Which Salt Mix is the BEST for our saltwater tanks?! We share our picks for Best of 2019!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 вер 2019
- When it comes to choosing a salt mix for your reef tank, how do you know which one is the best? Today we share our vote for BEST Salt Mix of 2019 for Most Economical; Mixes Fastest; Lowest Maintenance; Best in Show and more!
#BRStvReviews
Best of 2019 FULL playlist : brs.li/BRStv_BestOf_2019
Best of 2019 Featured Gear!
➡ Tropic Marin Pro : brs.li/BRS_TropicMarin_Pro
➡ ESV B-Ionic Seawater System : brs.li/BRS_ESV_SeawaterSystem
➡ Red Sea Coral Pro : brs.li/BRS_RedSea_CoralPro
➡ Instant Ocean Standard : brs.li/BRS_InstantOcean_Standard
BRStv Community links!
➡ R2R discussion for today's topic! : brs.li/R2R_BestSaltMix_2019
➡ #AskBRStv Facebook Group : brs.li/AskBRStv_Facebook
➡ BRS R2R Sponsor Page : brs.li/BRS_R2R_Sponsor
Legal Stuff
The content contained in this video is general information on the topic and should not be relied upon as your sole source of information or safety advice for this project or topic. Each product or situation is different and has its own concerns related to successful completion and safety that must be fully researched by the individual considering the project or product.
The purpose and content of this video is to provide general information regarding the products and their applications as presented in the video. Aquatic sales solutions, inc. And its officers, directors, employees and agents disclaim all express or implied warranties, in any way, related to the products and their application as presented in this video, make no representation or warranty regarding the products and the application as presented in this video and shall not be liable for any direct or indirect losses or damages of any type, including but not limited to punitive damages, or from personal injury or death resulting from or in any manner related to the video, and the products in and contents of the video. The viewer expressly agrees that aquatic sales solutions, inc. And its officers, directors, employees and agents shall not be liable for any damages or losses related to the products in and content of the video and hereby agrees to hold the foregoing harmless from any such losses or damages. - Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
Best of 2019 Featured Gear!
➡ Tropic Marin Pro : brs.li/BRS_TropicMarin_Pro
➡ ESV B-Ionic Seawater System : brs.li/BRS_ESV_SeawaterSystem
➡ Red Sea Coral Pro : brs.li/BRS_RedSea_CoralPro
➡ Instant Ocean Standard : brs.li/BRS_InstantOcean_Standard
Thank you for this. I've been using Instant Ocean for years but felt like I wasn't getting the best results. I had to take my tank down 2 years ago and am getting it set back up. I want to do everything correctly from the start. This video has helped me pick the salt I want to use and I'll be ordering that on payday this week. All your time and efforts with testing all aspects of this hobby are really appreciated.
Nice one guys. Invaluable info as always. Thank you!
Thanks for doing this! Well done!
I just switched to Accura-sea for my nano. Really like it
Thanx guyz for all you do!!!!!
Oddly good since most of the forums drive me totally crazy. People always want to know every fine detail, I think people just want easy tested answers or at least a general guide. Thank you BRS 😀
I started with instant ocean but switched to Red Sea coral pro and the corals are thriving
Thanks for the progress/legend chart in the corner!
Been using Fritz for years. No nasty residue and mixes quickly with accurate params.
I get nasty residue from Fritz
Gone thru 3 boxes now and just cleaned up brown scum off the side after cleaning the brute maybe 1.5 months ago
I have been in the saltwater hobby since 1986 hey do any of you guys remember Marine Enterprises salt🤣 I used to use that stuff back in the 80s. You never see that stuff in the store anymore but I do believe the company still around
That chart at 1:35 is awesome and eye opening. Manufactures all say this bucket makes x amount of gallons but its all at different specific gravity. Didn't realize tropic and red sea where that close in price per gallon. I will say while I pretty much buy everything from you guys expect salt. You are competitive on the high end salt but I use the "get the job done salt". I literally just bought reef crystals for 35$ as oppose to the 63$ you listed on the chart. If it ever gets close to that 50 cents a gallon you stated tropic is the clear winner then!
