Water (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

Do you guys think it is cheaper to fill a 40g with saltwater from a LFS or buying those really expensive bags of salt and mixing yourself? I would think the water quality would be better from the LFS at least.

 

[Wildfire]

Do you guys think it is cheaper to fill a 40g with saltwater from a LFS or buying those really expensive bags of salt and mixing yourself? I would think the water quality would be better from the LFS at least.

If you already have the RO/DI I would think it would at least be more conveinient to mix at home. If you don't, then the quality / expense is definitely a concern....

 

[incysor]

It's cheaper to go the RO/DI route. Most of the LFS sell salt water for about .89 a gal. With tax that's gonna be right at $1 per gallon. I can buy a bucket of salt that will make up close to 200gal of salt water for $40-$50. Even with the water bill going up a bit due to the RO/DI waste it's still cheaper, and it's more convenient.

Of course I've never bought more than 20gals of so from a store. I'm not sure if they come down on the price if you're a regular customer that buys a ton of water from them.

B

 

[Rick]

Where and what kind of salt do you use? I've heard that oceanic is the best has more nutients in it that the corals like? I've been using Instant Ocean.

Thanks
Rick

 

[tvu]

FYI

FishLand sells saltwater for .79
T&T sells for .75 (might be able to use MARSH discount also)

I have RO at home which I use for top-off but I personally find it more convienent to buy replacement water from LFS.

 

[incysor]

I'm actually kind of leery about oceanic after reading several folks having serious tank crashes after using contaminated oceanic salt. I started my tanks with crystal seas bio assay salt....And I really liked it. It disolved quickly and totally, my tanks were extremely stable for 2yrs using it. Global was the only place in town that carried it, and John stopped after finding major discrepencies in the mix with a couple pallets. (He sent in samples to a lab)

I've been using Kent since then, and I'm almost out. It's been fine, but I started having high phosphate levels with the Kent that I never had with the crystal seas. Even after moving, reducing my bioload severely, and replacing my sandbed, cleaning the sump, I still have high phosphate levels. I'm not going with Kent again. I may have to try and order the crystal seas since nobody in town carries it.

B

 

[Rick]

I bought water from Tropical Fish Depot, and I'm pretty sure the salinity was at 1.019 or lower. So I'll either need to find another place on the south side to buy water or make it myself... cause I don't want to buy and then still need to add salt to the pre-made from Tropical Fish Depot.

Thanks, wish there were some better stores on the south side.

Rick

 

[Guest]

I guess I will make my own water, but after incysor's message, I have no idea what salt to get now

 

[DRH]

If it were me, I'd use Instant Ocean. They have been making marine salt since I started in this hobby 25+ years ago. So many others have come and gone but IO is still around. Just my .02.

 

[Guest]

Thats what I have always used to and will continue. Thanks

Eric