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Interesting question. Synthetic sea salt is of course made to buffer water ( 8.2 pH), add hardness ( loads of minerals) and at recommended doses bring specific gravity to 1021-1026. Really all we want and need is the specific gravity part. The rest is paid for and counter productive. A bag of solar salt ( 40- 50 pounds) is $5- $ 7 ?! The same weight in sea salt is $40-80?? True it goes further in a freshwater application but it brings along this minor baggage of too high a pH and too much hardness-again, no big deal in the amounts that will be used but -- why add it??
Natural sea water is usually right on the dot 1023-1024. So it is a question of how much you use to just get the salinty to the values we want and know as 'pounds per gallon' or mg/l. That could be tricky. It fine for the typical 'feel good splash for good luck' practices most beginners want to practice but hardly a controlled dose? Also , sea water is loaded with plankton and you are right, they will die from osmotic change - but then they are 'dead' in the water you are putting the fish in?? Have you ever smelled stale, warm standing sea water- yuck! In small amounts, diluted, it is just less offensive.
IMHO, JR
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