I'm with you guys, the reason I use IORC is the ease of use. I use a 44g brute can and when I mix 40g I can just open up a bag out of my 200 box and dump it. No measuring for me, when I can do the same with the other salts, then I'll think about switching.
Esv has always been a wonder to me anyone who I saw use their products tank does amazing. I am a purple box guy not because it’s cheap but because it was first and it works times 3.
If your looking at cost, the 200 gallon box of IO Sea Salt is about $0.32/gal and IO Reef Crystals is only $0.36/gal (the 200 gallon box costs the same as the 160 gallon bucket)
My thing is, pick a salt that closely matches your tank parameters. This way come water change day you won’t shock your fish or coral with the new water parameters. For this reason I switched from tropic Marin pro to HW reefer salt. Ever since the switch my tank is much healthier and the corals don’t shrivel on change day either. I also didn’t like having to dose alkalinity in my mixing bucket when using tropic Marin pro because it’s at around 7dkh and I’m after a 8-8.5 -Just my personal experience with Marin pro.
I agree. Looking to switch to hw reefer also but from the high end alk of RSCP. Do you think HW reefer is a good choice?
Great Video💯
Instant ocean ftw!
Love it!
I had read that at least for reef crystals it contains something to bind heavy metals and that is part of what makes the brown crud.
Live aquaria salt seems really good. All levels on point, and cheaper than reef Crystals.
The problem I have with ESV (and I use b-ionic as my two part) is the 50 gallon mix kit. You can’t make 75 gallons or 40 gallons. The flexibility just isn’t there. Great vids. Keep them coming. Can’t wait for the new tank series.
You can make 40 gallons easily. The recipe is there. Might have to do a little math but it isn't hard to take the 10gal recipe and times it by 4. Boom, 40 gallons
@@raisethereef math, what is it?
Thanks for proving what I've known for a long time thru real world trials. Way too many people don't listen to results.
I Think for a new start up the evs Would be good. But after I Would prefer the Tropic Marin as I have done so far
Brightwell NeoMarine FTW!!
we want BRS in Greece :) :P ...... Good job guys
I’ve been going back and forth on switching salts. Watched this video twice now and just ordered two buckets of the Tropic Marin from BRS! Hopefully I see a difference compared to RSBB that I’ve been using
And....how is your tank?? I use RSBB also and was considering the same switch. Was it worth it?? I would have to order it as opposed to easy pick up of RSBB at my LFS.
Honestly I see slower growth in my montis with the tropic Marin. It does mix very well and clean. It mixes around 7.7 ish for alk and I like to keep my tank at 8.6 so I add alk to each batch to balance it out. It’s a very good salt but I think in the long run I’m going to go back to RSBB. I had exceptional growth and it didn’t seem too far off in quality with TM except for the price
Aqua forest probiotic mixes in +- 15minutes and works better as the red sea for me.
Res sea its a bad salt . Aquaforest and quantum are better
@@coralreef-arg nothing wrong with Red Sea salt otherwise it wouldn’t be used worldwide...because you can’t afford it you decide to slate it
@@bonesawarm6987 awokawokawokawokawok nggak usah ngegas
I used to use instant ocean since I am on 90 gallon I said it to you Coral life . now I will say Coral life say you're water will be crystal clear and will not elevate or drop in salinity. Actually impressed so far. It took longer to Clearwater. Once it did clear up I'm literally wow my aquarium does look like anything in the tank that's how. Clear it is . And it. For reefs so I was looking for reef aquarium set up so I was thinking where I want to be in the future. Instant ocean the water the salt makes the water looks hazy it doesn't look crystal clear in my opinion it's an ocean is not great for reefing don't have enough what the aquarium needs.
H2Ocean Pro natural salt for me...mixes ready for use in 30 minutes with no residue 😎
Thanks for sharing. I am currently looking if H2O is anygood? got the answer from you.
The 'crud', even if harmless, is a big problem for those of us doing AWC through smaller gauge tube (such as Murlok through a DOS pump). I am pretty much going to be forced to move away from Red Sea Pro as it took me about 3 days to descale (or 'de-crud) about 30' of difficult to access tubing (yes the mixing tank is covered as well but that isn't as problematic). I otherwise like the salt but just can't worry about this.
