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what salt are you guys using?

J

jtravapd

im curious, i have been using the tropic marin Pro-Reef Salt. When i look at the salts they kinda all look the same to me but i know some are better then others so i figured id ask you guys?

Also when im mixing the salt mix with my RO water i put do it in 5 gallon buckets..i usually take one of those red Solo plastic cups. 1 1/2 of those cups of salt mix in the 5 gallon bucket usually puts the salt right around where i want it. then i have a mag drive 900 pump run in the bucket overnight to mix it up...Is that kinda what everyone else does? i know its a stupid question but im trying to run my tank the correct way now, i was slacking for awhile there..
 
R

REEFLECTIONS

i use the stuff in the white bucket with the maroon lid...lol mine is 3 "measured" cups per 5 gallon, i use a mag 7 to mix, then pump into the tank... basically the same system i suppose
 
J

jtravapd

so it looks like there is no real clear winner, im guessing? ill just stick with my tropic marin, it seems to be working well for me..
 
C

calaxa

Tropic Marin is considered to be one of the premier salts. The price definitely reflects it.

I use RC and tried Oceanic based on someone's assessment of the calcium. It had a little more but I think it was a bit deficient in Mg. TM and IO/RC have been around a long time so they must be doing something right. Salt preference/opinion is sorta like opinions on doctors. Almost everyone thinks they have the best one. I'm curious about the red sea salt in a box. I'm gonna pick one up and use it for my plankton setup.
 
M

mott768

I used Reef crystals for years until receiving a bad batch, now I use TM pro and I'm much happier, I will be trying the H2ocean salt once I go through the rest of the TM.
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

I've used Reef Crystals for about 12 years and tried TM,IO and Crystal Seas Bioassay salt without any noticable difference.

Personally I mix 40 gallons of salt water at a time in an old water softener barrel with a power head for atleast 24 hrs. before adding it to my tank.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
We used RC for the first two years. The last year has been a cluster puck of bad salt experiences. I don't like the red sea coral pro (nor their regular salt). I feel that the silicates are higher than I care for in that salt (I didn't have a silicate problem before using it and BillyR ended up with dynoflagelletes after switching to it). I tried TMP and that's probably what we'll switch back to once we're through the RSCP. I'd try the H2O, but I'm tired of experimenting.
 
C

calaxa

Phyl,

Red Sea had high silica? I actually want the highest phosphates/silica and cheapest salt possible. I'm gonna turn that 100 gallon stock tank into a big old phyto culture. This making phyto in 1 gallon jugs is too annoying.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
What are you going to do with 100g of phyto?! We never had a silicate problem before using this salt (though Stan never expressed an issue with it when he was using it). I can only imagine it to be the salt (and it tests high on independant tests).
 
D

DaveK

I'm not going to recommend a specific brand, other that to say it's not a commonly seen one. (If someone really wants to know PM me) I will say this. The water is the lifeblood of your system. It's keeping everything in your system alive. This tends to be livestock you have had for years and would cost a bundle to replace.

Always use the best possible salt you can get. Your fish and corals will thank you. Price of salt is a very secondary consideration, compared to the health of your livestock.

In addition, a good salt should mix to correct values when it's mixed with the correct amount of RO/DI water. I'm very sceptical of anyone that says something like "Salt Brand X is fine, all I have to do is add this, this, and this to bring up the readings." If you have to add somehing to correct the parameters you can test for, more than likely other items that you can not test for are low.
 
C

calaxa

Phyl said:
What are you going to do with 100g of phyto?! We never had a silicate problem before using this salt (though Stan never expressed an issue with it when he was using it). I can only imagine it to be the salt (and it tests high on independant tests).
Click to expand...

The 100G of phyto is just the means. It's really going to be 100G of rotifers/copepods. Not sure yet if it will be purely one or a mixture. After reading that 1G density of rotifers requires 3 liters of phyto per day, I decided to make bulk phyto. I'm keeping the 10x1 gallon of N. occulata going as a pure culture. I want to try to cut down on the dirty foods I am introducing to system.

This is just in planning mode. I still have the unhatched rotifers cysts around. Have the 2 occulata disks as backup culture. My phyto actually came from a bottle of DT pure occulata.
 
Edwardw771

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
I use Red Sea Pro now. Seems good. i have a buddy with a tank I maintain and we started using Seachem. His tank looks better than mine. everything looks great.
 
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