bluecheese Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 It seems everyone has their opinion when it comes to the best salt, I don't. Just go on RC and you can spend hours reading on the miracle of each brand. I have been using IO and have been happy with it, but I am not married to it. Being new to the hobby in Portland, I am committed to no one yet and I just want to know where people shop for salt deals and whether there is one source that is consistently a better value. There was an "interesting" post back in September suggesting Waves was a good source. I need to buy about 400 Gal of salt right now and know I will buy many more buckets, so if anyone wants to send me in the right direction or is ready for a large order, let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 The Borneman meeting covered the best salt to use... #1- Red Sea Coral Salt #2- IO Reef Crystals Drs. foster smith have great prices on this Reef Crystals with no overage fees for shipping and Sean from Chiladsandsalt is running a special on the Red Sea salt...check out his forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2R2 Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 I thought EB said Red Sea and Kent. Also, he tested the regular Red Sea, not the Red Sea Pro.R2R2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyenna Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 The Borneman meeting covered the best salt to use... #1- Red Sea Coral Salt #2- IO Reef Crystals Drs. foster smith have great prices on this Reef Crystals with no overage fees for shipping and Sean from Chiladsandsalt is running a special on the Red Sea salt...check out his forum (scratch) I dunno if he solidly vouched for one or the other but who cares what Borneman thinks is the best salt? whatever works for your tank, works for your tank. (laugh) bluecheese, i would go ahead and just call the LFS's close by where you live for a price check. For 400g of salt, i'm sure someone will cut you a deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Why on earth do you think that 400 gals worth of salt is worthy of a price break ? That's only 2 buckets. I buy salt by the pallet....that's 50 buckets at a time....and even then' date=' there's only a small volume discount. For our LFS's, there is not a huge margin in salt. The best deals are from huge online outfits that occassionally offer free shipping. The best everyday deal around here is Petsmart with their having a bucket of IO at 31.99.....if you're looking for IO.[/quote'] Steve if we have an award for salt purchase you would get it...salt by the pallet that is awesome, ok not on your wallet...but I think it is cool to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mbeef61 Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 lol john acres tank here in corvallis....44,000 gallons...gets intant ocean delivered by the semiload full...now thats an order....and still hardly and discount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecheese Posted March 12, 2007 Author Share Posted March 12, 2007 Great this is very informative and impressive ( John [with that volume I assume this is not just a hobby?] ). I was not really looking for a discount with my 2 buckets as Steve highlighted, just the most economical way to go about buying my salt based on everyone's experience. I had no idea it took 50-100 buckets to consider a discount, although it makes sense if the margin is low. Steve how often do you place an order? Would adding me down for 10 buckets on your next order be a consideration? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyenna Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Why on earth do you think that 400 gals worth of salt is worthy of a price break ? That's only 2 buckets. I buy salt by the pallet....that's 50 buckets at a time....and even then' date=' there's only a small volume discount. For our LFS's, there is not a huge margin in salt. The best deals are from huge online outfits that occassionally offer free shipping. The best everyday deal around here is Petsmart with their having a bucket of IO at 31.99.....if you're looking for IO.[/quote'] okielydokiely! it sounded like a lot of salt to me but i guess you're right for people who don't have nanos. I guess I misunderstood the title that said: best deal on sea salt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanz Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 I could have sworn I saw another post here...something about kent salt. I have kent now, the person I got it from has been using it for a long time and loves it. I just started using it so we'll see how good it is. Ocean pure was what I was using, and I think waves has a bunch in stock for really cheap. Call to make sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theron Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Ya, was there a post by Steve that got deleted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Great this is very informative and impressive ( John [with that volume I assume this is not just a hobby?] ). I was not really looking for a discount with my 2 buckets as Steve highlighted, just the most economical way to go about buying my salt based on everyone's experience. I had no idea it took 50-100 buckets to consider a discount, although it makes sense if the margin is low. Steve how often do you place an order? Would adding me down for 10 buckets on your next order be a consideration? Sorry...I don't think it's fair to those that I'm purchasing from to form a group buy. When I purchase a large amount of salt....the salt vendor will make a small profit off my order without affecting his normal sales since I'm not a bucket at a time retail customer. I order a pallet or so once a year +/-. The point of my post. however, is that the retail margin on salt isn't that large unless the vendor is a huge buyer like Petsmart, Petco, etc.....and even then....the price might not be much better than our LFS. You'll find little variation among our local stores....and