Salt mix tests

[gnatp2]

"OH NO!! another SALT STUDY... hasn't this been done a million times!"

Well a while back I noticed from my own tests that Tropic Marin pro had higher levels of phosphates in their salt mix.

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum...81-high-phosphates-tropic-marin-pro-reef.html

I decided to order a few different types of the different salts and give em some tests as I DON'T HAVE TO WORK FOR THE NEXT 3 WEEKS!!!!! yeah boy..... anyways. I thought this might be interesting. The buckets came today and here's what I got.

I'd like to state beforehand that I think that IO, ReefCrystals, tropic marin, Red Sea Pro, and corallife are all good salts. There are tons of people using each of these mixes with GREAT looking tanks. I don't think anyone should completely change what they are doing based on what I came up with below, but it may just get you thinking about a salt you haven't considered yet. Personally I take as gospel only what a few select people have to say in this hobby so if I were you, I wouldn't trust me!

Also, test kits aren't all that reliable. 2 people using the same test kit on the same sample of water will probably get fairly different results. This is because one guy will say "hmmm. I think this has turned purple.... wait, no maybe it is still kinda blue.... I'll add a couple more drops". Also, there are massively different results from different brands and different batches of test kits. So when you read these results keep that i mind. All these tests were done using the same kits so they should be good relative to one another.

So anyways, with that Disclaimer here ya go.
1) I opened the new buckets, gave them a stir (no i did not dump the salt from one bucket to another and back and forth.... just a good stir for a couple minutes on the top half)
2) I used 2 gallons of room temperature ro/di water tested at 0 TDS for each of the tests.
3) A sample from each of the 3 containers was taken out and tested for PO4 before salt was added (personally this is my biggest concern).
4) Salt was added and stirred to get to 35 ppt. After the salt looked clear and all of it was mixed, I left it for just an additional 15 minutes.
5) Equipment was busted out and testing was done. Each group of tests took about 45 minutes. For PH, I used a calibrated Neptune systems lab grade probe. For Calcium, Magnesium and Nitrate, Salifert test kits were used. For ALK I used Lamotte and did 2 tests each time just to double check and got the same results both times for all 3 tests. For PO4, I used a hanna meter.

Here are the results:
Red Sea Coral Pro:
PH: 8.14
ALK: 110 ppm or 6.2 dKH
Calcium: 440
Magnesium: 1320
Nitrate: < 1
Phosphate of RO/DI: .03
Phosphate of Salt mix: .05
TDS of RO/DI: 0

Reef Crystals: (note that there are multiple reports of "bad" batches of salt out there and it looks like I got one of them. I recommend that you end up testing your own batch to see if it is ok)
PH: 8.01
ALK: 200 ppm or 11.2 dKH
Calcium: 380
Magnesium: 1200
Nitrate: < 1
Phosphate of RO/DI: .04
Phosphate of Salt mix: .05
TDS of RO/DI: 0

Corallife. (Since the AWT tests came out and showed this to be a great candidate I decided to grab a bucket of it and give it a shot. )
PH: 7.95
ALK: 165 ppm or 9.3 dKH
Calcium: 510
Magnesium: 1380
Nitrate: < 1
Phosphate of RO/DI: .03
Phosphate of Salt mix: .02 (yeah, I know that the phosphates aren't LOWER after adding a salt mix, it is just what my meter came up with)
TDS of RO/DI: 0

Personal conclusions: I'm still trying to decide what to go with. I liked the fact that my phosphate results were semi-consistant with what AWT got where corallife was low. And all other parameters look really good except for calcium being on the high side. At the same time all of corallife's other products are pieces of crap. Reefcrystals no doubt has some issues right now and I will end up using this bucket but only after supplimenting some calc and mag. I'd like to retest in a couple months after they get this problem fixed. Red Sea Coral pro is a great salt except for the extremely low alk levels. I've gotten 3 buckets of this salt now and they all have low alk. I just add a little (actually a lot) of randy's part 1 and get this up to par. All in all, I would probably end up going with corallife if the company made other decent products, but I'm probably just gunna stick with my red seal coral pro.

