lewisriverfisherman Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 I was wondering what salt everyone is using? What salt has changed your tank for the better? What are you running your salinity @? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectra Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 (edited) Have been using Red Sea Coral Pro since the beginning and like it. I run mine at about 1.025 or so. But on the other hand haven't did a water change in about 9 months..........I just top off and make sure salinity is good. When I had a nuvo 20 I did a 5 gallon once a week religiously. Edited January 26, 2018 by spectra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 i did a ton of research on this and finally came upon an excellent article by randy holmes farley which for those that dont know, is about the best resource we have in terms of understanding of reef chemistry.He went through a long list of things he wants and doesnt want in a salt. His choice.. plain old instant ocean which he adds a little calc and alk to in order to get it right where he wants it. That was enough to convince me, plus its one of the cheapest salts by far. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 (edited) 17 minutes ago, pdxmonkeyboy said: i did a ton of research on this and finally came upon an excellent article by randy holmes farley which for those that dont know, is about the best resource we have in terms of understanding of reef chemistry. He went through a long list of things he wants and doesnt want in a salt. His choice.. plain old instant ocean which he adds a little calc and alk to in order to get it right where he wants it. That was enough to convince me, plus its one of the cheapest salts by far. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk I actually just read this thread on r2r the other day but kinda forgot about it. I have been reading a ton of info lately and it' not sinking in yet. lol. Randy Holmes Farley is a great wealth of knowledge for sure! Edited January 26, 2018 by lewisriverfisherman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcanLord Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 I used Red Sea Coral Pro salt from the start for over a year. My corals were ok, but never really seemed to grow that well unless I was dosing heavily. For the last 8 months I’ve been using Instant Ocean and not dosing and everything is growing so much better Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Running Kent in mine but it was a batch from over a year ago so you never know how things may have changed. Like Scott - I don't do significant water changes but top up with RO/DI, run a reactor for Ca/Alk and dose trace elements/aminos. I keep salinity at about 1.0243 and occasionally add a bit of salt to make up for loses due to water sampling etc. Alk at about 8.6-8.9, Ca at about 520 and Mg at 1380 - 1400 FWIW. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexaReef Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Ten years ago i used Oceanic Sea Salt and nothing did great in it. Switched to Instant Ocean and everything took off. Started growing like crazy. Now that im back into it, i just started with IO. so far so good. I keep Salinity around 1.0255 and Ph is 8.2Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 Running Kent in mine but it was a batch from over a year ago so you never know how things may have changed. Like Scott - I don't do significant water changes but top up with RO/DI, run a reactor for Ca/Alk and dose trace elements/aminos. I keep salinity at about 1.0243 and occasionally add a bit of salt to make up for loses due to water sampling etc. Alk at about 8.6-8.9, Ca at about 520 and Mg at 1380 - 1400 FWIW.Thanks for your input!Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 1 hour ago, spectra said: Have been using Red Sea Coral Pro since the beginning and like it. I run mine at about 1.025 or so. But on the other hand haven't did a water change in about 9 months..........I just top off and make sure salinity is good. When I had a nuvo 20 I did a 5 gallon once a week religiously. Thanks! I'm gonna try and make my 20 nuvo as low maintenance as possible. I learned a lot when I had a tank 5yrs ago as I over stocked my tank with fish. This time around I am going more coral and less fish, as I don't want to deal with constant water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 1 hour ago, AcanLord said: I used Red Sea Coral Pro salt from the start for over a year. My corals were ok, but never really seemed to grow that well unless I was dosing heavily. For the last 8 months I’ve been using Instant Ocean and not dosing and everything is growing so much better Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks for your input! I'm starting off with IO(50gal bag) because I didn't want to buy a bucket yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenbasketreef Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 3 hours ago, pdxmonkeyboy said: i did a ton of research on this and finally came upon an excellent article by randy holmes farley which for those that dont know, is about the best resource we have in terms of understanding of reef chemistry. He went through a long list of things he wants and doesnt want in a salt. His choice.. plain old instant ocean which he adds a little calc and alk to in order to get it right where he wants it. That was enough to convince me, plus its one of the cheapest salts by far. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Another idea instead of adding calc and alk, you may want to try mix IO with RC 50/50 or any proportion of each to get your desire alk for new batch. This way you also replenish major and minor trace elements at the same time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Every couple of years this comes up. Last go around, allot of folks used Kent. My last batch of salt was the new stuff Cuttlefish carries, forgot the name of it. Coral seemed to react well to it, but I will probably stick with Kent since it works and is cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Another idea instead of adding calc and alk, you may want to try mix IO with RC 50/50 or any proportion of each to get your desire alk for new batch. This way you also replenish major and minor trace elements at the same time. yeah.. i do that as well. i went through four 200gallon boxes of IO and RC (3-1) setting up the new tank. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paratore Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Instant Ocean from Amazon.com lol. You can’t beat the price and they bring it to my door for free! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 29 minutes ago, TheClark said: Every couple of years this comes up. Last go around, allot of folks used Kent. My last batch of salt was the new stuff Cuttlefish carries, forgot the name of it. Coral seemed to react well to it, but I will probably stick with Kent since it works and is cheap. Yeah - I started a thread when I got my tank back up a little over a year ago and it was pretty evenly mixed between Kent and the Red Sea Pro but the Fritz salt hadn't hit the market yet (what Jeff at C&C started carrying in addition to the IO and Kent). Like most things, there are multiple paths to success but whichever you choose stability is the key. I know several people have had issues with large parameter swings from batch to batch on some of the salt so it's always a good idea to test your fresh mix before doing any significant water changes... regardless of what you end up using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Coral Red Sea Pro for the Win. I used some other brands which are listed. I noticed things were just there and not doing anything. The minute I switched to Red Sea it was Instant change on corals! I run Sal at 1.026. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk13p Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 I use fritz since its closest to what I keep my parameters at. 8.2 alk and 420 ca. 1.026 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryLimpet Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Kent at 1.025 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonas503 Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Red Sea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 10 hours ago, albertareef said: Yeah - I started a thread when I got my tank back up a little over a year ago and it was pretty evenly mixed between Kent and the Red Sea Pro but the Fritz salt hadn't hit the market yet (what Jeff at C&C started carrying in addition to the IO and Kent). Like most things, there are multiple paths to success but whichever you choose stability is the key. I know several people have had issues with large parameter swings from batch to batch on some of the salt so it's always a good idea to test your fresh mix before doing any significant water changes... regardless of what you end up using. Yes, that's right! Fritz salt. And Fritz's big selling point is stable batch after batch. Whereas Kent you have to be careful. Thanks for the brain assist! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 I like aquavitro salinity, usually order it in the 55g barrel. If that's not available my fallback is Kent Marine salt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 Thanks guys for all the imput! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Thanks guys for all the imput!lol. yeah, I am sure it is clear as mud now. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 2 hours ago, pdxmonkeyboy said: lol. yeah, I am sure it is clear as mud now. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Hummmm miracle mud! It seems people are all over the place with salt with varied results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Just now, lewisriverfisherman said: Hummmm miracle mud! It seems people are all over the place with salt with varied results. This is the conclusion I drew when I asked for the same input a little over a year ago - and that was before the Fritz started showing up to provide even more options. My take was that you could be successful with any of them but it might take some dialing in of parameters to get where you want. Also - regardless of ultimate choice, make sure you test all your fresh mixes before any significant water changes as people have reported significant variability with several different brands from batch to batch. Yeah - sorry that isn't more definitive! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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