Salt mix?

I am curious as to what is the best salt mix made as in when you mix it everything balances well.
I want to get it locally so any help is greatly appreciated.

Where do you buy it?
also how much is shipping?

Edited by laynframe - February 20 2011 at 8:47pm

Ive never seen it in stores. Pst dont listen to everything ryan says. OCEANIC IS GREAT! $45 at most stores for a 200 gallon bucket!

I had good results with D&D as well, and it has been the best I have used so far. It is kinda pricey though.  
I am currently trying a bucket of Red Sea Coral Pro salt.  Results have been just as good as D&D so far, but to be fair I have only been using it a month or two so we will see as time goes on. 

I mix Oceanic with Instant ocean 60/40.....best of both worlds if you ask me....cal, alk, mag....essential elements.....has given me rock on stable parameters for months....

Ryan Thompson wrote: Except for Oceanic is loaded with heavy metals! Some toxic, others not.

Where do you get this idea from? And when you say loaded, can you give a real value? Or at least compare it to heavy metals in tap water, just for something to gage it to.

Ryan Thompson wrote: Except for Oceanic is loaded with heavy metals! Some toxic, others not. You can't rely on just the big three.

I've used Oceanic solid for two years straight. I've never had one single issue with it. It's cheap, you can get it anywhere locally and it's easy to add extra ALK for almost nothing. If it is loaded with heavy metals then they must be doing something right for my tank because my SPS grow like weeds!

My dad has also used only Oceanic in his tank for 10+ years! That's right 10+ years with one salt brand. He has never had one single issue with Oceanic. He is pretty much 100% SPS dominate in his tank. He has a 225 and loves Oceanic. He's never even looked at other salts. He's been in this hobby for 30 years now and can tell you that salt is the easiest thing to get right.

Its funny cause when I talked with the seachem chick at the mwrf I asked if the aquavitro salt was better then any others, and in more or less words she said..."its not so much that its better, but more batch specfic. With independent lab test on every batch"..... so I think jwoo is right, salt is the easiest thing to get right. Most major aquariums us IO, I have used oceanic,reef crystals, and aquavitro don't have a bad thing to say about any of them

OH and ps 30 years of my dad plus 5 years of me plus my brothers at 2 years... 37 years of "testing" this salt out... vs ONE yes 1 lab test..... lets be honest a lab test is a lab test and isn't a good viable conclusion for how a certain salt will do in a system. There are so many other variables that just one test doesn't cut it. But years and years... and guess what it might not work in others tank. But I have never found any one have a tank crash because of the type of salt they use! That is ludicrous and plain naive.

The funny thing was I was just in a LFS and the employee was telling them T5s were the only way to go. He was so Naive and just wanted to make a sale. I jumped right in gave them all options of T5s, pcs, MHs, LEDS and more. They felt so much better and guess what they still bought some T5s but they felt better knowing what else was out there in face they bought a MH pendant as well for another tank just to see how it does so they could come up with a conclusion themselves.

So any way me and the LFS employee started talking and he said he had heard it from someone the T5s were the only way. I agree with people that there is more than one salt out there. I wont doubt that. But the same with with lights there are more than one light that you can grow and SPS coral under and it be fine. Same with salt as you can see Josh there are tons of salt out there. Some people mix them (I will have to try that) Others are stuck on one. All I know is, get what is available with out breaking the piggy bank. If it doesnt work out after a bucket or even a half a bucket sell it on here and get a different brand. But you wont crash your tank for the type of salt you use! That is for sure!

*Sorry for the long winded post josh just wanted to make sure you got something out of all this babbling back and forth with each other!

Edited by disneymania - February 21 2011 at 10:56pm