Salt Mix Cost, Best Practices & the BEST Choice for your Saltwater Tank!

[@uploadsbytom3720]

Should I mix red sea coral pro for 24+ hours? If I remember correctly the instructions say not to mix for longer than 4 hours and Randy's testing showed that mixing for longer than that causes the Alk and Calc to participate. Apologies if I'm mistaken, liking the content, especially the sea horse tank. Can't wait to see the new builds coming along

[@BulkReefSupply]

In our BRStv Investigates salt series, we found that as long as you keep the water heated and circulating, there usually isn't any issue with a drop in calcium or alkalinity.

[@sovereignviper90]

Just do what I do, I use reef crystals for salt. I do a 20% water change every other week but I supplement with Tropic Marin all for reef. Currently dosing 35ml daily. I maintain a dkh of 9.5, calcium 470, and magnesium at 1550.

[@paulhopkins1905]

Same here, but I use regular I.O.

[@sovereignviper90]

@@paulhopkins1905 I used to use the purple bucket but after some time softies started to not extend fully. After an ICP test found iodine and a few other trace minerals were low.

[@paulhopkins1905]

@@sovereignviper90 thats why I dose all for reef

[@paulhopkins1905]

@@sovereignviper90 I might try Reef Crystals in future

[@lINFINITIVEPUSHlz]

what are you dosing ?

[@FoolOfATuque]

I mix coral pro once a week as needed. I think another thing to consider is local availability. I am in Houston and Red Sea is in every LFS. I can walk into any of these stores and buy coral pro in 80 lb bags for 80 bucks. Same goes for reef crystals since Petco carries it so it has wide availability. A lot of the stores I go to stopped carrying Tropic Marin pro after the Turkey incident. I recommend buying a bucket first and then switching to the bag and refilling your bucket. You will end up with a full bucket plus two 1 gallon ziplocks of salt.

[@Starganderfish]

I use an Auto Water Change system so small daily changes. No need to heat the water because room temp is super close to desired temp (in Australia) and adding to the tank isn't enough to budge the displays temp at all. Two reservoirs means one is in use while the other is being mixed up, and I pretty much always have enough for a 50-70% water change on hand if needed in an emergency. Tank is more stable with fewer swings due to large volumes of water in and out. And the process is super easy and almost completely hands off. Don't think I would ever go back to manual water changes.

[@bjmarchives]

I only have nano tanks. 20g or less, I do larger water changes and stick with instant ocean. I like being able to add calcium or alk if/when needed.

[@no_proxxiv4163]

Where does Seachem Vibrantsea fall in? Because thats the only salt available here by me?

[@PazLeBon]

I dont store, I run rod into my drum, mix coral pro and add it to sump once room temp. Im sure that that was the recommended way to use it once upon a time and I still use it that way :)

[@fishpony1211]

Instant ocean works great! And its cheap!

[@msa4548]

I'm just using what I'm used to, Instant Ocean and Reef Crystals.

[@melvinjuarez7359]

My Red sea coral pro mixes with alk sometimes at 20 and the other times at 6 it’s never consistent for me I followed the directions on brs and the back of the bucket, also on the back of the coral pro bucket it says to keep the water at 68 degrees fahrenheit and then heat but always mixes so far off and reason as to why this is happening ?

[@ms.reeferfoxx9172]

Finally, someone gets it when i say "I'm mixing salt". I'm not refering to my fish tank. I'm talking about biscuits and gravy! Stupid reef forums... 0:14

[@whitefang8329]

I used NeoMarine Salt Mix - Brightwell Aquatics. How to start to switch to Coral Pro Salt Mix - Red Sea from NeoMarine Salt Mix ? Thank you

[@BulkReefSupply]

Check out this video for our answer 🙂 kzbin.info/www/bejne/maSvqYSDr9OMo5Y

[@rezafisher2549]

So you say to mix for 48 hours. But the Coral Pro Salt from red sea says to mix for 2-4 hours.

[@BulkReefSupply]

We found in our BRStv Investigates series on salt that as long as you keep the water moving and heated, you won't see a drop in calcium or alkalinity levels

[@Alamo-cz5xc]

What about Fritz blue box? any opinions or experience?

[@BulkReefSupply]

We haven't used that mix much around the BRS office, but there are certainly a lot of members of the reefing community that use it.