RS Pro mix is the worst for precip over time. The blue bucket seems to be more stable. I assume its the ambient C02 getting to the Mix and precipitating over time. I since changed to different salt with much lower DKH and lowers my target DKH as well. Better results soon followed. Red sea system pushing high DKH was likely a source of alot of frustration for many hobbyist. They need more information before targeting 12 DKH. I run 7.5 now after years of trying to stay too high.
Tropic Marin mixes clear and clean,no crud on the bottom or in the water column, that has to help prolong the operating lifespan of filtering equipment..enough said.
25 gallon batch bags in the five gallon buckets or boxes would be awesome I know a couple of companies are doing 50 gallon bags this would be nice if they all would do this or at least Tropic Marin 😁
I was using tropic marin Pro fpr about a year, no problems ,crystal clear water ,happy corals and livestock, ran out before payday ,and borrowed some red sea pro off a friend .
Within 24 hrs corals closed up and could barely see through the glass
3 moths later I'm still trying to get all the undisolved skank back out.
Am going to set up the old nano tank and put everything in there temporarily and do as close to a 100% water change .
In UK I use iquatics Pro reef synthetic 42 quid 20kg
I don't think it necessarily needs to be small pouches just some sort of division within the total amount. For example that's what I like about Instant Ocean 200 Gallon box. There is 4, 50 Gallon bags inside. I use a separate bucket and open each 50 gallon bag into it as needed. No worry about moisture creeping in and causing clumping if I had one big batch of 200 gallons of salt using it over the course of months.
Red Sea also has the nicest bucket!! Lol
Can you guys do a video explaining the Syn-Biotic and Bio-Actif Tropic Marin Salts pls??
If you're a member of the AskBRStv Facebook group, we have a video posted over there with Lou (from Tropic Marin) explaining the differences between their different salt mixes. Head over to the group and hit the "units" tab, then scroll down to Salt Mix FAQs to find the video :)
If you're not a member, you can join here -> facebook.com/groups/296792774207117
Tropic Marin is crazy expensive $100 compared to I get Reef crystals on sale on amazon for $48 for the 200 gallon box. I’ll deal with the sludge. I used to use HW marine that was a great salt then all of a sudden I used to get discoloration in my mix and it was consistently discoloring. I had to run carbon in the mix to clean the water before I used it in my tank.
in the Netherlands igot my first salt tropic marin
What about doing test with different salts to see which does produce better results in reef tank doing only water changes and not additional dosing. How far can you go on water change only system and what of results they produce. Like an addition to your ULM test.
Some specify they make, 160 gallons per bucket but at a salinity of 1.022 so they’re not claiming to make 160 gallons of 1.026 so basically they are telling u on the label if you make you salinity higher u will get less gallons. So imo they just need to change the numbers to show how many gallons a customer will get at a salinity of 1.026.
Consistency within a bucket is fine, but I'd be more interested in seeing which brands are also consistent across batches. None of us is likely to be mixing water for our tanks from the same bucket indefinitely, so when you buy that new bucket 1 month, 3 months, 6 months down the road can you expect the same results as you got from the first bucket?
While IO isn't the "best" there is no way I'm convinced TropicMarin or Redsea are more popular. I would bet your clientele is way more demanding of salt and additives than your typical reefer.
True their customers are more willing to spend money on premium salt than the average reef keeper or fish only keeper. I just use IO because it gets the job done.
I have used IO reef crystals for some time now. currently building a new tank and was considering setting up with different salt. after reading reviews on many sites i really couldn't justify making a switch. just ordered 320 gallons of reef crystals for $68.
@@jp89il any residue in your mixing tank? I hear it leaves a tan residue
@@kiddt1999 90% of salts will leave behind the residue, it’s the calcium precipitating.
Fritz...they do boxes and it’s pouches...cheap and good..also have different formulas you can choose from
Fritz has known inconsistency issues and cause my own personal tank to crash.
Many of the stores here in Dallas and a lot of the local coral dudes use it..so I don’t know 🤷🏻♂️
My favourite is Frits rpm
I wonder how sales of Tropic Marin went up after previous videos calling it a BRS favorite?
Esv salt is best hands down
What happened to the HW Marine salt? A year ago that was the BRS go to used in all the tanks and now it doesn’t even hit the board.
