Marine Environment vs. Tropic Marine Pro salt

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02-14-2014, 09:50 PM
h20poloman

Marine Environment vs. Tropic Marine Pro salt

So I have been chatting a bit with Michael Del Prete, owner of Aqua Craft for a while now as I had used one of his mid-grade salts years ago but had changed to Red Sea Pro Coral and then over to Tropic Marin Pro for no real reason except ease of finding it. The main challenge with Aqua Craft salt is that you can only buy it online to my knowledge, I don't know any LFS's that sell it. I ended up getting 2 cases of it for Christmas and have done 4 water changes now with it and have to say I've been really happy with the results. I'm using his high end salt which is actually a 2-part salt, called Marine Environment. It comes with a little bottle of additives that you pour in and a previous RC TOTM refers to as "coral crack" and I think I'm going to have to agree with that statement.

Michael had referred me to talk to that TOTM owner as they had been loyal Tropic Marin users for many years but like some of the reviews on RC and other forums over the years there seemed to be bad batches (extremely low alk issues) on occasion. Most of you know I'm a lazy reefer and have automated as much as possible as I also can travel quite a bit for work. So while I don't have test results on the CA, Alk, and Mag upon mixing...I can say it has been the cleanest mixing salt I've ever used. No residue ever left and my corals have been responding well. I'm noticed increased color and growth in my SPS...not sure if it's 100% attributed to the salt but I'm only doing water changes at about 15% (25g) every 2-3 weeks.

You can buy the salt online at a 10% discount the first Wed of every month. The Marine Environment brand salt is not cheap. Aqua Craft has been providing salt to aquariums all over the world since the 70's and that seems to be their target market vs. the average hobbyist. For those of you that mix and the cost isn't an issue I'd suggest trying out a box of the 6 (25g) bags and see how the results are. At this point I'll be sticking with using Marine Environment.

http://aquacraft.net/products-page/m...n-tank-6-pack/
02-14-2014, 10:19 PM
Duke4130

So it is $120 for 25g... Am I reading this correctly... It does sound interesting
02-14-2014, 10:28 PM
CMD2213

Maybe the 6(25g) refers to
6x25g?
But I have been using Tropic marin since day 1, then as corals added over time switched to tropic marin pro reef. Now using the pro reef my levels are dead on love it easy quick dissolving and great quality I got a 5gal jug of pro reef salt on amazon for about $70+/- $2bucks

but if you could give detail as to whats the major leypoint benefits to tis salt you are using.
02-15-2014, 07:36 AM
h20poloman

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke4130

So it is $120 for 25g... Am I reading this correctly... It does sound interesting

Kevin, that is for 6 bags that are for 25 gallon water changes each so basically 150g worth of water changes for $120. They have some different options as well. Since I'm only doing water changes 2-3 weeks one of the boxes of 6 will last me about 4 months.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMD2213

Maybe the 6(25g) refers to
6x25g?
But I have been using Tropic marin since day 1, then as corals added over time switched to tropic marin pro reef. Now using the pro reef my levels are dead on love it easy quick dissolving and great quality I got a 5gal jug of pro reef salt on amazon for about $70+/- $2bucks

but if you could give detail as to whats the major leypoint benefits to tis salt you are using.

If your happy with your params and getting great color and growth in your corals I wouldn't necessarily recommend any changes as stability and consistency is typically the key to good results in a reef tank. Just wanted to make our fellow reefers aware of another product on the market that isn't necessarily highlighted by LFS or traditional online retailers. I'm stocked for a while with the salt I need but maybe when I'm due for another order I'll see if Michael will be open to a group buy and I'll post a thread in case some reefers are curious to want to try it out. I'm not sure exactly what type of additives are in the little bottle that comes in each bag but that seems to be the magic sauce for this salt. Maybe it's "roids." :)
02-15-2014, 09:44 AM
MustangBill

years ago when I was making my own water I always tried to use Marine environment, it was a bit hard to find and at the time I was only able to find it at AW locally. But I really liked that salt, it dissolved really well and quickly and plus the little bottle of trace elements was a plus,
02-15-2014, 11:20 AM
DaveMorris

I also noticed that the price includes shipping. With tax it is $128 shipped. Shipping salt can be expensive so if you are doing comparisons, make sure to include the cost of shipping when you do.
02-15-2014, 12:17 PM
CMD2213

Yea Amazon sometimes has good deals 78 with shipping for my tp pro reef better than 61997121040 in store

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
02-15-2014, 02:23 PM
Duke4130

Marine Environment vs. Tropic Marine Pro salt

Quote:

Originally Posted by h20poloman

Kevin, that is for 6 bags that are for 25 gallon water changes each so basically 150g worth of water changes for $120. They have some different options as well. Since I'm only doing water changes 2-3 weeks one of the boxes of 6 will last me about 4 months.