like I said....the best everyday price is on IO and at Petsmart (31.99 with a copy of their internet pricing which they match at the store). If you want another brand, I think you'll find little variation from store to store on like brands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 I have had good luck with IO, I am currently using the red sea pro and see little difference, the only reason I stick with it is I get it for a descent price and its has inflated cal and alk, even then though, not sure I will continue its use, I have all the buffer capability I need to get them up to snuff, no matter what salt your using other than a select few you will need to probably add magnesium. I can only think of one salt that I don't have to do that for. Regardless with an established tank doing 10%-20% water changes regularly the tank should be able to buffer the changes adequately as long as you get your PH, alk, cal and mag close. Other than a few select salts that have recently been known to product some bad results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecheese Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 Ok great. I learned something. Because I often hear/read (and lurk(naughty) )about people shopping around for salt, I had the misconception I would find a huge range of prices between LFS. I know it was the case on the East coast. Sounds like here and at my level I might only be able to save a few bucks (if that much) even by going to the bigger distributors. So I might as well just buy from the local LFS and foster that relationship. Thanks. I apreciate all inputs everyone gave. This was helpful! So Steve how about splitting a pallet next time? J/K(nutty) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tidalsculpin Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Whatever salt you get see if you can get 3-packs of salt in cardboard boxes at some discount. Sometimes stores charge more for a plastic bucket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecheese Posted March 16, 2007 Author Share Posted March 16, 2007 Link to other salt discussion Vanz, yes there is another thread on the topic U R right I just found it in the Newbie section here Maybe those 2 could be merged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefStarrBow26 Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 It seems everyone has their opinion when it comes to the best salt' date=' I don't. Just go on RC and you can spend hours reading on the miracle of each brand. I have been using IO and have been happy with it, but I am not married to it. Being new to the hobby in Portland, I am committed to no one yet and I just want to know where people shop for salt deals and whether there is one source that is consistently a better value. There was an "interesting" post back in September suggesting Waves was a good source. I need to buy about 400 Gal of salt right now and know I will buy many more buckets, so if anyone wants to send me in the right direction or is ready for a large order, let me know.[/quote'] I don't know if it's any good buy check out the price on a 150 box http://www.thehiddenreef.com/saltwater_aquarium_supplies/aquarium_supplies_reef_products/marine_enterprises_salt.htm starr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 It seems everyone has their opinion when it comes to the best salt' date=' I don't. Just go on RC and you can spend hours reading on the miracle of each brand. I have been using IO and have been happy with it, but I am not married to it. Being new to the hobby in Portland, I am committed to no one yet and I just want to know where people shop for salt deals and whether there is one source that is consistently a better value. There was an "interesting" post back in September suggesting Waves was a good source. I need to buy about 400 Gal of salt right now and know I will buy many more buckets, so if anyone wants to send me in the right direction or is ready for a large order, let me know.[/quote'] Ok Im not going to get into a debate about what salt is better. I will just offer my experiance. I have used IO and Kent and Oceanic and Crystal Sea Marine Mix. IO was fine, Oceanic was fine but I hear inconsistant but I did not use it nough to judge, One thing I know anout IO, at least when I was useing it 4 years ago is it would constantly have to have the Carbonate level raised b4 I used it. No big deal. I think IO is ok. I use Crystal Sea Marinemix and have been for about 2.5 years. It is consistant in its cal and alk mix out to the same levels every time. Only complaint is once in a while it will have some white clay left in the bottom of my mixing barrel as it is mined and I guess it sometimes has this left over. This only happened to me twice and I used the salt and had no problems. So I still use it today. Its available at Seahorse Aquarium supply from Woody over on Columbia in Portland for 34 bucks for 150 gallon box of salt. Oh yea he has a huge selection of critters and corals also. (503)-283-4788 or (800)-810-8621 7501 NE 21st Ave Portland. A few blocks from MLK and Columbia Try it...it will be fine salt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecheese Posted March 20, 2007 Author Share Posted March 20, 2007 Thanks Thanks for those suggestions. here is also a special for this week for those of you who don't get your salt locally. (whistle) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Thanks for those suggestions. here is also a special for this week for those of you who don't get your salt locally. (whistle) Wow free ship and good price..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theron Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Nice, I just ordered 1000+ gallons of salt mix. That should last me for a while. I love free shipping on salt! Theron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Nice deal, and you get another $5 off when you sign up for specials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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