high magnesium in oceanpure pro
 

i usually never test my water that i make up for water changes, i have been assuming that the levels are where they should be. silly me.

lately i have noticed my magnesium climbing higher and higher and today i tested it at 2000 ppm. now i know that oceanpure has high magnesium, usually around 1600 ppm, but that would not explain my high magnesium.

I have also had problems maintaining my alkalinity lately, so i finally checked the ocean pure. 2300 ppm magnesium. 6 dKH. pH 8.3. 350 ppm calcium.

so i went to golds and got a bag of reefcrystal since i used to use it about 6 months ago. 1400 ppm magnesium, 400 ppm Ca and 10 dKH. pH 8.3. thats more like it.

anyone else experience this with oceanpure?

Yes...I had batches of Ocean Pure Pro that read like that. As annoying as it is, I measure the Ca/Alk of every batch I mix now.

I often test around 1500 ppm on a new batch of oceanpure pro. My next bucket of salt won't be oceanpure pro though because of it's insane ammount of magnesium. I'd rather have something on the low side and dose it to my desired levels. It's easier to add calc/alk/mag than to remove it.

When you test make up water you can't just take a reading from a portion of salt from a bag, you need to mix the entire bag to get an accurate measurement. Otherwise you're going to get different results every time.

The pro is high in magnesium, if you find this level climbing you could simply switch to the regular.

Also Ocean Pure salt is low in ALK, I believe it contains higher than normal Boron levels which also in turn produces inaccurate results on the high end for test kits. Meaning with ocean pure salt you need to maintain higher than normal alkalinity to achieve normal alkalinity levels. Make sense?? I'm not 100% on this but do remember reading this a few places.

Not to add to it, but OP is also low in iodine which is bad for inverts, many users will find their crabs and shrimp parish more than normal.

I used this salt at one point but have since switched to TMP and much happier.

Tagging along.

it just seems much easier to use IO Reef Crystals at this point. i dont have to mix the whole bag, the levels are where I like to see them, and i dont have to worry about boron messing with my test kit.

sphelps.. im not sure what you mean i have to maintain even higher ALK with the oceanpure. my elos dKH test kits reads 6 dKH with the ocean pure. i would like it to be around 9. so what you are saying is that it has to read like 11 to be 9?? Im very confused now.

like i said. seems much easier with the IO RC. tests perfect. even in little batches which works better for me as i dont have room for a 50 gallon drum of premixed water.

calkog, IO might not be the ideal either. From old pail for CA/Mg/Alk(dKH) was getting 325/1100/11, new pail I started 300/900/11.

Geeze, Louise.... how freaking hard is it to manufacture a consistent product? It isn't like they can't use measuring cups, is it? I understand that a dry mix can settle and separate -- it's why, in part, I applaud OPP shipping their "buckets" in smaller sealed plastic bags inside the pail. But every salt mix I've ever tried has had anomolous tests: Red Sea, IO, IO RC, Kent, and now OPP. To be fair, I'm just finishing up my last bucket of IORC, and haven't gotten into my OPP yet, but I guess I'll have to test/adjust it, too.

I think I'd pay extra for a salt that was mixed to solution and then re-dried. It should be uniform, right? There's that one that is a gel, too (Fritz?), but I don't know anyone who uses it.

Maybe I'm too fickle, but I'd rather have a mix-it-and-forget-it salt, instead of something that requires six different tests and additives before I can do a freaking water change! I might as well start with the raw ingredients and make my own.

Sorry for the hijack rant. Anyone want to buy a couple of buckets of OPP?

Rant is justified....and I'll add to it. Why can't the salt manufacturers even tell us what is actually IN their salt? TMPR goes as far as to list a bunch of elements, but doesn't say in what concentration any of them are.

Boron in OPP? That's the first I've heard of that. It certainly doesn't say so on the packaging.

None even state what they expect the Ca/Alk levels should be when properly mixed to specific SpG with RO/DI water. If they can't even get the Ca/Alk levels correct, how am I supposed to believe that the trace elements are even close?

Have you ever tested TMP to phosphates. That'll scare you

What!! I am switching over to this stuff.

I agree, my last 2 buckets have been OPP but I think I will try reef crystals for a while. I haven't had any really high mag readings with the OPP but I'd rather have something that needs a little boost.

I am not a big fan of the Ocean pure pro and will also be going back to RC.

I'm just about to try OPP, and may not actually try it. Instead I may continue to use Red Sea Coral Pro after reading this thread.

I am with the rest of you. I bought 10 pails of OPP. I like the idea of the individual packing. I do a 50 gal water change weekly and I like being able to dump in a single bag without having to measure 24 cups of salt. However, my Mg is 1500-1600. On Saturday the Ca was 501 with the OPP using the pinpoint monitor? I am also going to switch to another brand of salt.
I also agree why can't they list the composition and concentration of chemicals in their salts?

Yes if you want a true alk of 9dkh, you need to aim for 10-11dkh on the test kit, you may want to try and search for more info on this though, I'm not 100%

sphelps.. that is just too much trouble with the OPP. its at like 6 dKH. i would need a hell of a lot more ALK.

but i guess im just lucky the bag of IO RC is bang on. perhaps the next one wont be.

does anyone have good experience with salt that is consistant ?

I'm happy with Tropic Marine Pro, I did test the phosphate and got 0 with my elos test kit, I wasn't getting zero with OPP. Ever since I switch my corals have responded much better, no more low alk burns and much better color. There's something not right about OP, I guess probably cause it's a cheap salt straight from China.

I just had a talk with the distributor for OceanPure Pro and the batch in question is I-25.

For anyone with salt from this batch, keep touch in this thread. Jason from Proline Aquatics is working on a correction, resolution and compensation for this problem.

Albert

FWIW...I just tested my make-up water yesterday and the Mg was at 1590ppm. Oh, and just because we all like numbers, Ca was at 445ppm and Alk was 7dKH.

Albert
I24,is the batch number in question.
Regards
Proline

I also use TMP-reef since day one it is more money but I think it's worth it, but who knows for sure?!
I don't measure Po4 but use Po4 remover reactor and change media monthly regardless.

I would be very interested if someone here could test TMP-reef for every bodies benefit.

How about we all Pay Pal few bucks to a volunteer with knowledge, desire and expertise to do some testing and let us all know what is the best of the best?
What do you guys think?

My buckets say c-108 and c-109. I'll have to test them, but I'm optomistic.

I've had high Mg levels from OPP as well. From batch C-09 I measured the following:

SG= 1.025 (refractometer)
Mg= 1800 (Salifert)
Ca= 500 (Elos)
Kh= 9 (Elos)
pH= 8.0 (Salifert)

Mg seems goofy-high, but the Mg level in the tank has risen past 1600 ppm. I'm struggling to maintain alk in the tank even though the new salt alk seem ok, so I'm not sure if the salt is the issue. I'll post that in a separate thread soon.

Looks like I'll be switching salts as well.

Anyone else getting Ca ~500 besides ed99 and myself? I have just switched to IO RC and will add some OPP to increase the Ca and Mg slightly until my 5 buckets of OPP are gone.