If I remember the time frame right, we switched from HW Reefer to Red Sea (blue bucket) right about the time the BRStv Investigates videos started, which was shortly after the close of the 52wks of reefing. We probably used that Red Sea salt for roughly 2yrs or so then brought in the Tropic Marin salts. It was the pharmaceutical grade materials of the Tropic Marin Pro that drew us to using it around the offices and for investigative testing and after an extensive series of salt testing experiments we conducted, we still plan to use TM Pro going forward. Honestly, it's just a salt that meets all of our needs for all of our tanks and testing here at BRS. If you want to check out those salt mix experiments, here's a link to the entire playlist. :) ua-cam.com/play/PLBaMLrfToJyxly4Ei8FgJeYnR5Oxsj6qn.html
Hey, Can you guys do a video on all the tanks at BRS? I'm sure you could work in a sales pitch or two.
Cheers,
Chris
Gosh, it's probably time for a new tour video!
This is a good one, but from a few years back: ua-cam.com/video/2ehp2vtHL98/v-deo.html
Switching to tropic marine after watching this video I used red sea coral pro for 2 years now and have experienced extreme inconsistency in there salt. Ordered 2 big buckets last night
frankieg bangems you won’t regret it
Hey man. 50 cents a week vs a 1$ a week to get saltwater from my lfs and hauling it home is a good saving.
Plus my nearest saltwater lfs is almlst a hour away :v
It's a shame that you didn't include Quantum probiotic salt it's the best salt I've ever used and I've used quite a few of the list you tested. It's a quick dissolver leaves no residue, ICP tested and batch for batch exactly the same, and gives the right quantity per bucket depending on what you sg is.
I allway pump through a 5 micron sock into tank and I use TMC pro reef never had a kh under 9.5 at 0.025 sg at 26° mag over 1500 calc over 500 don't know we're TMC get to do there testing
Ever tested aquaforest?
I've now read two lab analyses and watched one very persuasive vlog which concluded that Instant Ocean was not only the least expensive but the winner overall. This leads me to the disturbing realization that BRS often plugs the most expensive component, across the board, as the best. This seems to be true for equipment as well as supplies. While this may be true in some cases, the reality is that their mark-up is a percentage of purchase price. I suggest that their reviews be taken with a bucket of salt.
Heh nice pun. But is Use IO and im looking for a better salt im getting salt build up on my tank and its getting cloudy. I havent used any other salt but im not happy with my IO.
@@astrobear1236 If you're talking about salt creep, the usual culprit, I am told, is splashing. As to cloudiness, this is frequently a sign of bacterial bloom, unrelated to the brand of salt used. If this is the case, UV is a quick fix.
Ryan 👋 Question you like your alkalinity to be 9 but Tropic marine pro comes out to 7.4 approx 🤷🏻♂️ that’s a lot to catch up when we want salt to match our permitters 🤔👍🏴
You can use some sodium bicarbonate to adjust the freshly mixed saltwater if you do larger water changes. Otherwise, if you do 10-15% water changes like most reefers, you shouldn't see much of a decline in your tank's overall alk numbers. Certainly not something that you couldn't adjust for with your daily dosing
Could you post the results for Brightwell Neo Marine?
If you're looking for NeoMarine results throughout all of our various salt mix testing, check out the entire salt testing playlist. It's full of all sorts of tests and each one features Brightwell NeoMarine! :) ua-cam.com/play/PLBaMLrfToJyxly4Ei8FgJeYnR5Oxsj6qn.html
First I have really seen the ESV salt. Could you mix the sodium chloride and let the mix sit without adding the Alk, cal and mag to prevent any decrease in potency over time? Then add the elements right before use?
yes! this is what I do and have had no issues
Instant océan pour moi j'aimais eu de problème avec pour mon bac de coraux mixtes
wish I had access for tropic marin
Would like to know which would be good for beginner doing a artificial saltwater setup in the 32 gal coralife. The setup kit comes with the two fished salt. I was told on Facebook to use instant. Wanting to know good beginner salt.
The reality is, any commercially available salt mix will grow corals. I'd suggest looking at the calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium content of each salt mix, and match that as close to the levels you'd like to keep as possible. This way, water changes won't affect those levels as drastically.
