Salt! Red Sea Coral Pro?

[shista]

Hi everyone. I know there is a lot of discussions on which salt is a good salt, but i cant find the right one to buy... I have a reef tank and am currently using Instant Ocean. The best salt that i have found is Red Sea Coral Pro, but have also heard it has low alkalinity.. Anyone out there that knows which is the best salt?

 

[btldreef]

A lot of it is personally preference and what you're keeping.
Personally, I hate Instant Ocean and Red Sea salts. Instant Ocean Reef Crystals is decent and usually easy to find.
I LOVE AquaVitro Salinity (SeaChem's premium line). I swear by it, but it can be difficult to find depending on where you're located. Tropical Marin Pro and ESV are also great salts. You'll find that with better salt comes a hike in price.

 

[nikesb]

the new Red Sea Coral Pro has new numbers and is no longer a low alkalinity number. I know some guys that have had great success with it. As for best salts, it really depends on your setup.
When I was vodka dosing, I had great success with Reefers Best Salt and Tropic Marin Bio Actif.
Tropic Marin Pro is really good too, but cannot justify the extra cash for it. I've been fine with reef crystals for the past 8 months though. I like the higher numbers in magnesium it has

 

[shista]

do any of you guys know the numbers in Red Sea Cora Pro? or numbers in Reef Crystals? or any numbers of any other?

 

[nikesb]

red sea coral pro should read close either 9-10dkh on an api test kit. but should read around 8.2 on a salifert kit. this is because salifter is formulated for saltwater and it is more close to what most reefers run. heres some other numbers
Quote:




Salt Product




Calcium




Alkalinity




Magnesium








Aquatic Gardens




430




8




1240








Brightwell Neomarine




370




11




1140








CoraLife




560




9




1380








Crystal Sea Marinemix




340




9




1050








Crystal Sea Marinemix Bio-Assay




340




9




1050








D-D H2Ocean




450




10




1380






Instant Ocean




400


11div>


1350






Kent




540




11




1200








Marine Environment




480




7.5




1450








Oceanic




580




8.5




1650








OceanPure




510




10




1320








Red Sea




400




8




1300








Red Sea Coral Pro




490




7




1300








Reef Crystals




490




13




1440








Reefer's Best




420




11




1200






SeaChem Marine Salt




500


10


1400






SeaChem Reef Salt




540




10




1450








Tropic Marin




375




10




1230








Tropic Marin Pro Reef




450




8.5




1380








Tunze Reef Salt




420




9.5




1350

 

[shista]

this list is really handy... I like the numbers of Red sea coral pro, but calcium seems high... What I was thinking is that, as corals consume alk and calcium, would'nt i want those slightly higher numbers so that it stays stable?

 

[shista]

 

[nikesb]

Quote:
Originally Posted by shista http:///forum/thread/385391/salt-red-sea-coral-pro#post_3379340
this list is really handy... I like the numbers of Red sea coral pro, but calcium seems high... What I was thinking is that, as corals consume alk and calcium, would'nt i want those slightly higher numbers so that it stays stable?
490 is a perfectly fine number for calcium. if you want it to stay stable, 2part dosing would be a good method, but not the only method. it depends how much calcium and alk your system uses up. mine uses up ~40-50 ppm of alkalinity and calcium DAILY, so i have to add alk to my top off and i dose calcium before the lights turn on, and once again in the afternoon

 

[calbert0]

I swore by Tropic Marin for years, then in October 2010 I bought a bad batch and it really screwed up my tank for a while before I could track down that it was actually my salt mix that was causing the problems. I had used Tropic Marin for so long with such great success, the last thing i thought it could be was my salt mix.
I will never buy Tropic Marin salt again.
I recently switched to the normal Red Sea salt mix, (not the coral pro version) and am extremely happy with the results. My tank showed immediate improvements. The price is also right.

 

[nikesb]

while you may not trust Tropic Marin again, may I ask what was in the bad batch that caused the problems?
I've had bad batches with both seachem reef salt and reef crystals

 

[shista]

this may be a stupid question, but what is 2part dosing? adding alkalinity and calcium?

 

[nikesb]

yes

 

[btldreef]

Bad batches happen, that's why you should test before adding to your tank. It can help a lot.
I had good luck with Brightwell's for 2 5G buckets worth, than got 2 bad batches in a row and will never go back to them. It happens. The levels were terrible and I was dosing constantly. I knew they were bad because I tested ahead of time, but the buckets weren't cheap so we just used our two part to get through it. I tried Red Sea Coral Pro back in the Fall of 2010 and was very unhappy and even had a phosphate reading.
Out of all the salts I've tried, I've had the best luck with Coralife (I know, surprised me too), AquaVitro Salinity (by far the best I've tried) and Tropic Marin Pro.

 

[meowzer]

BTLD CHECK YOUR PM I need an answer

 

[btldreef]

Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/385391/salt-red-sea-coral-pro#post_3379512
BTLD CHECK YOUR PM I need an answer
LOL, I just responded, it wasn't letting me reply. Did you notice they changed around the inbox area? I HATE THESE UPDATES!!!!!
If it didn't go through, here's what I said: I would offer 50% of what it goes for new. I usually won't pay more than 50-60% for used equipment.

 

[meowzer]

LOL....I sent you another one too...and YES...it was painful to reply

 

[shista]

ahh... once again i don't know which salt to buy... Everyone has their own story of what is good and whats not... I'm still standing by Red Sea Coral Pro, even though my mind is changing

 

[btldreef]

Honestly, it's personal preference. Each tank is different, go with what you have good results with.

 

[geoj]

Pick one and use it, and if you kill everything off, well then don't run with knives

From the point of view of someone that doses, I would pick the one with the highest Mag and the fewest complaints about bad batches...
Quote:
Originally Posted by shista http:///forum/thread/385391/salt-red-sea-coral-pro#post_3379572
ahh... once again i don't know which salt to buy... Everyone has their own story of what is good and whats not... I'm still standing by Red Sea Coral Pro, even though my mind is changing

 

[shista]

What salts do you guys think have the highest calcium magnesium and alkalinity levels? I'm trying to do as least dosing as I can, and a lot of those numbers seem hard to believe according to numbers that people have posted.