Does it really matter what kind of salt mix you buy??

megelBeagle · Post by **megelBeagle** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 11:35 am

I've got to by more salt mix. I have only used Oceanic. Should I try others ? Are they different ?

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 11:58 am

I have always used the cheap stuff (Instant Ocean), recently switched to Oceanic... had no problems with either mix.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:00 pm

It does matter. The question is what are you looking for in a salt mix. Oceanic has good levels of calcium and magnesium but is low in alk. IO is low in calcium and magnesium and varies in the alk level.

Right now I am using Oceanic but I may try Reef Crystals next time. I don't think there is a bad mix but if you have to add $20 worth of additives to gett he levels up on a 200 gallon bucket of IO then you could have gotten some of the more expensive stuff that may be perfectly balanced. I used IO and had to add lots of stuff to get the alk at 10 and the Ca at 480 but in a fish only or softy reef this is not as necessary.

megelBeagle · Post by **megelBeagle** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 10:21 am

I found this helpful.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/seasal ... 90503b.htm

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 10:05 pm

That's a pretty good link but it must be an older study. It doesn't list Oceanic or a few other newer ones. The best thing to do is make sure it doesn't contain and chelators.

dave3112 · Post by **dave3112** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 8:44 pm

i have used just about all of the salt mixes at one time or another and i have stuck with meersaltz. everything is great and i get 150 gal mixes for about $20. it seems to be more stable with ph than others.

dave

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 9:22 pm

dave3112 wrote:i have used just about all of the salt mixes at one time or another and i have stuck with meersaltz. everything is great and i get 150 gal mixes for about $20. it seems to be more stable with ph than others.

dave

Where can you buy that brand? I have never heard of it.

dave3112 · Post by **dave3112** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:24 pm

i found it out here in California. it was the first i ever heard of it too. you might find it on the net. i will ask the lfs here and see where he gets it.

dave

Post by **snoopdog** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:23 pm

Morton's only for me http://www.mortonsalt.com/consumer/prod ... amsalt.htm

harbingerofthefish · Post by **harbingerofthefish** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:55 pm

you can't troll your own boards snoop

Post by **snoopdog** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:46 am

I forgot.

dave3112 · Post by **dave3112** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:33 pm

I found the same salt I have been using under a different name on Premiumaquatics.com http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... _Code=Salt

it is great! check out this article

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/r ... /index.htm

Dave

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Tue May 10, 2005 8:12 pm

I wouldn't worry too much about the salt mix you use. I have used many, many types and all give relatively the same results. I have had corals, anemones, and fish spawn and thrive while housed in my tank, which at different times over the years contained Instant Ocean, Kent, Oceanic, etc. No matter what you try, you might as well not worry about it matching seawater or anything like that, as no salt correctly replicates that while in active solution. Personally, I dont believe it is worth the extra buck either. Besides, I think it boils down to the actually quality of tank conditions and care that actually makes the difference with any animal.

Post by **snoopdog** » Tue May 10, 2005 9:01 pm

Water, salt, fish, rock....you got a tank. What else can you ask for.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Tue May 10, 2005 9:25 pm

Amphiprion wrote:I wouldn't worry too much about the salt mix you use. I have used many, many types and all give relatively the same results. I have had corals, anemones, and fish spawn and thrive while housed in my tank, which at different times over the years contained Instant Ocean, Kent, Oceanic, etc. No matter what you try, you might as well not worry about it matching seawater or anything like that, as no salt correctly replicates that while in active solution. Personally, I dont believe it is worth the extra buck either. Besides, I think it boils down to the actually quality of tank conditions and care that actually makes the difference with any animal.

I believe that there are a few things that are important: calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and nitrates. I have heard of salts or batches of salts that had excessively high levels of alk, some brands are low in Mg, some are low in Ca, some are low in alk and I have even read that some had NO3 when the same source water mixed with a different salt mix had none. In the end it all depends on what you need. The reason that I am still using Oceanic is that the Mg is pretty good and the only thing that I test that is too low is alk which is cheap to raise. IMO, it seems nearly impossible to raise Mg in IO to even near the recommended level and Mg suppliments are expensive compared to Alk and Ca suppliments. So if these levels are important and you don't have money to burn it does make sense to research and compare. When I was using IO I spend more than $25 per bucket to get my levels right so I sould have purchased a bucket of $75+ salt for what the IO and the suppliments cost.