# Kent marine salt



## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Is this garbage? Depends on who you ask


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Here is my two cents about Kent from a person who has used both Kent and IO and IORC.

IORC is definitely a all-in-one type of salt where you don't have to fool around with too much dosing or additives. Very stable salt and very reliable.

IO is it's cheaper sister and although it isn't meant for reefing right out of the box, it is still a great salt for softies, leathers, shrooms, and anems. IO also works very well with tanks that are being dosed since there is no worries with variations in salt with minerals and additives.

Kent is actually a really good salt for what it is. It's cheap and does the job very well.
Although...
This is just my observation from using it for over a year in my tank...
The salt mixed at 10.5dKh when it was mixed at 1.026 and the calcium levels seemed a bit low at 400-380. This does work for most peoples tanks but I found that if I didn't do a standard WC every week the dKh would keep dropping at an alarming rate. As the days went on for some reason with Kent I would find that the dKh would dip down to 8.0 and the lowest was 7.1. Why is that? I have no idea!! But, I've never had this problem with IO or IORC...just seems more stable.

With Kent the salt mixes a light brown/cloudy color for the first bit and isn't as fine as other "premium" salts so it takes more time to mix. Also leaves a brown film at the bottom of the mixing container so you'll have to get use to that. It's whatever they put in the mix.

Bottom line:
Kent salt is a cheap alternative salt for people who don't have the heavy load on tanks or who are just getting into reefing and want to save some money. Will this salt work? Yes, it does work! It works well! I kept my tank up and running with this salt for over a year now and only had a few problems with it.

Is it good for you? That is your choice. It is definitely less expensive than other salts out there and you will be saving money in the long run, but you have to take the "pros" with the "cons." I would recommend this salt for beginners that aren't looking for anything other than keeping a tank and watching it grow a bit. 

Would I recommend this salt for people keeping Hi end SPS and other Hi end corals? Definitely not, due to the inconsistencies in the salt mixes and dKh problems. With other hardy corals this won't be a problem, but put in a few pieces that are worth a bit more and I would go with something a bit more stable.

Again, my two cents and I hope this helps make up some minds out there.

Also sorry to hi-jack but I thought a unbiased opinion would help...oh wait...he has me on ignore anyways so he won't see this anyways...

Well to the people that are thinking about buying this salt I hope it helps


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## fury165 (Aug 21, 2010)

altcharacter said:


> Here is my two cents about Kent from a person who has used both Kent and IO and IORC.
> 
> IORC is definitely a all-in-one type of salt where you don't have to fool around with too much dosing or additives. Very stable salt and very reliable.
> 
> ...


Quoted for visibility 
I'm surprised that your CA was only between 380-400. From what I understand the normal readings were over 500ppm. 
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714505

I will agree with you on the notion that IO is a great salt for folks looking to dose and tweak their trace elements. You are in control, and not at the mercy of unreliable batches from manufacturers. Of course you should be testing for what ever you are adding, but I also test my salt mixes with every new batch.

When I started saltwater 4+ years ago I started with high end salts...I used them for at least 8 months to a year before moving on. then I started to pay more attention to the ROTM and read what the *experts* over there were using, funny thing was a lot of them were using plain old Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals. Says something...


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Consistency is definitely key when it comes to reefing


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## uniboob (Dec 29, 2012)

D&D is where it's at. All the info you need to know. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## rburns24 (Jan 31, 2011)

-
This tank was IO. 
http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40371
-


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## Flexin5 (Nov 12, 2011)

But but but, IO is NOT suitable for reefs.


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## fury165 (Aug 21, 2010)

Freakin' corals don't read forum posts or what?


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

This one was IO only and never used any dosing. I cry when I see this one 



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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*what he said....*

The floor is open.........


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

sig said:


> This one was IO only and never used any dosing. I cry when I see this one


Was this the tank your wife was going to bury you in as a casket?


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

altcharacter said:


> Was this the tank your wife was going to bury you in as a casket? [/QUOT
> 
> till today she swears that I sold this beauty
> 
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## notclear (Nov 5, 2011)

I also didn't understand why you sold it.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

notclear said:


> I also didn't understand why you sold it.


For me process is fun and when result achieved - move on

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