Is Red Sea salt really worth it

[Orlando-Jeff]

I've been using reef crystals for a few years with no problems but I'm really getting tired of the brown residue it leaves in my mixing tank. I am thinking about changing salts. Would like to hear some comments on Red Sea regular or pro salts. My tank will be mainly softies and some lps corals. Just wondering if the extra cost is worth it. Is natural salt better than synthetic salt. I'm sure there are lots of opinions out there...

 

[DaveK]

Ah, yet another salt war is about to start... (grin)

Here is how all this shapes up. You see a lot of great tanks and many different salt brands are used.

The comparison tests made by the salt manufacturer are going to be biased. None of them are going to say we did the test and our salt did poorly. Of the tests that I have seen done by others, I have yet to see on that I didn't consider flawed and in many cased there were multiple flaws in the tests.

There are a few things you can do to make sure you are not using an obviously inferior brand of salt. After you mix a batch of water, and let it stand for awhile, adjust it for SG and then run your normal tests. You should see pH, calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity close to normal levels. If you see something that is way off, you likely have a brand of salt you don't want to use.

I know there are some people that will think, well, I'll just add a supplement and adjust the levels to where I want them. My thought is that if the manufacturer didn't get a major factor you can test for correct, they likely got a lot of factors you can't test for incorrect also.

Years ago there were a lot of marginal salts on the market. While there are some remaining, most quality salts should give you good results. Like anything else you get what you pay for.

If you are going to change your salt brand, do it very carefully, especially at first. Only change about 10% of the water the first several times. After you make the change, carefully observe your livestock over the next week. It should be looking at least as good and hopefully better. Make about 3 more 10% water changes about a week apart. The new salt will make up about 30% of the salt in the water at this point. Now you can either continue the 10% as usual, or make larger partial water changes to get close to 100% of the new salt.

If you see a problem, don't be afraid to make water changes to take you back to the old salt. You may have to make several major water changes to do this.

Now to answer your specific questions. I think you will see an improvement with Red Sea salt. It's generally considered to be a good salt. Is it worth the money? If I'm getting better results, within reason, I'm generally willing to spend the additional money. Others feel that the additional money spent is completely wasted.

On natural sea water. If you can collect really pure sea water, it can be a reasonable alternative, This usually means going out a few miles on a boat and collecting it, but you might do ok on the beach, if your out on the Florida keys. The downsides are that the water might contain unwanted things, such as parasites, diseases, and other pollutants. It is also a tremendous amount of work to lug all that water. If you collect 50 gal of water, that is going to weigh about 430 lbs.

 

[cracker]

Hello Jeff, I also have a persistent brown film in my mixing cans. Lately I can't hold mixed water 3/4 days with out this brown slim stuff showing up. I don't think it's the salt I use. Maybe some diatom something in the can it'self. So I'm using a diluted bleach soak to kill the algae stuff. As for collecting nsw, I have a 20 ft boat and live 20 minutes from the ramp. I have brought back 2 big brute cans of water it's so heavy it taxes my boat trailer then I have to get it in the house etc, Depending on how much You want,and on a regular basis, Dave is right it's a pita.Every so often I'll bring home nsw but over all it's a lot easier/safer to mix your own.

 

[Danreef]

NSW is better than synthetic and you can buy it. I used it for more than a year (Petco ocean water ). Excelent results.

Red sea salt: I never used it. But in the SPS forums there is always the comment "Why the Pro has such high alk levels" " what were thinking at Red Sea". The SPS guys like, in general, more the standard red sea salt. Red Sea salt is good, just be careful what of the 2 salts you use. Read and read and read......

I was using Reef Cristals until last December. Now I am using Probiotic Aqua Forest reef salt.

Bottom line: I used " Petco ocean water, Reef Cristals and now AF probiotic" all good salts and I keep my Alk levels at around 7. Due to that I will never use the Red Sea Pro salt. But that is in my tank !!!

 

[RedSeaKev]

I'm going to watch this thread with great interest, but for the record, yes we at Red Sea produce 2 different salts, standard Red Sea salt ideal for low nutrient and high colouration systems and Red Sea Coral Pro which has elevated levels of dKH, Ca & Mg by design, this salt is recommended for rapid growth in SPS corals, Clams and frags etc.for those that complain the Alkalinity is high both are biologically balanced ,we go to great lengths to offer customers an in-depth explanation behind the chemistry so you can make your own minds up, check out the salt video here

and the chemistry explanation starting here

there are 5 RCP videos.

