From: crayfe2@inel.gov (John Metzner)
Subject: Salt Survey Results
Followup-To: Salt Survey
Keywords: Salts
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 20:25:45 GMT

	The replies to the salt survey have dried up and the pesky work
related duties are out of the way, so here are the results of the salt
survey.  There were a total of 14 respondents, with at least 16 tanks
(several responses were just in the plural no number of tanks).  

	Of those people keeping Fish-Only tanks (7 total), this is what 
is being used:
	
	Hawaiian Marine      2
	Instant Ocean        2
	Forty Fathoms        1
	Reef Crystals        1
	Natural Sea Water    1    (Prepared ala Moe)

	From people keeping mixed tanks (3 total):

	Instant Ocean        3

	The folks keeping reef tanks were the largest group responding
(8 total) and this is what they use:

	Reef Crystals        2
	Tropic Marin         2
	Instant Ocean        2 * (see note)
	Forty Fathoms        1
	HW Marinemix         1

(Note:  Of the two reefers using Instant Ocean .....uhmm lets say reef
keepers maybe, one suppliments with iodine, calcium, vitamins and
minerals.  The other makes a point that they do not have any corals,
just live rock, fish and inverts.)

COMMENTS:

Instant Ocean:

	"...always been happy and successful with this brand, and it's
readily available."
	"...For my 'guests', who are all fairly hearty (at least so far!) I
think that Instant Ocean is just fine - if I had lots of inverts (which I
may, soon!) I may switch brands though."
	"...supplemented with iodine, calcium, vitamins and assorted
minerals (including iron).  Iodine seems to [be] especially appreciated.
Fresh batches of Instant Ocean test 0 for phosphates. I think this is a
good vanilla brand of salt if you wish to monitor the odds and ends
added to the water."  (reef keeper)
	"I've been using this stuff for 3 years.  It's cheap.  It works.
No unhappy inhabitants that I know of.  (Note that I don't keep corals,
though.)"
	"...The price and quality haven't failed me yet."

Forty Fathoms:

	"I use Forty Fathoms salt in my reef.  The tank looks great.  The
salt is cheap and seems to work, but it does clump badly, takes some
time to dissolve, and I'd prefer a mix with more Ca and Sr.  For my
purposes, the salt does the trick."
	"...I have a feeling that the 40 Fathoms has a high level of
Phosphate but I haven't purchased a test kit yet."

Reef Crystals:

	"...seems to do the job just fine."

Tropic Marin:

	"I use Tropic Marin or HW Marine salts.  I prefer Tropic but at
timescan only get one or the other."

Hawaiian Marine:

	"Just switched to Hawaiian Marine from Instant Ocean."
	"I used reef crystals, but recently switched to hW Marinemix."
	( Are these the same mixes? I'm not sure.  I'm not familiar with
	Hawaiian Marine or hW Marinemix.)



	For what it's worth......there it is.  


Regards,
John Metzner 
Cray Research, Inc.
crayfe2@inel.gov

	I also had several comments about this ugly disclaimer below.....
sorry folks it's outta my control.......Hit 'n'............







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Newsgroups: rec.aquaria