Salt and cycling.

[DEL 707]

I've ordered some equiptment to setup my 56l aquarium as a soft coral bank, but I could use some advice on some bits and pieces.

Which sea salt to use, any recommendations?
Also what product to use on RODI water to use for top up?
What's the prefered method of testing saltinity these days?
With tests, I've always used API, are there any other kits worth considering to begin with?
What is the prefered way to cycle a tank? I've used pure ammonia in the past.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I've ordered some equiptment to setup my 56l aquarium as a soft coral bank, but I could use some advice on some bits and pieces.

Which sea salt to use, any recommendations?
Also what product to use on RODI water to use for top up?
What's the prefered method of testing saltinity these days?
With tests, I've always used API, are there any other kits worth considering to begin with?
What is the prefered way to cycle a tank? I've used pure ammonia in the past.

Welcome to R2R! Lots of awesome questions.

Salt mix will depend on where you intend to keep your parameters at. Find a salt mix that mixes close to that to make it less of a shock to your animals when you do water changes. Here is a link to a comparison between them:


Salt mix comparison

As far as testing, API is highly hit or miss and difficult to interpret, can give false readings.

Hanna testers are higher end that are very useful but Salifert and Red Sea make excellent testing kits that won’t break the bank.

For cycling, ammonia will do. What kind of rock are you thinking of using? Depending on how quickly you’re trying to make the cycle happen you can approach it in a variety of different ways.

There are many small auto top off setups out there. Tunze seems to be a favorite but there are highly inexpensive units right off amazon.

What size tank are you working with? Do you know which types of corals you’re interested in keeping?

 

[Solo McReefer]

Lot of vendors I buy from use Reef Crystals*

It had the least supply chain issues when there was a supply chain issue

It mixes up pretty hot on parameters compared to other salts, though

*Not as an endorsement, but that's what the corals I buy are used to. That's why that's a consideration

It is the cheapest to buy, aside from Purple Instant Ocean. If everyone I bought corals from used Korellen Zucht salt, I would use that