Which Salt do you use?

Looking to switch salt brands on my next purchase.  Wondering what everyone else is using?

Edited by faith=fear - March 21 2012 at 4:46pm

ESV B-Ionic Seawater System. It is the best salt I have used to date and I have tried quite a few of them.

Ryan Thompson wrote: ESV B-Ionic Seawater System. It is the best salt I have used to date and I have tried quite a few of them.

We just bought some of that (actually a lot, 400 gallons worth).  Glad someone else is using and likes it!

Whatever is on sale

Linn

I've been using instant ocean reef crystals, idk what people will say about that but everything other than my sps are flourishing! Idk why but all the sps I have are dying:(

What a loaded question

Here's my experiences:
Oceanic- mixes well, but had problems with low alk and Ph.

Reef Crystals- parameters were good but had problems with cyano and algae that mysteriously cleared up when I changed to another salt. Also didn't appreciate the brown the sludge that would build up in the bucket after mixing.

H2O ocean- Great salt, solid parameters, corals did really good on this salt. My only complaint was that you are supposed to mix the salt for 48 hrs before using, and its a little pricey. Other than that, a great choice

I/O- cheap and mixes well. I've had no issues with this salt. Had to add a little calcium but no big deal.

Red Sea Coral Pro- Lots of problems during my time using this salt. Can't say with 100% certainty that the salt was to blame, but after ruling nearly everything else out I'm fairly certain that it was the problem. Problems included mystery coral deaths, sudden coral bleaching, parcipitate build up in mixing bucket and pumps, and I could not keep snails alive for more than a few days. Problems went away after I switched salts. Its possible i just got a bad batch, but I will never use this salt again.

Aqua vitro Salinity- Been wanting to try this for a while but the price kept me away. Recently bought a large bucket from lfs for a killer deal so i couldnt resist. In my short time using it I have been impressed. It mixes like a dream and is ready to use in minutes after being mixed. Tank has responded well and parameters are solid. More time will tell if this salt is as good as I think it is, but so far so good.

first year -> Instant Ocean

Second year -> Mixed Instant Ocean w/ Oceanic - needed the increase in calcium and magnesium- worked great at about 70/30

Currently ->  Got on the Red Sea Coral Pro band wagon, everyone's using it lately it seems - after 3 months, I am not totally happy, Alk has been mixing up at 14 kdh, paled out my corals some

Today -> picked up some Aquavitro Salinity - little spendy but have heard good things about it....if I am unhappy, will likely go back to the Instand Ocean/Oceanic mixed


Edited by bur01014 - March 24 2012 at 12:57am

^^Aquatic Dreams has some for $60 120g mix. and $90 for 220g mix.

Ryan Thompson wrote: jdinchak wrote: Ryan Thompson wrote: ESV B-Ionic Seawater System. It is the best salt I have used to date and I have tried quite a few of them. We just bought some of that (actually a lot, 400 gallons worth).  Glad someone else is using and likes it! My only advice is to practice making a gallon before attempting a larger batch. The salt has 4 different components to mix together. Add the 2 liquid components slowly and test the batch of new water for the first couple runs. I was adding component B too fast and spiking the alkalinity up past 16dkh. I worked with Bob at ESV trying to figure out my issue. Now my salt is spot on every time I make a batch. It is super clean and pure salt which is nice because others add a bunch of unnecessary stuff IMO.

I have heard that this salt is awesome, but the prospect of having to mix all that stuff fueled by my own laziness keeps me from trying it.