Salt
1) what salt do you use? 2) where do you buy it? 3) would you be interested in a group buy?

1) Reef Crystals 2) Got it as a gift but I believe Dr. Foster Smith since I don't believe it's available locally. 3) I would. I would like to see what the local stores can get it for and if it's close I'd rather order through them if possible. I am interested in switching to red sea pro as I've heard nothing but good things about it.

same as matt, reefcrystals but at 31.99 (41.99$ to the door) its gonna be hard to beat the drs f&s. i need a couple buckets too...im down to 1/2 of a bucket

How many buckets make up a "Group Buy"?

I don't know but I have read a few threads about buying together to save money on shipping. I think we would have to check each site to see if they offer discounts for cases/flats.

I go down to Sac. But I read on the RC MARS board people there get it from DRF&S too. Some crazy deals. With their prices I imagine you'd need a container full to qualify for any further discount.

I think at 7 buckets the quit charging more for shipping... I think it maxes out around $20

I had looked into other sites and they had an additional $20 charge due to extra weight. I can't believe the difference in price. Right now 29.99, you can buy 2 for 59.98 and the shipping is only 9.99 (for 2!). I guess you are right, the group buy isn't going to help.

So I order the two (adding any more would have increased the shipping again) and they sent me a tracking number for each bucket. Thought that was funny.

The UPS guys have fun with those too :P

As sad as it is I even buy it from DR FS sometimes due to the cheaper price. I have always used I.O. R.C is supposed to have good amounts of MG and CA but there have been a lot of bad batches lately and either way I have to dose CA. and Alk. daily so I buy the cheaper salt. I switched to Oceanic once and regreted it for months due to high Phosphate levels. If I were to ever switch it would be too Coralife or the Red Sea Pro!

I buy from doc 2 I usally buy its 40$ for the big bucket - shipping which i used to buy the smaller size for the same price from the stores But would i be better off buying reef crystles? is it a healthier salt mix?

Oceanic has issues and isnt a great, or even good salt. too much calcium and not enough alk i think. something like that. i used it for a year and switched to RC reefcrystals is a much better salt although it is having issues as of late too. IO is still the king of salts and even it needs some love to make it right. Like rob said, red sea pro is showing itself to be one of the better mixes out there i've never used it but i cant say i've heard any bad about it. i've considerd switching too. but it is a bit more on the spendy side. it all boils down to how much work do you want to do to get the proper mix that works for you.

thanks .. I will be switching on my next order :yourock: