Where are people buying salt mixes?

[ToddTT]

Online prices are good, but salt always seems to have an asterisk next to it, for extra shipping charges, that kills the deal.

For reference, I’ve been buying Reef Crystals for treating 160 gallons, at about $55+tax at an LFS by me.

What are other people currently buying, and where?

[tbalankura]

Only one supplier for the H2Ocean Salt I use here in Bangkok .... for 23.3 Kg (the big bucket) they charge me $100 ...without shipping ... and these things are incredibly heavy in Bangkok's heat ... sigh

[Parrothead]

Online prices are good, but salt always seems to have an asterisk next to it, for extra shipping charges, that kills the deal.

For reference, I’ve been buying Reef Crystals for treating 160 gallons, at about $55+tax at an LFS by me.

What are other people currently buying, and where?

Buying on line can and sometimes offers a considerable savings, when it comes to the dry goods, especially salt mix, bags of aragonite sand, that kind of the thing, it usually works out best to buy at the lfs, s/h can and will get expensive on heavier items, that's actually a really good price on your salt, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Chasman]

Todd

I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef and the only time I buy it on line is when my order is enough to get free or flat shipping. As I'm not buying nearly as much stuff from Marine Depot these days, I just get it from the LFS. What you are paying isn't bad.

Chasman

[ToddTT]

Todd

I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef and the only time I buy it on line is when my order is enough to get free or flat shipping. As I'm not buying nearly as much stuff from Marine Depot these days, I just get it from the LFS. What you are paying isn't bad.

Chasman

Is this Chas from my LFS???

[Parrothead]

Todd,

Chas is in ohio

[ToddTT]

Todd,

Chas is in ohio

Or maybe... that's what he wants us to think.

Just kidding... I'm sure Chas is just another member, and not an LFS spy.

[Parrothead]

Damn conspiracy theories, now we'll never know

[Chasman]

Actually I'm a undercover agent for the "Tang Police" in Mid-town Manhattan. Careful Todd. And you too Parrrothead!

One look at the license plates on the picture board kind of gives it away.

Chasman

[charlie]

Bring on the tang police

[charlie]

I usually get my salt from Foster & smith, If we get a bunch of folks here shipping costs are pretty good.

[Steve McKay]

Buying on line can and sometimes offers a considerable savings, when it comes to the dry goods, especially salt mix, bags of aragonite sand, that kind of the thing, it usually works out best to buy at the lfs, s/h can and will get expensive on heavier items, that's actually a really good price on your salt, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

The only thing I would add to this statement is try and get Reef Crystals in the 200 box it's cheaper yet.

[ToddTT]

Just came back from my LFS during lunch, where they convinced me today to switch from Reef Crystals to Red Sea. They said it disolves more readily, but more importantly that it had zero phosphates, as opposed to their experience of seeing phosphates frequently in Reef Crystals.

Red Sea salt. 55lbs, 200 gallons, $55.

Researching this now, I see that Petco is selling it for $54, with free shipping. In case this is a good deal that others may be interested in.

Red Sea Salt at PETCO

Did I make a bad purchase? I have had high phosphates on occassion, but that could have been for a number of reasons.

Are others here using Red Sea, and happy with it?

[Steve McKay]

Just came back from my LFS during lunch, where they convinced me today to switch from Reef Crystals to Red Sea. They said it disolves more readily, but more importantly that it had zero phosphates, as opposed to their experience of seeing phosphates frequently in Reef Crystals.

Red Sea salt. 55lbs, 200 gallons, $55.

Researching this now, I see that Petco is selling it for $54, with free shipping. In case this is a good deal that others may be interested in.

Red Sea Salt at PETCO

Did I make a bad purchase? I have had high phosphates on occassion, but that could have been for a number of reasons.

Are others here using Red Sea, and happy with it?

Yes IMO I think you made a mistake,you also let the LFS dupe you.Have you not learned that LFS are only looking out for themselves,they probably make more profit off the RedSea salt than Reef Crystals.IMO and others Reef Crystals is one of the best if not the best salt mixes.RedSea has more phosphate than Reef Crystals,why did you not research this before buying it.For proof of this here is a chart showing the different salt mixes and phosphate.As far as mixing,you should always mix any salt mix for at least 48 hours.

[ToddTT]

Yes IMO I think you made a mistake,you also let the LFS dupe you.Have you not learned that LFS are only looking out for themselves,they probably make more profit off the RedSea salt than Reef Crystals.IMO and others Reef Crystals is one of the best if not the best salt mixes.RedSea has more phosphate than Reef Crystals,why did you not research this before buying it.For proof of this here is a chart showing the different salt mixes and phosphate.As far as mixing,you should always mix any salt mix for at least 48 hours.

I haven't been duped. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, because he was very passionate about it, then double-checked the info as soon as I got back home.

If people said that Red Sea was great, and that Reef Crystals was inconsistent with regard to phosphates, then great.

Otherwise, it's just another trip to the LFS.

Between you and me, I think my subconscious was just creating a reason to have to go back and drool again. They have an amazing specimen behind the counter. ;)

[ToddTT]

BTW, where did you get those charts? Thanks. -Todd

[Steve McKay]

BTW, where did you get those charts? Thanks. -Todd

I would stay with Reef Crystals,in this chart it appears that some salt mixes are better but I would say Reef Crystals are more consistent.Chart's in my build thread.

[Steve McKay]

Chart's on page 32 post #640.

[gregony]

I've used Red Sea, Oceanic, Corallife, Reef Crystals, the Kent brand whose name I forget, Instant Ocean, H2Ocean, and couple of others whose names I cannot remember. Right now I'm using some absurdly cheap Sybon that I got from the 10 bucks a bag with a flat 5 dollar shipping Christmas special from Premium Aquatics. 150g worth of salt delivered for 35 bucks. Is it good stuff? Welllll it's not the worst I've used.
Personally, I get the best visible results with Red Sea, though the calcium tends to be a bit low, but since I add calcium anyway, I don't really care. The worst was a synthetic I got from an LFS in Syracuse. The Oceanic was pretty bad too. I've had my worst cyano experiences when using Corallife (plus Corallife clumps worse than all the others), but that was probably just coincidence. I know I should be more picky, after all its kind of the most important aspect of saltwater, but the cheap skate in me won't let me go.
Next Christmas keep your eyes on the internet, that's when all the good shipping specials are on. Maybe they'll have some good July 4 sales this year.

[zhenya]

Funny thing is I used Reef Crystals for about two years in my 75g tank. Calcium and Alk was never an issue but I started having some cyano showing up after about a year's worth of usage. I thought is was probably my feeding habits and so I began using ferric oxide to fight PO4 ( I thought I had some traces of it...), never seen any PO4 in my test results but cyano persisted.

Anyway, I switched from Reef Crystals to Tropic Marin Reef Pro after this cyano issue continued in my 110g tank. Like magic cyano just picked up it;s things and went home...
My LFS rubs me of my $80.00 for a bucket of this salt but I'll stick with it for now.

PS. I just checked water that's been mixing for about 48 hours and to my surprize the Alkalinity checked in at 1.8 meq/l...that's terrible and I will take this bucket of salt back to teh store and demand refund.
Calcium is at 470ppm which is fine but probably too high for be of use to me. I like my calcium to be around 420-450 max. The most interesting thing is that I tested first batch I mixed two weeks ago and it was totally different?