Price of Salt ~ What the blue blazes!

T

thomas712

Guest
I went shopping for some salt yesterday, I usually have to go into the next town to get it and went to 2 different stores and found the prices have all gone up.
Bucket prices for the following.
Instant Ocean $79.99 160 gallon
Reef Crystals $89.99 160 gallon
Tropic Marine $99.99 200 gallon
Even the Oceanic 90 gallon went from $29.99 to $34.99
Those that know me know I won't go back to Instant Ocean or even use their other brand Reef crystals, but $100 bucks for Tropic marine!?! Thats crazy.
Why don't they make some 3 bag boxes cheaper, like a refill box so we can save some money?
Anyone else getting gouged on salt prices lately?
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
I went to a fish store the other day and I noticed they had the big bucket of reef crystals for $62 which I thought was steep. There is another store I go to that sells the 200 gal bucket of Kent for around $50 so I didn't buy it. I just hope the kent salt doesn't go up.
 
alohami

alohami

Member
Bummer . . . and I'm getting low too!
I've had good luck with Oceanic so far, so I guess I'll stick to the 90 gal. jug. It doesn't make sense to me that it would be cheaper per gallon than the buckets though:
Instant Ocean $79.99 160 gallon = $0.50 per gallon
Reef Crystals $89.99 160 gallon = $0.56 per gallon
Tropic Marine $99.99 200 gallon = $0.50 per gallon
Oceanic $34.99 90 gallon = $0.39 per gallon
A refill box would be nice. Its such a waste to spend extra money on plastic buckets and jugs we already have.
 
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thomas712

Guest
AlohaMI ~ Yeah thats from the store we shop at Aquatic Garden, those prices are outrageous. I may have to make a trip down state after calling a few stores. I've gone to a place in Westland before and gotten pretty good prices.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
If you print out the add, Petsmart will honor their online prices in their stores. I bought a 160 gal bucket of Reef Crystals last week for $32.
 
alohami

alohami

Member
Originally Posted by Thomas712
AlohaMI ~ Yeah thats from the store we shop at Aquatic Garden, those prices are outrageous. I may have to make a trip down state after calling a few stores. I've gone to a place in Westland before and gotten pretty good prices.
Thomas, I figured that had to be it. We don't have much to choose from around here.
I am going to Lansing this weekend and plan to stop to Preuss's on my way back. I checked them out last year but I was still cycling at the time so didn't pay too much attention to prices, more or less just went there to look around. They had a good selection of livestock though. Let me know if you need anything, I'd be glad to pick it up for you.
Bang Guy, thanks for the tip. I will have to try that!
 
dogstar

dogstar

Active Member
Dont know what brand you prefer but ( and I hope Mods dont mind me saying so, ) Big Al's online sells Tropic Marin reg. 200g bucket for $44.00 but shipping to Florida from Canada is extra $28 for total of $72.00. Still beats $99.00 at LFS. Other online stores may be less too.
 
turningtim

turningtim

Active Member
I think I'm paying about $79.00 for a 200 bucket of Tropic Marin. But maybe that still old stock and the price increase hasn't hit yet. Thats just the reg stuff not the pro-reef. Wow $100 for salt That will make my wife happy! NOT!
 
dragonboy

dragonboy

Active Member
A $100 for tropic marine wow thats expensive. I know a place where I can get it for 50 bucks for 200 gal bucket but its just the regular one not the plus. It just depends where you live and where you are located for prices to be that high. But if it was going for $80 to $100 a bucket I rather go get premixed water at the LFS cause it will be a lot cheaper.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Holy smokes!! That is ridiculous! I have not see any price increase in my area however. I can still get a 200 gallon salt mix of Oceanic for $40.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
I do not like Instant Ocean either. I never verbalize my dislike for it beause I do not know if the rumors are true. I have heard some bad things about both that and Reef Crystals. I do not know if they are entirely true, but I am not going to take the chance. I do not know what exactly the problem was, as I was told this by many people about a year ago, but it was definitely high in some element that was undesirable to some saltwater animals (something is telling me one of them was starfish...?). Like I said, I do not know if this is true, but I am not willing to put it in my tank to find out. Obviously Bang uses Reef Crystals and it does not cause any problems, but I still do not want to take the chance and be the unlucky person who gets a bad batch of it.
 
ross

ross

Active Member
From everything i have heard (from michael paletta) oceanic is the most inconsistent salt there is because they make many small batches of it. I dont like oceanic anyways because everytime i use it calcium is like 700, even in the lfs where i work with a huge calcium load it stays over 500!
 
dejaco

dejaco

Member
The best price on salt I have found is Instant Ocean 31.99 for the 160 gal bucket. Petsmart will honor their online pricing if you print the page off the net. Check with most of your online agents, if your order meets their minimum for free shipping some do still ship you the bucket without adding frieght.
 
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