Water changes

[chiya]

Hello,

Not sure if this has been asked before..

Saw on another post that the brothers here buy pre-mixed salt water from LFS, is this a cheaper alternative?

Also, what are the preferred choice of salt mixes?

Noticed that the LFS do not carry all brands, which brand is better for coral growth or FOWLR?

I'm currently looking at Instant Ocean but I don't see any LFS carrying it..

Cheers

[xaine]

The cheapest alternative is to use natural seawater, quite a number of LFS sell that and talks about it.

What do you have in your tank ? It depends on your water changing regime and how much do you change each time. Sometimes it's just more convenient to use salt mix.

What's your purpose of water change ? To replace trace elements, to reduce nitrate....etc. Answering those questions would help you decide what to use would be good for you.

[chiya]

I was surfing the net for marine salts and it seems that Instant Ocean is the cheapest..

As I'm still new, I will not be going for SPS corals. Hence, IO should suit my usage?

I do my water changes once every 2 weeks..

If NSW is the cheapest alternative, why isn't everyone converting to that?

Any reason?

Cheers

[dreamlover]

I was surfing the net for marine salts and it seems that Instant Ocean is the cheapest..

As I'm still new, I will not be going for SPS corals. Hence, IO should suit my usage?

I do my water changes once every 2 weeks..

If NSW is the cheapest alternative, why isn't everyone converting to that?

Any reason?

Cheers

NSW is cheap but might not be convenient, without own transport it's very difficult to carry them back hm, unless have a big storage bucket at hm can call for delivery which will be worthy.

[xaine]

If NSW is the cheapest alternative, why isn't everyone converting to that?

Any reason?

10-20L of seawater is heavy without personal transport, you won't want to carry it around.

For those like me who visits LFS weekly/fortnightly, I just find it easier.

[tropic]

whats the size of your tank. depend on how much water change you do there are pros and cons. NSW is worth if you get in large quantitiy or large water change for big tank. if on average you do up about 25- 60l perhaps can consider salt mix... make sure mix with ro/di water not tap water. lugging two jerrycan 20+ litre home even with transport is no joke..but its cheap.

[chiya]

thanks for the replies..

I was thinking of comparing between big tanks and small tanks..

It seems more worth it and convenient if our tanks are small..

Cheers

[oceania]

I think there are pros n cons of having a big and small tank. Small tanks will definitely require lower water consumption however changes in water parameters for a bigger tank may have less significant impact compared to nano tank.

As for salt mix, cheapest may not be the best. Some are more diff to dissolve. Diff brands also have diff composition of trace elements. So it really depends on yr budget n yr requirements.

[Zoa guy]

to me...the salt mix doesnt really matter as long as you use a decent one ie tropic marin, red sea, red sea coral pro....for me i use red sea salt, not coral pro...been using it for over 2 years...it cost $1/5l.....but you have to go through the standard procedures andthat will prob'll take some time

[Oprime]

Ive heard that DELTEC Salt Mix is pretty good and reasonably priced. I change the water in my 63 litre tank every 2 or 3 days - 3/4 bucket. Especially when I see a layer of oil and lotsa brown bubbles at the sides and at certain areas of the tank. IMO NSW IS A BIG NO NO NO NO NO NO

[finind]

using my left over tropic marine salt to cycle

will replace with D-D h20cean salt for 50% change after cycling