I mentioned this in another thread, but I would like to actually create a post dedicated to this age old question of the Battle of the Salts.
This is specifically addressing the huge disparity in price compared to all other competitive brands.
Instant ocean regular purple lid (not Reef Crystals) by the 50 gallon bag equivalence to other salts shows half price or even less than half cost of competing salts. We are talking about 40-50 bucks per bucket. for 4 50 gallon bags, it comes out to $45 or so for 200 gallons. And I always hoard some extra when they do have a promotion once every few months where the price is $9.50 per bag. That makes it like $39 for 200 gallons! Put it on subscribe and save every month and you get another 5% off so I stack bags every month until Amazon restricts my purchases per month. Lol
The question is not just about saving just a few dollars. Are the other salts worth double the price of IO?
Is double the price worth for it for the extra alk, calc and mag? Increasing the levels in IO via supplementation still doesn't justify the cost disparity.
What about the BS marketing: Are "vitamins" "amino acids" . Is all that stuff shown scientifically to have efficacy in our tanks? And still the same question: "Is it worth double the cost?"
There are plenty of Tank of the Months in Reef2Reef and more on Reefcentral, through the years which I have seen use Instant Ocean. They can have successful tanks on this salt and still save money.
I think Dr. Randy Holmes Farley even uses Instant Ocean salt. (I'm not sure lately, but that's what he was using many years ago.)
Anyone care to chime in your opinions? Make me switch salt. I'm bored and you know what that means...add a gadget or change something in the tank. I'm actually considering to get a protein skimmer after all these years! I'm testing out a Tunze 9004 on my frag tank to see if I'm not missing anything. Haven't used a skimmer in 20 years.
This is specifically addressing the huge disparity in price compared to all other competitive brands.
Instant ocean regular purple lid (not Reef Crystals) by the 50 gallon bag equivalence to other salts shows half price or even less than half cost of competing salts. We are talking about 40-50 bucks per bucket. for 4 50 gallon bags, it comes out to $45 or so for 200 gallons. And I always hoard some extra when they do have a promotion once every few months where the price is $9.50 per bag. That makes it like $39 for 200 gallons! Put it on subscribe and save every month and you get another 5% off so I stack bags every month until Amazon restricts my purchases per month. Lol
The question is not just about saving just a few dollars. Are the other salts worth double the price of IO?
Is double the price worth for it for the extra alk, calc and mag? Increasing the levels in IO via supplementation still doesn't justify the cost disparity.
What about the BS marketing: Are "vitamins" "amino acids" . Is all that stuff shown scientifically to have efficacy in our tanks? And still the same question: "Is it worth double the cost?"
There are plenty of Tank of the Months in Reef2Reef and more on Reefcentral, through the years which I have seen use Instant Ocean. They can have successful tanks on this salt and still save money.
I think Dr. Randy Holmes Farley even uses Instant Ocean salt. (I'm not sure lately, but that's what he was using many years ago.)
Anyone care to chime in your opinions? Make me switch salt. I'm bored and you know what that means...add a gadget or change something in the tank. I'm actually considering to get a protein skimmer after all these years! I'm testing out a Tunze 9004 on my frag tank to see if I'm not missing anything. Haven't used a skimmer in 20 years.
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