Lou is the GOAT. I recently switched back to TM Pro Reef salt because with dosing Kalk and AFR my Alk was 14+ with Reef Crystals. Petco has TM Salt for $20 off if you order online and pickup in store making it only $20 more than Reef Crystals and doesnt make my mixing station brown.
This guy is very knowledgeable about his product. Im definitely going with Tropic Marin. I was already leaning that way but now definitely going with them.
Lou is 100% correct on the tropic Marin hydrometer An extremely important purchase Whether it’s the Hanna checker or a refractometer, you are eventually going to have calibration and accuracy issues The value of the TM hydrometer isn’t using it - it’s having it as a check against your main salinity checking tool It gives me confidence in my Hanna checker
Pee break - that was damn entertaining. Great job. User of Pro Reef - great salt. Bio Actif salt another great salt well worth the price if you make salt and use it within the same day. Polyp extension was always more pronounced when using it. Only switched as I migrated to AWC. I use reef actif powder off and on with good results. Wish I could make a liquid to dose so I could use it more consistently. All the best - great job.
Great discussion especially on alaklinity. I do find however that the farther up the esoteric product, ladder the higher percentage of snakeoil is included. For instance bio-polymer is a fancy word for what is probably just gelatin, cornstarch, aloe, or alignate(made from seaweed). Just sayin
Good information, gents! I've always wanted one of those hydrometers, but no one locally carries them. Does anyone know if any stores in Halifax carry Tropic Marin supplies? Lou, I hope you enjoyed your time in Nova Scotia!
I thought salt was a game changer. But after seeing the most beautiful tanks most of them were using Instant ocean and Crystal Reef. So I stop changing salts.
Newbie here. Just about to start a tank. I’ve been watching all of your videos and because of them I’m leaning so much. I want to make my tank as automated as possible so I’m hoping to be able to set up automatic water change so I’ll do that with the pro reef. Say once every other month I decide to make salt on the spot, would there be a benefit to using one of the other two you mentioned or just stick with pro reef?
3 years in the hobby slightly new. I had a Hanna checker salinity from day one but after 3 years never thought of calibrating my probe again HUGE mistake. I went to do a 20% water change on my 40-gallon system after mixing, my probe was reading way less salinity even though I have mixed water many times and I knew how much to mix. I when and add more salt to the mix until my probe read 1.025 even though the truth was my salinity was at 1.038 😢 I added the mix to my tank and in an instant half of my corals exploded, lost all my inverts and some fish. This painful mistake could have been avoided if it kept simple. I do have a regular refractometer to check my mix salt and not to depend in technology cause it may come at a huge price.
I love Lou, but TM "160-200 gallon" salt mix, makes about 110 gallons of saltwater at 1.026 - I know because I make the whole bag at one time and if I go above 110 gallons in my mixing bin, it comes out diluted.
If I am mixing the Bio Actif or Syn-Biotic in a Brute garbage can, and always have a pump in there circulating the water, will the slime ball still happen?
Instant Ocean is a great reef salt, no salt will support different corals without supplements so why would you spend more money on salt that you have to supplement anyway?
This video was a bit aggravating. - “More expensive salts are usually more expensive because of higher quality and refined materials.” - Is TM not the company that recently had a slough of reef tanks crash because of bad batches? This video should have a disclaimer that any company, at any time can have a bad day. So giving people the false sense of security that paying more guarantees you quality and reliability is a blatant fallacy. Even salts like ESV that you have to mix in individual components can have a bad day. Welcome to reality. BRS is really misleading hobbyists.
Finish the quote! Either way, the corals have evolved in seawater that contains those elements. Just because we haven't pinpointed what each element does, doesn't mean it isn't important for coral health. (Directly or indirectly)
Chinese cheap reflactometers show wrong numbers. Often, in instruction is mentioned that should be calibrated on RO water. If anybody do like that, that salt has 31 ppt in place 35. I heard soo many time about that issue that it really could be this. REX if you use the chepest tool on the market, use 35ppt calibration liquid, no RO.
Just get the tropic Marin hydrometer Huge glass thing - very fragile But it’s deadly accurate This way you know when your Hanna checker or whatever is off
Lou is the GOAT. I recently switched back to TM Pro Reef salt because with dosing Kalk and AFR my Alk was 14+ with Reef Crystals. Petco has TM Salt for $20 off if you order online and pickup in store making it only $20 more than Reef Crystals and doesnt make my mixing station brown.
I like cleaner salts too
Nyos PURE has been my current go to
@@Merknilash nyos will be my salt after years with pro reef
@@francescodivincenzo5765how come you made the change? I am looking into switching salts that more closely align my parameters
After a year using CR my buckets don’t get that brown gunk that I used to get.
Allways good to hear Lou. Thanks.
This guy is very knowledgeable about his product. Im definitely going with Tropic Marin. I was already leaning that way but now definitely going with them.
Yo, i just called tropic marin and this guy picked up and blew my mind on how much he knew lol
Hell yeah! Thomas always gets a 👍!
@@alexguitar841 thank you Alex!!!
Lou is 100% correct on the tropic Marin hydrometer
An extremely important purchase
Whether it’s the Hanna checker or a refractometer, you are eventually going to have calibration and accuracy issues
The value of the TM hydrometer isn’t using it - it’s having it as a check against your main salinity checking tool
It gives me confidence in my Hanna checker
I ordered one of these hydrometers and I'm so glad I saw this video.