I just switched to the two little fishes salt because of the pouches.
Salt pouches is a GENIUS idea...I hope the other salt companies start doing the same! 💙🐠
This guy like the term pharmaceutical grade too much 😂
Coming back to this video in 2021. I gotta say, all the salts suck. By the time you get the numbers to be 420-450calcium, 9dkh, and 1400mag, they all end up with residue. Hard to win. I may go back to IO since it’s the cheapest and no benefits with the others.
Would u advise swapping from red sea blue bucket to the pro reef salt ? Only problem i see with single use packets is more plastic in ocean
We made the switch and are extremely happy. It mixes up so clean that we almost never have to clean our mixing containers any more. The alkalinity is a touch lower, but a quick adjustment makes that no big deal.
@@BRStv will give it a go then cheers
I know you don't carry the Quantum product line, but I am curious as to why you don't add it into these tests?
There's quite a few other salts out there that we didn't test and it's not because we didn't want to. We absolutely wish we could run these experiments on all the salts that reefers use in order to give everyone a clearer picture into what they use on their tanks, but open and honest...at the end of the day the cost of materials, time and effort (not only to conduct the tests but to also produce the results in video format) simply doesn't allow for us to experiment on every last one. Hopefully with the salts we did test, we were able to provide a bit deeper insight into salt mixes in general even if we weren't able to hit them all. :)
I have just cycled my tank and will have fish only for a few months. I will be buying the Marine pro, should I start using this with my first water change or wait until im ready for corals? Not sure whats in it now as I bought the water pre mixed to cycle tank. Anyone please feel free to chime in on my question. Thanks.
Changing salts isn't too difficult, but given that you're only a few months away from adding corals, our suggestion would be to pick the salt mix that you plan on using long term and stick to that to keep things consistent.
Tropic Marin for the win
Hi all have you ever used Aquaforest salt I am not sure if I go Ref Sea or Aquaforest. I would go Tropic Marin but I can’t get it where I am
Aquaforest is a fine salt. I would compare it most closely to Red Sea's Blue Bucket.
I just started a new tank and I am using the coral pro salt can I just change over to the Tropic Marin with no problem?
Check out this video for some important considerations when switching salt.
www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/switching-marine-salt-mix-brands-safely-for-a-saltwater-tank-brstv-reef-faqs/
Question if I use Meersalz sea salt the bucket to start of my tank after that Wich bags can I use? If I can’t fined the meersalz in bags? I’m starting a 100 gallon tank reef
They sell it in buckets and also boxes (that have bags inside of them). As long as you store the salt mix sealed and avoid storing in humid environments, you don't have to use all of it in one shot.
I can find instant ocean reef crystals for 0.20$/ gallon
Where can I see full results, including the worst? .. I use redsea blue bucket so want to know how it fares. Thanks.
Definitely check out our BRStv Investigates salt playlist. Lots of good info in there for you to make your decisions :)
How does your Acropora grow at 7 dkh? Or not bleach? Using the Tropic Marin salt?
Wish you would have tested Fritz blue box ☹️
We unfortunately couldn't test every salt mix out there, so we picked the top 8 salt brands that we sell to help the most customers as possible.
But, is a natural salt like RedSea more usable to the coral than a lab concoction pharmaceutical grade maybe some of the traces have chelates or are in a form that cannot be used by the coral?
Yeah it mixes clean... but does mixing clean = healthy corals?
What if the corals cant use half the traces in TM pro?
That's interesting to think about! Since we've seen showstopper tanks with everything from Reef Crystals to Tropic Marin Pro Reef, that's not likely a problem. At least, not to an extent that we can tell.
Red sea leaves brown sludge everywhere
No love for the Kent mix? :(
what brand of salt do you usually use?
All of our BRS tanks use Tropic Marin Pro. :)
Why did you use the standard version of Instant Ocean as opposed to Reef Crystals?
