Red Sea salt.

[peiji]

An LFS had a great deal on some Red Sea Salt. I just wanted to get some opinions of whether or not it's worth using. I've been using Instant Ocean up till now. Is it going to be bad if I swich, or is most salt nowadays up to par?

[R1Bill]

peiji,

DON'T DO IT!!!! Switching salts has been blamed for many a tank crash. And, IO salt has a really good reputation. I don't trust Red Sea at all. If their salt is anything like their test kits, do you want to chance it?

bill

[billc]

I tried some Red Sea.. It seems ok but had clouding after doing water changes.. Picked up a bucket of I.O. which is what I started out with.. Clouding went away.. Going to stay with I.O. JMHO

[MontanaRocknReefer]

If it works don't fix it!! IO salt for me! Johnny

[JennM]

Bought some on sale. Tried it. Hated it.

IO/RC or Kent for me.

Jenn

[Big Dave]

In the past I used IO. My last bucket I bought was Kent. I have gone through 75% of it and no problems at all! That's the 2 I would stick with, of course, it would be best to stick with the same one if your tank looks good!

-Big Dave

[Junkzoo]

Big Dave,, validated rumour is that IO and Kent are from the same source,,,i did the same as you once, saw no difference, and found out that IO makes Kent,,hence no probs.

glad to see i'm not the only one on the salt switching , i coulda gotten a good deal on Red Sea from my wholeseller, luckily i passed after posting this same question b4 on this board.
IO only for me anymore, plus about 2 months ago i found IO at my local Petsmart (200g) is the "markdown area" $39.99 abucket with a 50% tag on it,,my store never carried IO salt b4, so i figured, heck it's about the same price as what i can find it as a good price from the LFS,,i'll get one,,, when i checked out (with all my dogfood/parrot food etc) i asked the cashier what the salt came out to,,(i also get a business discount) she said $15.50! needless to say, i told her to scan the bucket two more times , and i'll take the other two that were there,,, these buckets came from another store and they were trying to "unload " them. (close-out) since them ,my store has gone thru a "facelift" and NOW carries IO in the 200g size for $29.00! and it's cheaper than what i can get it thru my wholeseller,,,
(hope "Pirate" and "thebigblue" don't read this post!) they might wipe out my "stash" the next time i need some salt,,

[RWD]

Hey Junk,
I thought I got a deal last week at Petsmart. They had 3 200 gal buckets of IO on clearance for $29.99! I bought all 3. As a bonus I also got a fake plastic plant in each bucket

[Junkzoo]

RWD ya did! i've seen IO 200g for sale at $69 at some places!$34-39 is about the norm around me (even at my wholesellers ) as long as Petsmart keeps the prices as they are , i'm there!

[cwby416]

looks like I'll be returning my bucket of Red sea to Petco. I thought it was too good of deal to be true.

~Randy~

[JennM]

Kent salt is mixed and packaged by Aquarium Systems. The proprietary stuff (trace elements and stuff) are shipped to A. S. and A. S. adds the SALT and packages it up. A. S. does not have Kent's "recipe". This information was told to me by my Kent Marine sales rep. A. S. makes and markets Reef Crystals and Instant Ocean. The only thing that Kent has in common with the A. S. products is the sodium. The rest of the ingredients each come from the respective manufacturers.

Jenn

[Mnemic]

I don't know if its my Area or what, but I can not find Salt/Reef Tank supplies localy that don't cost a fortune.

Theres 2 major LFS in the nashville area that I've visted so far, and both charge outragous prices for most equipment.

One of them was selling the Big Buckets of IO (I think 200 G) for $79.95!

Lets not even get started on their Skimmers, Powerheads, and the such.

I got my Mag Drive 18 from Premium Aquatics for 109.95 as listed on their webpage.
My LFS has the Mag Drive 12 for 179.99.

I'm going to have to stick with Petsmart on alot of the gear I need to get.. lucky Petsmart is 5 mins from my house, and they have the 200G buckets of IO for $50.00.

I'd love to know where I can find IO cheaper. with tax rate here of 9.25% if I can after shipping get the 200G IO for less then $59 Bucks, I'd be in the clear.

-Paul

[Ekudl]

Hey Peiji,

I since switched salts from IO to Red Sea because I got the 200 Gl for 29.99 as well. And I have had no problems whatsover. To tell you the truth I think that most salts ARE close to the same. Trace elements may be slightly different but as Dr. Ron says that most of your fish / corals will adjust to whatever type of saltwater and elements you provide. I just think that IO has been around the longest and most people just stick to it since it is the most common and afraid to try a new salt. Although if IO and Red Sea were the same price here in Boston I would go with the IO simply because it is the salt I first started with. But in Boston IO is at least 70 for 200 Gl bucket.

I can't believe that JunkZoo can get IO so cheap.... I'm moving to Indiana......NOT.

[rs2208]

I have been using Red Sea Salt for the last three years and have had the best of luck. No specific reason for using it over IO. I believe my reef is doing okay. http://www.geocities.com/rs2208/

[rottn]

Being somewhat new to the hobby, I purchased 3 huge buckets (200g each bucket) of Red Sea salt because there was a huge sale on it. It's been working great for me.

I keep hearing that IO is the way to go (most people seem to like IO), so figured when I eventually run out, that's what I would do to. Go to IO.

Here's the kicker though - I was recently at an Eric Borneman seminar, and somebody asked him what kind of salt he uses. His response was - "whatever is cheapest"! He said that typically, it was IO that was cheapest in his area, so thats what he had been using mostly, but is currently using Red Sea due to the fact that there was a big promo that was going on with the Red Sea.

HTH