 

[Pat24601]

Like @Danreef did, I use Petco NSW. I really like it and I feel like it gives excellent results. The research I've read implies it has advantages over other salts, but there is so much going on in an aquarium, who knows really.

I've used Red Sea both types, Seachem, and reef crystals. They have all worked well. With all the other things going on in my system who knows which is better, really, I think they are all good.

I probably prefer Red Sea Coral Pro in the Red Sea line because it's naturally closer to where I run my parameters, but I don't feel strongly about it. I think both work well.

As @RedSeaKev implied, I definitely believe Red Sea (and Seachem) put a lot of research into their salt mix. I have confidence they are doing things right even if I don't know exactly why.

I'm willing to pay for what I perceive to be getter salt, but that's a very individual decision and your budget may matter.

 

[Orlando-Jeff]

Thanks to all that replied. As for the question regarding natural salt vs synthetic. What I meant was Reef crystals are a synthetic salt and red sea from what I've read is natural salt basically just as it comes out of the ocean. Am I correct in that assumption?

 

[Danreef]

I will rewrite my opinion because, as I never used Red Sea Salts, its all about what I have read and discussed with others. And do not want to give a wrong feeling.

Red Sea Salt :

- I never heard or read anything wrong about it. All reefers that I know, and are using it says that is good, never a complain.

- As pointed, RS has 2 different type of salt.

- Most of the reefers that have full SPS tanks like to use natural sea levels values for alk, Ca, etc. . The Pro salt from RS has high Alk levels. Yes, as Kev wrote is balanced , but it is still high. So, the SPS guys that use RS salt, most of them use the Standard Salt (nothing is written in stone).

Bottom line: If you want to use RS salt, it is a good one. But, base your selection of the Standard salt or the Pro salt thinking in what you want to have in the tank.

Best
Daniel

 

[StevesLEDs]

I use nothing except Red Sea salt in 7 of my personal aquariums, and haven't had any issues in the past 8 years. I've tried most brands and the Red Sea standard seems to produce results similar to natural seawater in my experience.

Jeff

 

[Orlando-Jeff]

Thanks.....Just ordered some through Amazon. Guess I will give it a try and see how it does.

 

[mike1970]

A wise reefer once told me if what you are doing is working for you why change? I used to get that same brown residue with the Red Sea salt plus I was changing to a full SPS tank so the spike in levels after a water change was no good for me, i changed to a synthetic salt now my water parameters are much more stable after water changes and no more brown residue

 

[cracker]

interesting Mike, Maybe it is the salt?

 

[Rini]

I'm using red sea pro salt aswell. As my tank is mostly frags. And i'm aiming at grow.
Still a noob here with saltwater. It never dissapointed me. As I said i'm aiming for grow, and following the red sea numbers they advise. After a water change my numbers are still pretty good. Since i'm using the complete red sea program everything is easy to adjust and follow the papers on te bottle's if required.

I never saw any residu. What an dutch Red sea salesman told me, if you think something is not correctly with the salt. Send them the batch number and they can check if it was an faulty batch yes or no. Seems they keep the batch information for many years.

For me as beginner, the support is very important to. Sure they want to sell it is a company.
Key is support for me. If the support is bad, then i'm gone. Perhaps because i'm working in a same sort of situation. Support is the frontdoor.

So yes i'm biased as well.


ps,
I'm nominated for the February 2016's TOTM!, so the salt must be good of red sea LOL.

 

[pablomay28]

Thanks.....Just ordered some through Amazon. Guess I will give it a try and see how it does.

I made a video a while back comparing some of the most popular salts. I also used reef crystals for a while and dealt with the brown film. The only reason I changed was because of inconsistencies when testing for Alk, Mg, and Ca. On the test I performed Red Sea was closest to what is advertised on the bucket. If you are concerned with high alk of arround 12dKH in Red Sea go with Tropic Marin Pro Reef their alk is 7-8dKH and their Ca, and Mg are very close.

1st vid Red Sea Coral Pro vs Tropic Marin Pro Reef

2nd vid Seachem Reef Salt vs Reef Crystals