I am about to switch to red sea blue bucket myself. used to use neomarine but Alk mixes up much lower than noted more like 6.5-6.8 dkh so I always have to dose up before water change. I used to use TMP for a long time until the damaged caused by the salt mix issues out of Turkey plant a bit ago.Red Sea blue. Worked well for for my targeted parameters range. It does leave some crud in the mixing bin. Red Sea provides ICP results for each batch of salt mix.
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IO & RC used to be a huge cost difference to other salt mixes which is why many reefers gravitated to it, but now all salts are closely priced very close which I feel more other salts are being used now. also high Mag. too.Instant Ocean Reefcrystals. I have been using it for many years. Nothing special, just basic good salt mix that always available.
Instant Ocean is commonly used in coral farms, public aquariums, research facilities etc.
All salt mixes are based on a formula in public domain, that is why no one can have a patent on their salt mix.
To debunk several myths:
1. All salt mix are synthetic which means all chemicals are mixed together by machine, as you can’t redissolve dried ocean water.
2. The major component of a salt mix is sodium chloride, which is mined and purified by several major companies in the world and sold to salt mix manufacturers. The sources of sodium chloride are the ocean and salt mines, there is nothing “natural” or “unnatural” about sodium chloride.
3. The major cost of salt mix is production scales and shipping cost. An expensive salt mix does not mean higher quality.
that’s usually what happens with everything these daysIO changed owner that lead to the price increase.
So when I say natural levels I mean I run my tank pretty close to sea levels of elements and “if” I do a water change I want to stay as close as possible to what my tank runs at.Red Sea blue bucket. I try to keep everything closer to natural levels