Review on the different kinds of Marine Salts

[hongqixian]

Salt is a quintessential part of every marine tank, we all want a good brand of salt to use for our slice of the sea. There are many different brands, but they vary in quality.

These are the good brands according to quality, best at top:

Kent Marine Salt- This salt is easily soluble and has raised levels of chemicals. I've heard it's excellent for marine tanks.

Instant Ocean-Another US brand. A comparison I read was that it is closest to natural seawater compared with other salts. Also has good solubility. I'm planning to try it soon.

Tropic Marin - Good solubility-below 5 mins fully dissolved with a good powerhead. I've had good but not spectacular results with it.

The so-so ones

Reef Crystals- Made by creator of I/O salt. Has elevated chemical levels but I heard it's not a good salt. Skip it.

The Bad:

Coralife salt. Has very poor solubility due to large salt grain size. I have a friend who tried mixing it in a 2ft tank with tapwater and strong powerheads. After a day the water was still cloudy. Ugh!

Red Sea Salt - Made of dried sea water. Just not good enough because some substances are still lost-so I've heard.

Deep Ocean: Has average solubility but I've heard that the pH tends to fluctuate. Also, it claims to have chlorine neutralizing chemicals which I've heard affect the pH. I used it once and my tank crashed. I doubt it caused the crash but could have been a contributing factor.

Please note that all salts, even the ones that claim like Tropic Marin that they can be used as soon as the salt is fully dissolved, should be mixed by powerhead for at least 6 hour prior to use because the caustic buffers need time to dissolve. The buffers scorched my frogspawn coral once after I mixed it for 15 min. Mixing by hand is not adequate if you want your corals to thrive.

Cheers!

[Achilles Tang]

Great info!

I have not used most of them... only Kent Sea Salt and a very long time ago... Red Sea Salt.. urrgh!

I have bought 2 boxes of Tropic Marin and will use them for my new tank.

Yes, I do notice that freshly dissolved saltwater mix tends to have a negative effect on corals... a few hours for the water to stand should be better to counter this. Good review, Hong!

Although I am scratching my head over the Red Sea salt comment that it's made of dried sea water. LOL! I think most of the salt crystals of all the brands here are evaporated from sea water right? Unless they are taken from salt flats?

[fantom]

Just to add my 2 cents worth of comments.

I've used Kent Sea Salt, Tropic Marine, Read Sea Salt & Coralife salts and found the following from experience.

Kent Sea Salt - difficult to completely dissolve. Tends to leave some undissolved salt even after hours of aeration.

Tropic Marine - easy to dissolve. Seems to do the corals good. Is recommended by a number of LFSes.

Read Sea Salt - easier to dissolve than Kent Sea Salt but not as well as Tropic Marine. Seems to work as well as Tropic Marine.

Coralife - easieast to dissolve. Does not seem to be as good for the corals as Tropic Marine & Red Sea Salt.

I'm currently using Tropic Marine.

Archilles - the cheapest Tropic Marine salt I've found is from Pet Mart at Serangoon North. Bought 2 boxes at $30 each earlier this month. How much did you pay for yours?

[Achilles Tang]

fantom,

I think Red Sea Salt is worse than Kent Sea Salt in terms of dissolvability...

Hey are you sure its just $30 each?? For one box for 150 gallons???

[robe]

So far I have used the following: (I use RO water only)

Instant Ocean - dissolvability sucks tends to precipitate calcium carbonate

Deep Ocean - dissolvability okay,

Kent - dissolvability good when new but precipitates once it gets clumpy in the bag. Clumping occurs even in unopened bags. Tends to accelerates diatom and algae growth (high silica and iron content? phosphates?) Ph 8.7 when mixed

Coralife - dissolvability good but has tendency to precipitates

Marine mix - dissolvability good,

red sea - dissolvability good but laeves some layer of impurities at the bottom. Ph is 8.2 - 8.3 when mixed can be added to tank immediately.

[fantom]

Archilles,

$30 is for the 50 gallon box. Other LFSes usually sell for around $35 (plus minus a couple of dollars).

[Achilles Tang]

Oh I get mine around $90 for a box for 150 gallons.

[hongqixian]

$30 a box is pretty cheap, thanks for the tip, fantom!

Nope, most of the salts are artificially manufactured, and some work just as well as the real stuff.

Interesting that there are so many diff. opinions. The pH is really 8.7 ah, Robe? Did it hurt anything?

Also, the clumping occurs when the salt grains are dampened and absorb moisture from the air/ droplets. Keeping them in a place that has air-conditioning should help. Maybe if more salt than needed is bought then divide the excess into air-tight Tupperware boxes in a dry area (aircon room).

All your imput is greatly appreciated!

[dfstan]

geez, i didn't know one got to let the water stand b4 adding to tank. actually been buying water from pac marine even since start this hobby (only 3 months ago). On average, how long should one let the water stand (with powerhead to help dissolve)?

[Achilles Tang]

A couple of hours at least... 24 hours is best.

[chanbi]

What about calcium/reef builder/marine buffer and so on.. Do we need to wait some time before adding in after mixing? I do see some precipitate when i add it in immediately..

[ong]

What about calcium/reef builder/marine buffer and so on.. Do we need to wait some time before adding in after mixing? I do see some precipitate when i add it in immediately..

I dun think you reuqire to add those when the SW are fresh. I'm not sure abt the reef builder but for Ca, you can add after your tank been fully cycle est. 8weeks or so, around 2x a week. Test the Ca reading every two weeks or so, if reading shoot abv. 500. Stop dosing. Marine buffer, as long as your PH testing (weekly) is at 8.0~8.2. I dun think you require too add. Add only when you PH drop.

