Salt Mix

Name: Instant Ocean Salt Mix
Brand: Instant Ocean

Water & Salt · Salt

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In stock

The most common reef salt in North America. Regular for FOWLR, Reef Crystals for reef, Sea Salt for QT. Baseline benchmark.

Type

Dry salt mix — combine with RODI to 1.026 SG

Yield

200 gal / bucket

~400 ppm

Alk

~9 dKH

~1,300 ppm

Summary

The default reef salt in the US market. Regular Instant Ocean is used on FOWLR + softies; Reef Crystals adds calcium + trace boost for SPS/LPS. Consistent batch chemistry, wide availability, sub-$1 per gallon mixed. What most reefers start with.

Best forany reef budget — the baseline salt other salts get compared to Mountn/a — dry salt mix, mix with RODI to 1.026 SG Skill beginner

Full specifications

Type Dry salt mix — combine with RODI to 1.026 SG

Yield 50-200 gallons per unit

Ca 400-430 ppm (Reef Crystals: 430)

Alk 9-11 dKH (Reef Crystals: 11)

Mg ~1,300 ppm

Availability US mass-market — Petco, Amazon, BRS all stock it

What sells it / What holds it back

✓ Pros

✓ Cheapest way to enter reefkeeping — 200 gal box under $90

✓ Consistent batch chemistry (better QA than boutique brands)

✓ Available everywhere — no hunting for shipping-restricted brands

✗ Cons

✗ Reef Crystals is fine but Fauna Marin / Tropic Marin pull SPS color better

✗ Alk out-of-box (~9 dKH) is on the low end for high-nutrient tanks

✗ No trace additions like Aquaforest or Fauna Marin salts

Where to buy

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