Thoughts ?

[Rjmul]

The Best Salt for your Aquarium - Salt brands put to the test!

Join Ryan and I as we review his ICP testing of all the major salt brands to see how they stack up!Awesome Saltwater Aquarium Shirts!!! https://reefdudes.co...

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[amado]

Honestly there is no best salt. All salt will grow corals. Water changes in my opinion are important. For me I have used almost all theses salts. I have a big system so paying $130 for a bucket of salt is too much. So tropic marine doesn’t work for me. I make salt and let it sit in my mixing station for a long time.
So Red Sea salt needs to be used when it’s mixed. I need to be able easily get large amounts of salt at once so esv/ aqua forest/ hw marine are out.
Fritz works but I think reef crystals works for me best.
This salt is available every where. I can usually find boxes for $40 so for me it’s the go to salt.

this is the salt that “ than” from tidal garden uses. Jason fox in his grow outs has always used reef crystals.

 

[Rjmul]

I have been using Red Sea blue bucket for a couple years. I wouldn't say I switched to tropic marin, but it's what I've been using since it's basically the only thing my buddies store carries.

if my math is correct the difference is about fifteen cents a gallon. Or $2.85 per water change. It still pisses me off how much it costs.

 

[Rueric]

Agreed, I have been using Blue bucket since forever.. but since I'm on my last bag, I'll likely switch over to something slightly better since I almost never do water changes anymore. Just the occassional change when fragging

 

[NJTaxMan]

Honestly there is no best salt. All salt will grow corals. Water changes in my opinion are important. For me I have used almost all theses salts. I have a big system so paying $130 for a bucket of salt is too much. So tropic marine doesn’t work for me. I make salt and let it sit in my mixing station for a long time.
So Red Sea salt needs to be used when it’s mixed. I need to be able easily get large amounts of salt at once so esv/ aqua forest/ hw marine are out.
Fritz works but I think reef crystals works for me best.
This salt is available every where. I can usually find boxes for $40 so for me it’s the go to salt.

this is the salt that “ than” from tidal garden uses. Jason fox in his grow outs has always used reef crystals.

I dont know if I can FULLY agree with this (although I do partially). I have found that the high alkalinity of Reef Crystals has been a major problem with my ability to grow corals. By doing a 10% water change after I had my equilibrium of 8.7 alk, my alk was 11+ after reef crystals. Immediately, my alk consumption which was a solid 1.5 per day went down to almost zero and most of my lps and sps died shortly there after. Given that many of the online venders keep alkalinity at or about 9ish, i was just throwing money out the window every week when i was doing a 10% water change. I guess I could have dropped some acid and bubble'ed it for a while to get the pH up...but sounds like way too much work. Would rather get a lower alk salt..hence why although there is not a 'best salt', i definitely think there are 'better'.

 

[amado]

I dont know if I can FULLY agree with this (although I do partially). I have found that the high alkalinity of Reef Crystals has been a major problem with my ability to grow corals. By doing a 10% water change after I had my equilibrium of 8.7 alk, my alk was 11+ after reef crystals. Immediately, my alk consumption which was a solid 1.5 per day went down to almost zero and most of my lps and sps died shortly there after. Given that many of the online venders keep alkalinity at or about 9ish, i was just throwing money out the window every week when i was doing a 10% water change. I guess I could have dropped some acid and bubble'ed it for a while to get the pH up...but sounds like way too much work. Would rather get a lower alk salt..hence why although there is not a 'best salt', i definitely think there are 'better'.

High alk doesn’t kill corals. red Sea did a test and they grew corals at very all with no problems. Dong zou from acro garden says high alk doesn’t kill corals. He is a scientist
so I take his word. He also grows some nice corals lol

 

[NJTaxMan]

High alk doesn’t kill corals. red Sea did a test and they grew corals at very all with no problems. Dong zou from acro garden says high alk doesn’t kill corals. He is a scientist
so I take his word. He also grows some nice corals lol

Oh i am sure with proper acclimation and consistent levels that high alk would be fine for corals. My problem is that I have been shooting for alkalinity that is in the lower ranges and RC was causing a spike in my alk levels which was shocking my system. i had a choice..keep my alk levels high and kills my new corals that wanted lower alk or keep my alk levels low and kill my corals during a water change.

 

[amado]

According to dong zou high alk doesn’t kill corals.
you don’t need to lower alk at all. Red Sea proved that corals grew better in high alk.
no acclimation needed. So if your tank is healthy you should be able to go from 7 alk to 12 alk with no loss. The coral will consume what the need and everything else will just sit in the water.

