What brand of Salt are people using?

I have been using Red Sea Salt but wondering if it is worth changing to another brand or to the Red Sea Coral pro.

I use Pure Dew RO water, my tank is 40l and houses 1x tomato clown, soft and hard corals.

My LFS does not stock any salt currently.

i use this cheap mixes well and no problems with it

http://www.barkingbuddies.co.nz/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=1&=SID

+1

Natural salt water is cheaper

i use that awell .Marinium is really good when it comes to mixing like Spoon said

I too used Marinium and had no problems with it at all. Might be much of a muchness though. I'm sure all the brands that are available are all fairly decent. But yeah, I enjoyed using Marinium, the seller is a nice guy too.

we used to use NSW but switched to red sea for store use. new store and switched to seachem aquavitro salinity. i wouldnt look back. the difference has been huge.

In what way?

Sorry can't help with this one I have only ever used natural sea water

we used to use NSW but switched to red sea for store use. new store and switched to seachem aquavitro salinity. i wouldnt look back. the difference has been huge.

What was the major difference?

growth and colour, lack of algae by comparison. huge increase in coraline as well.

fish health seemed to improve and never had an issue with whitespot or the like after either.

huge increase in coraline as well.

from here

http://www.reefkeepers.co.nz/forum/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1276

NSW readings are:

kH: 7.0

Mg: 1200

Ca: 370

Salinity: 1.027

When you collect your NSW, add the following for every 100 litres of NSW makeup water to bring levels up to required ranges for a reef tank.

kH: Add 6 grams (1.2 teaspoons) of Baking Soda (to bring alkalinity to 9.0kH)

Mg: Add 125 grams of magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate (to bring Mg to 1350ppm)

Ca: Add 18 grams of Calcium Chloride Dihydrate (to bring Ca to 420ppm)

Salinity: Add 7.5 litres of freshwater, preferably RO/DI (to bring salinity down to 1.025 assuming its initially 1.027)

just tested a drum of NSW taken from the napier aquariums pipeline.

pH 7.86

KH 6.5

Mg: 1060

Ca: 310

Salinity: 1.022

PO4: 7ppm

NO3: 75ppm

my ASW

pH 8.4

kH 9

Mg 1337

Ca 420

salinity 1.025

PO4 <0.1ppm

No3 <1ppm

just tested a drum of NSW taken from the napier aquariums pipeline.

pH 7.86

KH 6.5

Mg: 1060

Ca: 310

Salinity: 1.022

PO4: 7ppm

NO3: 75ppm

my ASW

pH 8.4

kH 9

Mg 1337

Ca 420

salinity 1.025

PO4 <0.1ppm

No3 <1ppm

Thats a terrible result do they have a fresh water outlet near the take up pipe?

Yep, thats highly polluted, diluted water, that would struggle to keep anything alive in it, and i doubt you'd find it in a city harbour let along the coast in Hawkes bay.

Not sure why and how you got that result, but plainly far from indicative of our coastal water.

Yep, thats highly polluted, diluted water, that would struggle to keep anything alive in it, and i doubt you'd find it in a city harbour let along the coast in Hawkes bay.

Not sure why and how you got that result, but plainly far from indicative of our coastal water.

Totally agree there is something wrong with where they are collecting their water. I have collected for 8 years and puttputt for much longer never had readings like that :dunno:

just tested a drum of NSW taken from the napier aquariums pipeline.

pH 7.86

KH 6.5

Mg: 1060

Ca: 310

Salinity: 1.022

PO4: 7ppm

NO3: 75ppm

my ASW

pH 8.4

kH 9

Mg 1337

Ca 420

salinity 1.025

PO4

No3

so was that going out or into the aquarium?

you may be able to retire on selling them ASW if that is on the inlet pipe

you may be able to retire on selling them ASW if that is on the inlet pipe

This...

cant be the inlet unless they are getting it from a murky rock pool look at the salinty it should be 1.027 for nsw

hawkes bay coast line has alot of rivers feeding into it. our salinity is low around the inner shore. not sure if the line was the inlet or outlet, but i do know that water is filtered before being returned.

we found that every time we got water from there, (1000ltr +) every reading was different. and when trying to collect via suction pump from the bay direct it wasnt much different.

we have some locals who use NSW with no problems at all, bar having to add supplements. others have had no luck keeping sps with it and once switching to ASW have had thier tank come alive.

Personally, i would love to go back to using NSW due to the cost saving, but for us it is just not viable.

I'm pretty new to this, but I've used Red Sea and more recently Dupla Marin. They're pretty expensive compared to the salt recommended in this thread. Is it worth switching and getting it shipped down to Christchurch?

we found that every time we got water from there, (1000ltr +) every reading was different. and when trying to collect via suction pump from the bay direct it wasnt much different.

If the water is so variable, I wonder how the National Aquarium, and the now closed sea horse farm cope(d) ?

I'm pretty new to this, but I've used Red Sea and more recently Dupla Marin. They're pretty expensive compared to the salt recommended in this thread. Is it worth switching and getting it shipped down to Christchurch?

I have ordered some of the marinium salt as suggested, If it is as good as the red sea it is much better value. I will post once it arrives and I have used some.

I have ordered some of the marinium salt as suggested, If it is as good as the red sea it is much better value. I will post once it arrives and I have used some.

i dont think you will go back to red sea particularly when you mix it up its much easier