[@fishstix1988]

I've been using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals and mixed it at 77 degrees for 24+ hours, but I still see that it's still cloudy. Will the tank's filtration system take care of getting rid of how cloudy it is?

[@BulkReefSupply]

As long as the salt itself is fully mixed, it shouldn't be an issue. Cloudy water could simply be a mild bacterial bloom.

[@FirstKind.1]

Mix the top 2 or 3 salts together?

[@noodles_GA]

I use reef crystals because I like the way the bucket looks in my cabinet. And it’s never done me wrong 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@ayustaliem]

Did you test about change in parameter when storage for a long time.? I heard dkh will drop when keep salt mix for several days.

[@BulkReefSupply]

In our BRStv investigates testing, we found that as long as you keep the salt mix heated and circulated, you usually won't see a drop in calcium and alkalinity.

[@saltwaterandlime]

Biggest difference between these two buckets that beginners need to know, reef crystals can be stored after mixing, coral pro suggests not storing mixed saltwater and only using it immediately.

[@paulhopkins1905]

I swapped to a few different expensive salt mixes thinking they would make a huge difference, and ended up back on the old I.O. salt and my reef has never been better. I dose All For Reef anyway, and the I.O. keeps my numbers consistant. Brightwell was the worst salt I've ever used

[@fishstix1988]

What are the thoughts on Red Sea blue bucket? You talk about the Coral Pro bucket, but not much about the blue bucket...

[@BulkReefSupply]

The blue bucket and Coral Pro are very similar. The main difference being higher calcium and alkalinity in the Coral Pro Mix. We suggest picking a salt mix that is close to the alkalinity level that you'll be keeping in your aquarium.

[@billybilly3333333333]

I can never get it mixed to where it's clear. If I use when it's cloudy white it leaves a terrible residue all over the bottom of my sump and the equipment there that if left literally feels like a coating of cement and needs to be scraped off the bottom and the equipment needs to be removed and soaked in vinegar.

[@jamesabaileyjr]

you say mix 48 hours RedSea says 2 hours max. Which is correct?

[@BulkReefSupply]

We did a lot of salt testing a little while back, so our recommendations are based on the data that we gathered during that process. The link below will take you to that playlist (there is a mixing length episode) if you're interested in seeing our results. kzbin.info/aero/PLBaMLrfToJyznX2stpOkHt_PNLB1NtidZ

[@fishstix1988]

Why do you like to use 1.025 instead of 1.026?

[@BulkReefSupply]

Because most salinity measuring devices will have a margin of error of 0.002 or so, it's really not important if you keep your tank at 1.025 or 1.026. Just pick one and stick with it for the sake of stability 🙂

[@brianjeffries207]

Based upon the current cost of salt at BRS, there is no way to make it cheaper at home that buying from your LFS. Please let me know what I am missing but it is not even close.

[@BulkReefSupply]

It will depend on the salt mix you use, but for example, Instant Ocean is currently $54.99 for a 160 gallon bucket. That puts it at just $0.34 per gallon (plus a few cents for the water you're mixing it with).

[@ytro82]

Red Sea specifically states not to mix their salt for more than 2 hours. Waiting 24-48 hrs for mixing isn't necessary and counters what Randy said in his salt video.

[@BulkReefSupply]

In our BRStv investigates testing, we found that as long as you keep the salt mix heated and circulated, you usually won't see a drop in calcium and alkalinity.

[@hawkslayer2351]

Do people even test for DKH? I just test PH

[@TrevorHiller]

Yes, it's pretty important if you have corals. If you have fish only, maybe not so much.

[@BulkReefSupply]

If you're keeping corals, testing for alkalinity (dKH) is very important. Alkalinity is one of the most important water parameters for coral skeletal growth along with calcium.

[@dobermanguy9437]

What's more important about mixing up salt water is what kind of water you're using I always recommend r o d i

[@Schulman728]

RedSea says the complete opposite of what this video is saying on how to properly mix there salt and store it.

[@BulkReefSupply]

Each salt manufacturer has slightly different mixing recommendations. In our BRStv investigates salt tests, we found that as long as you provide heat and flow, just about any saltwater mix can be stored without a drop in calcium/alkalinity. If you think about it, this makes sense. If it couldn't be stored with heat and flow, then why can we keep it in our aquariums without precipitation? Just some food for thought 🙂