[hongqixian]

What about calcium/reef builder/marine buffer and so on.. Do we need to wait some time before adding in after mixing? I do see some precipitate when i add it in immediately..

I think those amounts are too little to do very much harm whereas the salt contains quite a lot of buffer. Just my thoughts.

[hongqixian]

Oh, NEVER drop the additive precipitate directly on any corals!

[loonz]

I have only used a few commercial salts so far - but I can safely say that in my opinion...

Reef Crystals - The very first type I used when starting out - no idea cos a friend helped me with the setup. But I think its price is not worth its value.

Deep Ocean - has average solubility and is an overall average salt. Not expensive and it works fine - recommended for FOWLR system

Instant Ocean - kind of overhyped on foreign forums, so I thought I'd try it but it turned out to be rather bad on solubility, I will not use this salt if I can help it.

Tropic Marin - present stuff I am using, good solubility, seems great for corals.Price is a little higher than average but still affordable.

My 2 cents worth...

[leejwa]

Salt is a quintessential part of every marine tank, we all want a good brand of salt to use for our slice of the sea. There are many different brands, but they vary in quality.

These are the good brands according to quality, best at top:

Kent Marine Salt- This salt is easily soluble and has raised levels of chemicals. I've heard it's excellent for marine tanks.

Instant Ocean-Another US brand. A comparison I read was that it is closest to natural seawater compared with other salts. Also has good solubility. I'm planning to try it soon.

Tropic Marin - Good solubility-below 5 mins fully dissolved with a good powerhead. I've had good but not spectacular results with it.

The so-so ones

Reef Crystals- Made by creator of I/O salt. Has elevated chemical levels but I heard it's not a good salt. Skip it.

The Bad:

Coralife salt. Has very poor solubility due to large salt grain size. I have a friend who tried mixing it in a 2ft tank with tapwater and strong powerheads. After a day the water was still cloudy. Ugh!

Red Sea Salt - Made of dried sea water. Just not good enough because some substances are still lost-so I've heard.

Deep Ocean: Has average solubility but I've heard that the pH tends to fluctuate. Also, it claims to have chlorine neutralizing chemicals which I've heard affect the pH. I used it once and my tank crashed. I doubt it caused the crash but could have been a contributing factor.

Please note that all salts, even the ones that claim like Tropic Marin that they can be used as soon as the salt is fully dissolved, should be mixed by powerhead for at least 6 hour prior to use because the caustic buffers need time to dissolve. The buffers scorched my frogspawn coral once after I mixed it for 15 min. Mixing by hand is not adequate if you want your corals to thrive.

Cheers!

Where can I get the Kent marine salt or Instant Ocean?

[Adrianli]

Hi

I tried Coral Life, Kent Marine and Azoo before.

Currently using Kent Marine, I find it very good and algae growth under control.

The other 2 brands really sucks although they are cheaper.

[spade]

Patrick @ HongLeong shopping center hv the instant ocean salt $10-$17 depend on the size

[leejwa]

Patrick @ HongLeong shopping center hv the instant ocean salt $10-$17 depend on the size

Thanks! Any idea where I can find Kent Marine salt?

[Phang]

Sealife at Balestier.

[leejwa]

Sealife at Balestier.

Kam sie!

[Tanzy]

Coraldeath gives you free salt when you buy the t-shirt and bucket! That's a major incentive!

[charlie]

Salt is a quintessential part of every marine tank, we all want a good brand of salt to use for our slice of the sea. There are many different brands, but they vary in quality.

These are the good brands according to quality, best at top:

Kent Marine Salt- This salt is easily soluble and has raised levels of chemicals. I've heard it's excellent for marine tanks.

Instant Ocean-Another US brand. A comparison I read was that it is closest to natural seawater compared with other salts. Also has good solubility. I'm planning to try it soon.

Tropic Marin - Good solubility-below 5 mins fully dissolved with a good powerhead. I've had good but not spectacular results with it.

The so-so ones

Reef Crystals- Made by creator of I/O salt. Has elevated chemical levels but I heard it's not a good salt. Skip it.

The Bad:

Coralife salt. Has very poor solubility due to large salt grain size. I have a friend who tried mixing it in a 2ft tank with tapwater and strong powerheads. After a day the water was still cloudy. Ugh!

Red Sea Salt - Made of dried sea water. Just not good enough because some substances are still lost-so I've heard.

Deep Ocean: Has average solubility but I've heard that the pH tends to fluctuate. Also, it claims to have chlorine neutralizing chemicals which I've heard affect the pH. I used it once and my tank crashed. I doubt it caused the crash but could have been a contributing factor.

Please note that all salts, even the ones that claim like Tropic Marin that they can be used as soon as the salt is fully dissolved, should be mixed by powerhead for at least 6 hour prior to use because the caustic buffers need time to dissolve. The buffers scorched my frogspawn coral once after I mixed it for 15 min. Mixing by hand is not adequate if you want your corals to thrive.

Cheers!

Hi

Thanks for seasalts info. btw changing of seasalt from brand to brand will it cause any side effect of the water? or chemical reaction? please advise. Thanks

[garan]

hi experts, apart from the above mention, i ahd been using the MARINE ENVIRONMENT (Dual Phase Formula). it was been recomm to me by LFS. is that a good salt too? pls advise me.

[ozy]

I am using tropic marine now. Found that the salt is quite good, as my LPS responded well to the water changes even if I dissolve the salt on the spot and then add it to the tank. The only other one i tried was corallife. That was a disaster, probably due to my water changing habits. And I get my salt from petmart too. Found that their price is reasonable as far as I know. ( and is nearest to my house ) Nowadays, I just get the 150 gallon pack from them.

Just my experience. Any more has experience with red sea?