What Salt do you use?

[Jason McK]

Very good system Chin. I guess I don't trust myself enough to add a perscribed dose of something without measureing again. I'm wrong too often.

[untamed]

I'm getting 7.4dKH on the batch of Ocean Pure Pro that is in the mixer right now. I also checked the salinity, and I'm a bit low. I assume that if I add additional salt, I'll get some rise in this number.

It's made me realize that I can't just put 50 gallons of water and 1 bag of salt and expect the salinity to be correct. I never accurately calibrated the 50 gallon mark on my mixer....maybe it's not exactly right.

[danny zubot]

I assume that if I add additional salt, I'll get some rise in this number.

Maybe, but I didn't get any rise when I did my change last weekend after I corrected my salinity. It still read 7.4.

[Reefer Rob]

So if IO salt is that much out on the levels we test for, we can only assume the trace elements we don't test for are out as well! Even though I'm not having any problems, I think I'll try some TMP next time. What is everyone getting for reading with Reef Crystals? This is supposed to be their "better" salt.

[littlesilvermax]

Thanks for the kind words Chin.

This is my theory:

You cannot just use dehydrated seawater to make sea-salt, as it goes through a chemical change when it dries that is not reversible, so it has to be synthetic.

Some companies use stuff that dissolves very fast and is proven to work fairly well, like IO. In fact I can have a full 45 gallons of water made up (not including time to make the RO/DI water) in 1/2 hour, and it is clear! That includes adding the magnesium and calcium.

Other companies try to get higher levels of magnesium and calcium but then it makes the whole thing harder to dissolve and much more expensive. Of course salt making companies would never introduce a salt that required 2 or 3 steps to make, even if that is a better procedure, which I believe it is.

I have read too many stories of the "reef" salts causing problems long term. Although there have been a few complaints from IO, for the most part there are many fantastic reef tanks that use it w/o problems.

So, what if a 2 or 3 step process is better? What does it cost? How easy is it?

Well I buy a couple of skids of IO every year for the locals and I test one pail for alk, cal, and mag. I have always come up with around 10, 350, 1180.

That is the only testing I have done for the last 5 years on my salt, once a year! I mix up my water 45 gallons at a time. I use 6 teaspoons of calcium and about 350 ml of magnesium that I mix into the water before adding salt. Then the next day (or an hour later, whatever, as long as it is mixed, FWIW I use 2 large submersible pumps to mix and heat my water so it goes really fast!) I add the salt. It literally takes me less then 45 seconds to add the magnesium and calcium, and it costs about $2 a pail!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have the best tank around, but I am close. I get about 3 lbs of growth a month out of my SPS and clams in my 250.

Take it for what it is worth, but to me the above procedure just makes sense. I had to bang my head in the wall many times to get it all figured out when I was first getting into reefing, but now it is super easy!

[Reefer Rob]

What about strontium and iodine, have you tested for those? It's still up in the air how important these are, but it's a good idea to keep everything as close to NSW as possible IMO.

[Chin_Lee]

OK Ben I need to ask how you measure 3 lbs of growth in a month?
And interesting thing about testing the pallet of salt only once to get the baseline readings. Do you check for markings on the buckets to ensure they are the same batch? If so, what markings do you look for for the batch number?

And I do agree that there have been so many great tanks in the past and present that used IO, I have to wonder if the comparisons of salt brands becomes just a comparison of numbers game based on the analysis on a batch of salt that was available at that time to the persons conducting the analysis. Its interesting that I've have even seen these numbers deviate on different analysis with the same brands of salt but yet we will base so much of our decisions on these analysis.
Personally i feel that consistency is the key regardless of what salts you use. If you are consistent with the Ca/Mg/Alk in your new water to match the current levels in your tank, you can't go wrong. Meanwhile take more time to work on getting the Ca/Mg/Alk in your whole tank up to the levels you wish to maintain instead of spending time on that small batch of saltwater which is only 10-15% of your total volume. And when you mix in the new saltwater, the numbers are diluted 85-90% of the difference.

[Jason McK]

First off I'm very happy to see that this topic has gotten so much attension. Good to see some descusion on the board.

Chin Can't agree with you more. That is the main reason I started this thread, is because of the massive fluctuations I was finding in my current salt. I will be quite gun shy for a while and don't think I will be able to only test my salt once a year. I also do not buy salt in such a large quanaty to ensure I get one batch number that lasts a whole year.
I have also been reading about certain fillers that can be used in Salt, like Borate, to boost ALK but Borate is not used by corals so it creates a difficiency in ALK. I personally have no way of measureing for such chemicals so it makes it hard to trust any salt.

J

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by littlesilvermax

...... I use 6 teaspoons of calcium and about 350 ml of magnesium that I mix into the water before adding salt. .....

Just want to confirm.....the 350 ml of Mg.....is that a dry measure?......or do you mean grams?

Thanx much,

[kaboom]

IMO, there are way too many choices to choose from and all it does is add to the confusion. I like to stick to 4 basic, yet important criterias when choosing a salt brand.

1. cal,alk,meg levels
2. consistantancy
3. price
4. availability

1 - not that important as most are in managable range of 360 - 400ppm +, levels can easily and cheaply be modified with Ca reactor or additives, so I have no worries here
2 - I believe this is the most important criteria, whether it's lacking or not of any substances, it must be consistant from one bucket to the next. Most brands are pretty good most of the time. Brands like Tropic Marin wins here.
3 - There has to be a reason why some brands stick out as been the cheapest or most expensive. Lacking or too much of an ingredient(s) or processing precedure. I really don't know why OceanPure and TropicMarin prices are so different.
4 - has to be available upon request, shouldn't have to pre-order or pay extras for bringing it in.

So by following these step, I've made it easier for me to determine which is the most economical, most often available, and doesn't require alot of adjustment. Here's an example:

I run a large calcium reactor which takes care of the 3 levels in criteria #1.
I test every new batch of salt water that I make before adding to the tank, so if it's low on something I just use additives to boost it first and leave the rest to the Ca reactor. I don't use the expensive salt that are $60+ per/bucket because I don't need to, it's pointless. My brand of choice has been InstantOcean because it's cheap, readily available, has been consistant for me in the past 5 years. There are few brands in the same price range, but none that have been around for as long, so I go with what works. I am currently testing the new AquamedicReefSalt, it's readily available and is in the same price range as IO with higher levels of Ca, Alk, Meg.