Rappin' With ReefBum: Guest Dong Zou, AcroGarden

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Dong Zou from Ac...

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[Rjmul]

According to dong zou high alk doesn’t kill corals.
you don’t need to lower alk at all. Red Sea proved that corals grew better in high alk.
no acclimation needed. So if your tank is healthy you should be able to go from 7 alk to 12 alk with no loss. The coral will consume what the need and everything else will just sit in the water.

Rappin' With ReefBum: Guest Dong Zou, AcroGarden

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Dong Zou from Ac...

www.youtube.com

Agreed that it doesn't KILL corals. I agree with mr. Dong, but I don't think constantly shifting parameters are a coral's favorite thing.

 

[Rjmul]

Agreed that it doesn't KILL corals. I agree with mr. Dong, but I don't think constantly shifting parameters are a coral's favorite thing.

I think all the talk over the years about Alk spikes killing corals is somewhat true, it's just misguided. "Something" happens in a reef aquarium that pisses off the coral. This causes Alk consumption to decrease, which causes an Alk spike. The hobbiest sees unhappy dead or dying corals, tests some water sees an Alk spike and concludes "alk spike killed coral", the hobbiest is just finding the aftermath, not the cause

 

[MadReefer]

My ALK was at 12 and no coral issues. Just the swing of high and low caused issues.
I even had high calcium years ago with no affects. Now having trouble stabilizing them I am seeing coral die.

 

[Rjmul]

My ALK was at 12 and no coral issues. Just the swing of high and low caused issues.
I even had high calcium years ago with no affects. Now having trouble stabilizing them I am seeing coral die.

It's the chicken or the egg. I pulled some gigantic coral, binned it, then had crazy swings. Stabilized it. Then had phosphate readings of about .8 for a while. Stabilized that. after abojt four months of tinkering, I'm back on track. Just by looking at the tank, my wife would have no idea I've been fighting chemistry demons

 

[Rjmul]

It's the chicken or the egg. I pulled some gigantic coral, binned it, then had crazy swings. Stabilized it. Then had phosphate readings of about .8 for a while. Stabilized that. after abojt four months of tinkering, I'm back on track. Just by looking at the tank, my wife would have no idea I've been fighting chemistry demons

If I posted my parameters for the last month on any forum people would think I'm an absolute idiot. (I am, but also, I'm not)

 

[Rjmul]

Here we go

 

[mnat]

A couple of quick thoughts: Salt need I think depends on if you are supplementing your water change with anything else. If you are using a calcium reactor or dosing pumps I don't' think you need any special salt. However, if you are just using water changes, yeah maybe you want to look at something with more elements. We have run a bunch of different salts but due to availability and running a calcium reactor, we are running straight instant ocean and our tank has never looked better.

Also, I agree with the above, you can grow corals at high alk, but if you swing alk to high quickly it will kill corals.

 

[NanoJoe]

I used tropic marin salt for a year and i really loved it. I used their pro biotic salt as it was a little higher in ALK and closer to what my tank tested at (12.5dkh)
After 10% water change my water was crystal clear.

I recently switched to Aqua forest salt and have been very happy with it so far. Have only done 2 water changes with it so cant really give an experienced opinion, but liking it so far.

Stated above already, some growers use straight up IO or RC for years and years. Proven growth and all. The only issues mentioned are typically lower Mg or CA. Id rather just buy a salt with it at or near the level im looking to be at.
Cant really beat a $40 bucket of IO at petsmart or petco thatll get you ~160 gallons of seawater.

 

[Rjmul]

Back to the original video my biggest question is if anyone else has seen or heard of Red Sea blue bucket having that much copper

 

[horseplay]

The proof of the pudding is in the eating! I see people having all kind of success with all kinds of salts, especially instant ocean, which is what I use. The knowledge of the user trumps the differences in the salt.

 

[Rjmul]

The proof of the pudding is in the eating! I see people having all kind of success with all kinds of salts, especially instant ocean, which is what I use. The knowledge of the user trumps the differences in the salt.

Agreed. Kinda. I run my tank around 8dkh. I'm not super interested in doing water changes with a salt that strays too far from that number

 

[horseplay]

Agreed. Kinda. I run my tank around 8dkh. I'm not super interested in doing water changes with a salt that strays too far from that number

There is no reason to keep the alk @8dkh or any specific number. You can do as many water changes as you want the parameter will just settle down to whatever the salt mixed at and it will be stable.

If you do not have SPS I wouldn't measure the water at all except salinity.