We stock both the standard Instant Ocean Sea Salt as well as the Reef Crystals. The standard Instant Ocean is slightly less expensive than the Reef Crystals, which is why we gave most affordable to standard IO. Hopefully that answers your question 🙂
On the bucket of Red Sea Coral Pro I believe that it says only mix the salt for 4 hours. Is it still a good idea to run the salt over night when mixing? I want to follow the directions provided but wasn't sure why they said to only mix it for 4 hours. I will be mixing salt for water changes for a 32 gallon tank.
While we did find that it took longer than 4 hours to mix up completely clear, you don't necessarily need to mix for more than 4 hours to still have success with this salt mix.
@@BRStv but if I choose to mix overnight I should be good? I just wasn't sure why they had that specific instruction on the label.
@@MrAfrobeast As long as you keep heat and flow, we found no issues in terms of precipitation of major elements.
Does the TMC PRO REEF MARINE SALT contain silicates?
We did see measurable silicates when ICP testing, but to be fair, we saw this on all salts that we sent in an ICP test for.
which salt would you go with for the 15g waterbox peninsula ?
Take a look at the major elements like calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium and see which salt mix most closely meets those needs. This way, your water changes won't throw off your tank's parameters. We use the Tropic Marin Pro Reef here at the BRS office, but there are great alternatives like Brightwell NeoMarine and HW Reefer salts if those better fit your needs.
@@BRStv after watching your video I will go with the tropic marine but it’s sold out on your site 😫
Elos mixes at what it states on the bucket.
So it's the year 2023, are you guys still using tropic marine?
You bet! We're running the Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt mix in our mixing stations for the BRStv and BRS office tanks 😀
this is an old video .. is the Meersalz still one of the best salts in 2021 ? im about to buy but its sold oout on your site! 😫
Nothing dramatically has changed in the salt side of things for a while. I'd say that all of the points made in this video are still accurate in 2021
Any reason Fritz. Aquatics salt was not tested? Was there a time constraint?
Unfortunately we just can't test every salt mix, so for this series, we tested our top 8 selling mixes so that we could help as many of our customers as possible.
Havw you guys got any experience with the Fluval salt mix??
Have you tried fluval sea?
I can't say that we've used the Fluval salts around here.
What about waterbox salt
salt is salt only that some have more elements than others
Is their a tropic marin with more alkalinity? I keep my tank higher then 7
Look into the Tropic Marin Classic. The only downside is that the calcium and magnesium may be lower than you'd like.
www.bulkreefsupply.com/classic-salt-mix-tropic-marin.html
Maybe additional use of Tropic Marin Carbocalcium (liquid or powder).
www.tropic-marin.com/produkte/meerwasser/minerals/?lang=en
I have an unused 20kg bucket of Coral Pro marine salt left over from my fish keeping hobby, what I would like to know is, is it safe for culinary use? Can you advise please? Thanks guys.
Why was Frtz not added to the test?
John Jacobs they don’t sell it they don’t judge it
On a budget, for a FOWLR tank (fairly hardy fish) with eventual goal of some fairly hardy kinds of other stuff growing also, Zoanthids, Mushrooms, Xenia, etc... would Reef Crystals be acceptable?
That will work just fine. You can keep fish and corals with any of these salts. Some just have unique advantages.
I use Instant Ocean I want to get something better, how I do the transition? I don’t want to shock my 🐠
Check this video out 😀
ua-cam.com/video/csLxQMznYm4/v-deo.html
any thoughts about the frits rpm redline? i've been eyeing it i want something with high alk
We've not put that salt through our salt test as we don't stock it. There are a lot of reefers out there having success with the Fritz salt as well as just about any other salt mix. Our biggest suggestion would be to pick a salt mix that most closely matches the major element parameters (Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium) of your display tank.
@@BRStv well it's my 2nd tank my first is just a nano that is fish only which i will make my qt tank but the 120g setup will be a reef tank
Is it safe to switch brands of salt mix?
Check out this video where Ryan discusses how to switch salt mixes safely 🙂
ua-cam.com/video/csLxQMznYm4/v-deo.html
It comes down to tank size, for me. I just have a 20 gallon, so I can afford to go big and get Red Sea. A 50 lb bucket will literally last me 2 years. However, if I had a 100 gallon tank, I may want to budget a bit more and go with reef crystals. Consider also that bigger tanks are easier to dose with supplements and 2 parts which are generally cheaper than the salts.