If your happy with your params and getting great color and growth in your corals I wouldn't necessarily recommend any changes as stability and consistency is typically the key to good results in a reef tank. Just wanted to make our fellow reefers aware of another product on the market that isn't necessarily highlighted by LFS or traditional online retailers. I'm stocked for a while with the salt I need but maybe when I'm due for another order I'll see if Michael will be open to a group buy and I'll post a thread in case some reefers are curious to want to try it out. I'm not sure exactly what type of additives are in the little bottle that comes in each bag but that seems to be the magic sauce for this salt. Maybe it's "roids." :)

I was trying to read it on my phone...lol
Thanks for the clarification
02-19-2014, 07:17 AM
Duke4130

Quote:

Originally Posted by h20poloman

So I have been chatting a bit with Michael Del Prete, owner of Aqua Craft for a while now as I had used one of his mid-grade salts years ago but had changed to Red Sea Pro Coral and then over to Tropic Marin Pro for no real reason except ease of finding it. The main challenge with Aqua Craft salt is that you can only buy it online to my knowledge, I don't know any LFS's that sell it. I ended up getting 2 cases of it for Christmas and have done 4 water changes now with it and have to say I've been really happy with the results. I'm using his high end salt which is actually a 2-part salt, called Marine Environment. It comes with a little bottle of additives that you pour in and a previous RC TOTM refers to as "coral crack" and I think I'm going to have to agree with that statement.

Michael had referred me to talk to that TOTM owner as they had been loyal Tropic Marin users for many years but like some of the reviews on RC and other forums over the years there seemed to be bad batches (extremely low alk issues) on occasion. Most of you know I'm a lazy reefer and have automated as much as possible as I also can travel quite a bit for work. So while I don't have test results on the CA, Alk, and Mag upon mixing...I can say it has been the cleanest mixing salt I've ever used. No residue ever left and my corals have been responding well. I'm noticed increased color and growth in my SPS...not sure if it's 100% attributed to the salt but I'm only doing water changes at about 15% (25g) every 2-3 weeks.

You can buy the salt online at a 10% discount the first Wed of every month. The Marine Environment brand salt is not cheap. Aqua Craft has been providing salt to aquariums all over the world since the 70's and that seems to be their target market vs. the average hobbyist. For those of you that mix and the cost isn't an issue I'd suggest trying out a box of the 6 (25g) bags and see how the results are. At this point I'll be sticking with using Marine Environment.

http://aquacraft.net/products-page/m...n-tank-6-pack/

Marlin I have a quick question for ya..... Is there 1 bottle of "coral crack" for the entire 6 bags or does each bag have its own bottle? Is there a posted ratio of how to mix the "Coral Crack" to amount of gallons being mixed or is it basically only for 25 gallon water changes? The reason I ask is because 25 gallons is half of my total water volume. Let me know when you get a chance. You know I am always in the market for the next best thing and I wouldn't mind giving it a shot. If you are saying that you went from TMP to this stuff and seeing improvements then it has to be good.

Thanks
Kevin
02-19-2014, 06:04 PM
h20poloman

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke4130

Marlin I have a quick question for ya..... Is there 1 bottle of "coral crack" for the entire 6 bags or does each bag have its own bottle? Is there a posted ratio of how to mix the "Coral Crack" to amount of gallons being mixed or is it basically only for 25 gallon water changes? The reason I ask is because 25 gallons is half of my total water volume. Let me know when you get a chance. You know I am always in the market for the next best thing and I wouldn't mind giving it a shot. If you are saying that you went from TMP to this stuff and seeing improvements then it has to be good.

Thanks
Kevin

Hey Kevin, each bag comes with it's own bottle and I believe they even sell a 50g bag of it but I'm going to guess the bottle is larger for that bag. I don't recall if they have a smaller bag then one that is made for 25g of water. You can check on their website.
02-19-2014, 07:15 PM
DaveMorris

I think I may try this on my 130 once I get it up and running. I've always used Scripps in the past, but without a truck it is too much of a hassle to go get it.
02-23-2014, 07:07 AM
h20poloman

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveMorris

I think I may try this on my 130 once I get it up and running. I've always used Scripps in the past, but without a truck it is too much of a hassle to go get it.

I've used Scripps on and off over the years and I've taken the behind the scene tour at Birch enough times to see how much filtration it goes through before it hits their reef tanks. It's a great resource and being free I definitely understand why people use it. If we continue to have such drastic drought conditions I'm anticipating I will need to start buying my RO/DI water instead of making it myself or worse case look to use Scripps at some point. Personally though I have experienced much more stable conditions making my own salt (just stay on top of your RO/DI TDS) but then again, I've learned a lot more over the years on how my excess feeding and other husbandry habits likely contributed to that instability. I'm a fan of what works for you, stick with it. Peter (SDguy) used Instant Ocean which is probably the cheapest salt out there in an SPS dominant tank (he does have access to extremely clean RO/DI water) and if my tank ends up looking half as good as what his did I'll be stoked. I know Ryan (Bogg) has had success with SPS for a long time using Scripps so I do realize it's possible - I'm sure other factors such as running a Zeovit, having a CA reactor, dosing, biopellets and all the additional technology plays a large part in that success with creating the ideal water chemistry in a closed system.

Over the past few weeks I've noticed my coralline growth is really coming on strong. My rock is really purple and the back wall of my tank is starting to get encrusted with it. Again, can't say it's ultimately due to the salt or CA Reactor but it's an observation I'm noticing since using this salt. Maybe the next time I mix I won't be so lazy and I'll at least test the params of the salt for CA, Alk and Mag. I've only been testing the salinity level of my mix before doing the water change. The growth of my SPS seems to be kicking up a notch but placement still plays an important factor in coloration and growth.