The Puffer Forum

I just realized that my 45 gallon tank for one small GSP actually requires a ton of salt to maintain... I keep the salinity at 1.018, and every week the change of water takes 6 to 7 cups of reef salt. I am running out of the $80 per bucket marine salt within 3 months.
I did some research and am wondering if it is ok to use just the pure natural sea salt to make the tank water, since I don't have any corals or other sea creatures in the tank.
I found the aurora brand or deltasal brand of Mediterranean Sea Salt claim that they were made by using natural sunlight and wind dry process on sea water, with no additive, no anti-caking agent, no any chemicals added on top of it. The price is almost 1/4 of any petshop sold sea salt mix. I don't see any reason why not to use it for my GSP tank? Any advice?

No, the minerals you need are only in marine salt. Bump up the SG to 1.020 & you can move over to marine filtration: 1 1/2-2 lbs live rock/gal, 2 powerheads & a protein skimmer. Initially, this is costly but after all is said & done, you can easily do 25% WC every 3 weeks. Please look into "curing live rock". What brand salt are you using?

Right now I'm using Omega sea premium reefsalt. But I don't keep live coral and don't plan to. I read that if I only keep fish, they don’t need the additional minerals added in the marine salt. Doesn't nature sea salt have minerals in it?

I don't suggest using water from the ocean, as it comes with pathogens that fish in captivity may struggle with. You may use the least expensive marine salt, that's usually Instant Ocean.

I think the Instant Ocean is as expensive as the other ones here in Canada. The natural sea salt I'm talking about seems to be food grade. I don't think it will carry any pathogens.

IO is the cheapest salt around because it doesn't include the minerals for corals. You need marine salt, not sea salt.

Like I said, I don't have live corals in my tank...

That's why I said to go with the cheapest--usually Instant Ocean. Your FISH still need the minerals in that product.