Instant Ocean Reef Crystals Reef Salt, Formulated Specifically For Reef Fish Tank Aquariums

I have been keeping Reef Aquariums for over 30 years, from the days when reefers salivated at what Julian Sprung would write his next magazine article.Instant Ocean is IMHO not the industry standard, there are certainly better salt mixtures you can buy but at the end of the day it will make very little difference as Instant Ocean is certainly good enough to keep any coral I have come across alive and thriving. I don’t know why one guy is saying go to BRS for the salt. BRS is selling this for $63 while Amazon has it for $44 with free shipping if you have Prime. The reason this salt is the most popular is that it gives the greatest bang for the buck and while its one of the cheapest salts its still a very good salt.I am not a fan of some of the latest pharmaceutical grade multi mixture salts that require like five different things to be added in exact proportions to make a perfect batch of salt. It’s too complicated and just an accident waiting to happen. I am a Fan of Red Sea Salt but at almost double the price per gallon of water and not seeing any difference in coral growth I went back slowly to instant Ocean.My tip to you is that when you make a mix of lets say 50 gallons of water you make sure to let it mix via the pumps for at least 24 hours and aerate it properly. Do not add salt all the way to 1.026ppm as the salinity will increase as the mix goes through the 24 hour cycle. I usually stop at 1.020ppm and then check it again in 12 hours and add more salt if needed. When that’s done test the water for ALK, Calk and of course the temperature. Heat or Cool the batch to the temp of your tank and then test the Alk, Calk and Mg. If any of them are down from your aquariums parameters then add the needed components in small amounts until you get it as close to your tank water as possible. Typically with Instant Ocean I rarely have to add anything but sometimes it will be a bit low on the calcium side. Nothing earth shattering but just enough that I would feel better correcting it.