what salts do yall prefer

[Salt Freak]

I was just curious on what types of salt yall use i'm not changing salts and i now that ur not suppose to ur suppose to stick with one salt but i was just curious wictch one yall prefered. I use instant ocean and i like very much.

 

[Navarre]

Err... Natural Sea water for me, very cheap and come ready mixed

I used to use Instant ocean before this though.

 

[hyrookin]

yeah, I use instant ocean as well, and have not had any complaints
about it.

 

[ostrow]

IO wasn't giving me the calcium I needed for my reef tank. Switched to Oceanic when I got a free bucket at IMAC. Many swear by it but many have the problem I have ... Calcium through the roof (over 550) and alk too low (under 8).

Many swear by Tropic Marin.

BTW: there is no problem switching salts if you wish. Just monitor levels.

Navarre: Hope you get that natural seawater from somewhere distant from shore and at a fair depth, or you are likely to encounter pollutant and bacterial problems at some point! At least, that's the long list of horror story conclusions on other boards.

 

[Navarre]

No its not deep water.
The water i collect from is from the coast not far from me. A place called St Ives. This bay has been given high awards for its clean waters and there is actually a company here that collext the water and sells it to companies (for a huge price) that need clear pollutant free water for their industries.

Nearby is also a place called the Blue reef aquarium (Newquay) this acutally pumps the water right out of the beach and uses it for their tanks (admitedly it does go through a filter first but the bathing here is far higher)

This tank has been running since may, my others were running for over a year before i closed em down. I know there are risks invovled with introducing pathogens etc. But after doing alot of research i feel the risk of this are minimal and the benefits of natural water are far grater. My corals love the plankton and are growing well..

I dont recomend natural water for everyone as their water might not be as clean as mine but it works for my setup and im very pleased with it

Having said that, i am soon to be starting up a new project and possibly opening up my 40 gallon tank once more. If this is the case then i will have to reconsider artificial salt as its simply too much to drive 30 miles round trip to gather water (this would need alot of water and possibly miltiple trips).

 

[ste2k3]

I use reef crystals, before this, I used a salt from a company called HW.

the coast not far from me. A place called St Ives

lucky git

I'v been there and the water quality it good. Also been to the that aquaium at newquay. didn't know that they pumped water from the sea though. I suppose there are risks but I bet the water will be very stable and what about plankton?

Navarre- have you ever tested the water etc and how to you prepare it heat it, uv etc? Just wondering as I may be moving down to north devon in the near future and have been looking into using natural sea water for a while?

ste

 

[Navarre]

I dont use the water during the summer period due to accessability St Ives is really tiny and with the sheer number of people its practically impossible to get the water. Saying this i havent changed the water in my 100 gallon since may.. i am changing it tomorrow actually.

As for treatments. I collect it and then bring the temperature up by adding some tank water and placing heaters in the buckets. I really need to get the tank up to temperature withing 5 or 6 of hours or the life in the water starts to decay. (Natural water doesnt keep as well as artificial water).

I do a 10 gallon water change normally and if i can get the sea water within 5 degrees of the maintank water then when its added the tank temperature does drop at all (not by my readings anyway)

I dont test for anything other than Nitrates and phosphates. I have yet to have any other reading other than zero from this location. If you are familiar with Cornwall then a few miles down the road is aplace called Porthleven. far easier to collect water from but when i tested this water the nitrates were over 100ppm and phosphate were off the scale The reason for this i feel is because of the oil tanker that crashed just off of hear some years ago (The Amoco Cadiz). The oil it dumped is still just a few feet below the surface of the sand. The water looks lovely and clean but it most definately isnt

As for the location you might be travelling too. I know a person who lives in TOquay and he use Natural sea water (he is a marine biologist) the water there is very good also i am told.

 

[ste2k3]

If I do move down, it will be to the north coast (where I surf) to a place near woolacombe which has a blue flag beach and excellent water so shouldn't be a problem.

thanks for the info.

ste