Nate

 

[bigbris1]

Nice job Nate!

 

[mstrofdisaster]

Nice job indeed - I have my independent testing results for Oceanic if you want them to add to your list.

I'm surprised at the 380 Ca on Reef Crystals - shame on them!

 

[Tim]

If you want I can do Instant Ocean to add to the list also....

 

[ZANYMASTER]

I believe Seachem Reef had the lowest PO4 of them all.Gives you cal/mag and a steady high PH.Quit using Reef crystals.

 

[gnatp2]

Thanks for offering your own tests guys. Due to what I said in my disclaimer about different people coming up with different results, I would rather not include them. If enough people would really like to see additional results though, then I'd be willing to do additional tests. This project has been done a few times before though so my main purpose was just to prove to myself what the numbers were.

All in all, one take away from this is that everyone really should do a round of tests on each new bucket of salt since it looks like there can be variations batch by batch. It takes an hour of time, but takes out one part of the equation when you're trying to diagnose a tank problem.

Nate

 

[Wes]

i liked the Red Sea Coral Pro when i was using Ultralith because you are supposed to keep alk between 6-8 so it was perfect.

I no longer use Ultralith and I am currently using Reef Crystals and it is working out just fine for me. The subtle differences between each brand, IMO is splitting hairs. I am not concerned about what a fresh batch of water measures out to. I am concerned about what my tank parameters measure out to be w/ my regular regimen of water changes, Ca and kH dosing, phoshpate removal, etc.

 

[bigbris1]

I no longer use Ultralith...

Wes can you tell us why?

 

[Wes]

Wes can you tell us why?

in a nutshell i killed some expensive SPS.

It works but with just the smallest margin of error you are killing stuff.

for example i mentioned above u need to keep kH between 6-8. I slowly crept up above 8 kH and lost several acros. IMO, there are Easier ways to skin a cat.

 

[bigbris1]

Gotcha

 

[leoskee]

Where are all of these tests being conducted at? Unless they are not being done in a lab like setting I think most results are questionable. Also, given that the test kits we buy vary batch by batch and are affected by different variable, wouldnt it be best to conduct the research with lab grade instruments?

Ive been using IO for so long now that I wouldn't even bother changing unless the company screws something up and has to recall its salt. Its just not worth getting nutsy over all of this.

Disclaimer: No shots are being taken at anyone who decides to conduct these tests. If you like doing it then go for it. :Hydrogen:

 

[leoskee]

All in all, one take away from this is that everyone really should do a round of tests on each new bucket of salt since it looks like there can be variations batch by batch. It takes an hour of time, but takes out one part of the equation when you're trying to diagnose a tank problem.

Nate

I agree 100%. Very good suggestion.

 

[gnatp2]

Where are all of these tests being conducted at? Unless they are not being done in a lab like setting I think most results are questionable. Also, given that the test kits we buy vary batch by batch and are affected by different variable, wouldnt it be best to conduct the research with lab grade instruments?

These tests were done in a lab called my kitchen. I hear ya and that's what I wrote this.

Personally I take as gospel only what a few select people have to say in this hobby so if I were you, I wouldn't trust me!

Also, test kits aren't all that reliable. 2 people using the same test kit on the same sample of water will probably get fairly different results. This is because one guy will say "hmmm. I think this has turned purple.... wait, no maybe it is still kinda blue.... I'll add a couple more drops". Also, there are massively different results from different brands and different batches of test kits. So when you read these results keep that i mind. All these tests were done using the same kits so they should be good relative to one another.

So anyways, with that Disclaimer here ya go.

 

[bigbris1]

Tested my Reef Crystals just now:

Ca 325
Alk 10 dKH
PH 8.1
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0