In the beginning...
When I first started learning about reeefing, I saw polls that had IO as the preferred salt by a wide margin. So I said, "IO will be my salt, too."
Then, I started reading articles and reports on salt. With each one I read, the less clear everything got.
This led me to one conclusion: Science is bad; science causes pain in head.
But I still have to pick a salt. My four finalists are the salts that I have been convinced or nearly convinved are the best over the last few years: Instant Ocean, Aqua Craft Bio-Sea MarineMix, Marine Enterprises Crystal Sea Bio-Assay Formula, and Tropic Marin Sea Salt.
Using Matt's data, I constructed two junk science analyses that are compatible with my badly damaged brain cells.
The first is called the "Olympic Analysis" and is based on the method the newspapers used to determine whether the US or the USSR "won" an Olympics during the Cold War. This is also known as the "Medal Count" method. A Gold Medal is awarded to the salt with the closest meausrement to natural sea water on a per element basis. Then the medals are counted up: Gold Medal = 3 points, Silver Medal = 2 points, Bronze Medal = 1 point, Fourth place = 0 points. Ties are possible for full credit for both. Remember, this analysis only includes data from the four salts listed above. The overall standings:
1. Tropic Marin
2. Instant Ocean
3. Aqua Craft Bio-Sea MarineMix
4. Marine Enterprises Crystal Sea Bio-Assay Formula
The next analysis, which I may be the inventor of, is called the "Gunk Test." Gunk is the sum of the 20 highlighted elements in Matt's study. (All elements converted to parts per billion). Each salt is assigned a ratio of total gunk as compared to Natural Sea Water. The results:
* Tropic Marin has 3.0 times the gunk of natural sea water.
* Marine Enterprises Crystal Sea Bio-Assay Formula has 3.3 times the gunk of natural sea water.
* Instant Ocean has 4.4 times the gunk of natural sea water.
* Aqua Craft Bio-Sea MarineMix has 5.8 times the gunk of natural sea water.
And the Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to...