing-brstv-investigates I'm expecting it to at least be a constant dose I can do.

My assumption is when switching salts, as long as the alk is approximately the same, switching brands won't be a big deal. I won't do a 100% change of course, but is that a fair assessment? Meaning, when people say slowly switch, are they really just saying "make sure you don't alk swing"?
 
I think it’s to avoid
richiev said:
I bought some Tropic Marin on the BRS sale. I usually use Red Sea Pro black, but I'm sick of having the residue in my mixing container (gumming up my pumps in there) and the major alk drops bother me. The TM reef salt I bought is 7dkh, but I usually run ~8.3dkh, so I'll have to dose to it before adding, but based on https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cont...ore-saltwater-after-mixing-brstv-investigates I'm expecting it to at least be a constant dose I can do.

My assumption is when switching salts, as long as the alk is approximately the same, switching brands won't be a big deal. I won't do a 100% change of course, but is that a fair assessment? Meaning, when people say slowly switch, are they really just saying "make sure you don't alk swing"?
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swinging anything different quickly, which can be a lot of things.
I wouldn’t worry about alk at 7 to do a 50%water change if you’re at 8.3 and salt is 7 to be honest.
 
Agree on what Mike is saying above. One of the reasons why setting up a new tank or doing large water changes with Red Sea Coral Pro salt can be a problem, since it can mix out to like 14 dKH and 550 ppm Ca as @Ayman found out recently.

It's totally fine however if you use it like a supplement though to increase alk and Ca via water changes when you have low consumption.
 
Has anyone tried that Reef Evolution salt that was super cheap at AC during the black Friday sale? I grabbed a couple boxes...
 
SepToob said:
Whatever is on sale and available locally, so usually IO from petco or various sales at AC.

I do mix my salt and let it sit for quite a few days (unheated) before using it. I just like having it on hand - any issues with this? Other than the brown gunk which doesn’t really bother me, I guess.
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I do this for many years. Not an issue
 
I bought 4 boxes of the Reef Evolution from AC when they first announced their switch to it, with 2 boxes for $80. I cleaned out my mixing aquarium (40 breeder) with muriatic acid. Had been using IO and RC which left a lot of residue. Was planning for Reef Evolution to be lower alk, as stated in their ads and on box. Fat chance it mixed to 13dkh. I filter the salt water through 1um ro style filter and it's no different from other aquarium systems products, brown gunk. Pic of filter attached, 1 1/3 boxes of RE run through it, was newly installed for RE. Little bit dirtier than IO pretty much identical to RC. If IO was still $37 a bucket I would still be using it.

I do 100% changes on my quarantine systems and the SPS and cespitularia really did not like it. RC and IO never had the effect with 100% changed. Measurements are pretty much in line with RC for the first 2 boxes. The only thing I noticed different is my redox is really low after even a fairly small water change with Reef Evolution, 7 gallon change in a 240 gallon system. Guessing it's the "biological additives" like vitamin C or something. I plan to continue using it for main system detritus removal but put it to my list of not safe for 100% wc salts tentatively, until I get another set of boxes from a different source in the future. I see some complaints online where people are complaining about batches mixing cloudy and with high alk. Seems every manufacturer goes through this from time to time. So I recommend everyone buying up as much RE from AC as possible so they have a new shipment from a different batch next time I purchase from them.

BTW Bulkreef had/has some decent sales on aquaforest sea salt which I ordered to get my quarantines ready for the RFM.
 

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archibaldsharper said:
I bought 4 boxes of the Reef Evolution from AC when they first announced their switch to it, with 2 boxes for $80. I cleaned out my mixing aquarium (40 breeder) with muriatic acid. Had been using IO and RC which left a lot of residue. Was planning for Reef Evolution to be lower alk, as stated in their ads and on box. Fat chance it mixed to 13dkh. I filter the salt water through 1um ro style filter and it's no different from other aquarium systems products, brown gunk. Pic of filter attached, 1 1/3 boxes of RE run through it, was newly installed for RE. Little bit dirtier than IO pretty much identical to RC. If IO was still $37 a bucket I would still be using it.

I do 100% changes on my quarantine systems and the SPS and cespitularia really did not like it. RC and IO never had the effect with 100% changed. Measurements are pretty much in line with RC for the first 2 boxes. The only thing I noticed different is my redox is really low after even a fairly small water change with Reef Evolution, 7 gallon change in a 240 gallon system. Guessing it's the "biological additives" like vitamin C or something. I plan to continue using it for main system detritus removal but put it to my list of not safe for 100% wc salts tentatively, until I get another set of boxes from a different source in the future. I see some complaints online where people are complaining about batches mixing cloudy and with high alk. Seems every manufacturer goes through this from time to time. So I recommend everyone buying up as much RE from AC as possible so they have a new shipment from a different batch next time I purchase from them.

BTW Bulkreef had/has some decent sales on aquaforest sea salt which I ordered to get my quarantines ready for the RFM.
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With all those negative points and nothing positive over IO I don’t see why you’d buy more? Sounds like RC with questionable “prebiotic” additives.

Having the alkalinity be almost twice what they claim to be giving you is a huge red flag for quality and consistency, not to mention potentially dangerous.
 
JVU said:
With all those negative points and nothing positive over IO I don’t see why you’d buy more? Sounds like RC with questionable “prebiotic” additives.

Having the alkalinity be almost twice what they claim to be giving you is a huge red flag for quality and consistency, not to mention potentially dangerous.
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Irrational trauma from IO no longer being available for $37 bucket on Amazon.
 
Reef crystals has gone up more than 50% in wholesale price over the last 2-3 years. I stopped using it because of that. Been using fritz red box for almost a year now. Happy so far.
Price is a big priority for me because I don’t like to charge too much for bringing people water. If I used a “premium” salt is would cost a lot more and not every tank I do is a delicate sps reef so a lot of the time it would be overkill. Also, I don’t want to be doing different salts for different tanks (unless I mix on-site which I sometimes do) because that’s too complicated.
If it were just for me I would likely use something “better” even though it cost a bit more. Like tropic Marin.
I always had fine results with reef crystals, but at $60 for a 160 gal box it just wasn’t worth the price anymore
 
archibaldsharper said:
Irrational trauma from IO no longer being available for $37 bucket on Amazon.
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Easy fix, don’t buy IO salt from Amazon. Those are 3rd party resellers. Buy from Petco or Chewy when they have a sale. I’ve bought buckets for as low as $20 last year and last month bought buckets for $36. Chewy has a sale right now on IO salt box at buy 2, get 1 free. Sign up for auto ship will save you more. That brings the boxes to $39.66 per box with free shipping. Cancel auto ship later if you don’t need it. Repeat when you need more salt.

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