As a new hobbyist I got a lot of great information out of this video 👍
Amazing interview!!😊
I take Lou's advise with a grain of salt. 🤣
lou is the man !!!!
Pee break - that was damn entertaining. Great job. User of Pro Reef - great salt. Bio Actif salt another great salt well worth the price if you make salt and use it within the same day. Polyp extension was always more pronounced when using it. Only switched as I migrated to AWC. I use reef actif powder off and on with good results. Wish I could make a liquid to dose so I could use it more consistently. All the best - great job.
Great discussion especially on alaklinity. I do find however that the farther up the esoteric product, ladder the higher percentage of snakeoil is included. For instance bio-polymer is a fancy word for what is probably just gelatin, cornstarch, aloe, or alignate(made from seaweed). Just sayin
Great video, I think i will try a bucket of the Tropic Marin Bio-Actif salt when my Red Sea Black bucket is gone.
I'm switching to Syn-biotic this week. I already carbon dose and i want to try probiotics.
Good information, gents! I've always wanted one of those hydrometers, but no one locally carries them. Does anyone know if any stores in Halifax carry Tropic Marin supplies? Lou, I hope you enjoyed your time in Nova Scotia!
I thought salt was a game changer. But after seeing the most beautiful tanks most of them were using Instant ocean and Crystal Reef. So I stop changing salts.
I had most success with reef crystals
Where is the video of the new up and coming stuff? That was a weird ending transition
Lou and I did a bunch of interviews like this one that will be released over the coming weeks!
What hydrometer was Lou suggesting?
Tropic Marin High Precision Hydrometer 😊
@@ThomasBReef thanks Thomas!
Thank you too!
It cost 1/3 of the Milwaukee and never fails if used properly
Newbie here. Just about to start a tank. I’ve been watching all of your videos and because of them I’m leaning so much. I want to make my tank as automated as possible so I’m hoping to be able to set up automatic water change so I’ll do that with the pro reef. Say once every other month I decide to make salt on the spot, would there be a benefit to using one of the other two you mentioned or just stick with pro reef?
I only use those hygrometer,, I have 2 . I’ve used many of the others and I don’t have time to be wrong.
What's your view if the salt is mixed with distilled water
3 years in the hobby slightly new. I had a Hanna checker salinity from day one but after 3 years never thought of calibrating my probe again HUGE mistake. I went to do a 20% water change on my 40-gallon system after mixing, my probe was reading way less salinity even though I have mixed water many times and I knew how much to mix. I when and add more salt to the mix until my probe read 1.025 even though the truth was my salinity was at 1.038 😢 I added the mix to my tank and in an instant half of my corals exploded, lost all my inverts and some fish. This painful mistake could have been avoided if it kept simple. I do have a regular refractometer to check my mix salt and not to depend in technology cause it may come at a huge price.
I love Lou, but TM "160-200 gallon" salt mix, makes about 110 gallons of saltwater at 1.026 - I know because I make the whole bag at one time and if I go above 110 gallons in my mixing bin, it comes out diluted.
Episode about salt and you guys are saying salinity is 1.025? That is specific gravity. Salinity is in ppt!
We don't care
@richishere82 I am not surprised
You're right, salinity vs specific gravity.
If I am mixing the Bio Actif or Syn-Biotic in a Brute garbage can, and always have a pump in there circulating the water, will the slime ball still happen?
Instant Ocean is a great reef salt, no salt will support different corals without supplements so why would you spend more money on salt that you have to supplement anyway?
tropic marin should have something for PH because thier no tropic marin product to increase PH for who use ABC
boys...i'm a pro reef (only) user....it's not ok that KH is near 7.0......is not good....please TROPIC... improve kh level...
Where is Ryan? 🤔
Probably rolling around in his Scrooge mcduck money vault after getting bought out by aperture
😂 😂 😂 I see him around golden valley sometimes when I visit new wave, or picking up from bulk reef @@thedon98677
Can we stop building up
The convo to gain time
This video was a bit aggravating.
- “More expensive salts are usually more expensive because of higher quality and refined materials.”
- Is TM not the company that recently had a slough of reef tanks crash because of bad batches?
This video should have a disclaimer that any company, at any time can have a bad day. So giving people the false sense of security that paying more guarantees you quality and reliability is a blatant fallacy.
Even salts like ESV that you have to mix in individual components can have a bad day. Welcome to reality. BRS is really misleading hobbyists.
You can really talk the talk, sound as knowledgeable as you may can, but really who messed up their salt batches and messed up so many people tanks?
6:30 "If we can't prove that they do nothing, then they must do something." Wow, that's some logic.
Finish the quote!
Either way, the corals have evolved in seawater that contains those elements. Just because we haven't pinpointed what each element does, doesn't mean it isn't important for coral health. (Directly or indirectly)
Chinese cheap reflactometers show wrong numbers. Often, in instruction is mentioned that should be calibrated on RO water. If anybody do like that, that salt has 31 ppt in place 35. I heard soo many time about that issue that it really could be this. REX if you use the chepest tool on the market, use 35ppt calibration liquid, no RO.
Just get the tropic Marin hydrometer
Huge glass thing - very fragile
But it’s deadly accurate
This way you know when your Hanna checker or whatever is off