A General Guide to Salt Mixes

[rekk]

I post this on the other thread. See Randy post here, maybe he can help me explain why?

For pass year I been using red sea coral pro. Two weeks ago, I decide to give Coralife salt a try. I don't know if it just me, but I had mix the salt two times now. Both time my water mix turn cloudness after about 1 hr in to mixing. I am using RO/DI water. The first time, I put the salt in the mixing container then add water (7 gallons). I thouhgt maybe I over saturated the water with this method. So second time, I fill up the whole 7 gallons water and add the salt slowly with power head running. What I don't understanding is both time, the water seems to clear up about 30 min in to mix after all the salt disolved. I always leave salt mix over night with red sea pro, before I change water. So I thought I will do the same for corllife. But both times, after about an hour, the water start geting milky and stay like that never clear up again. Do you experience the samething? Is corallife design to mix and change right the way? how come it clear up for the first 30 mins then the more I give it mix the more cloudy it get? I don't understand???
I read somewhere the cloudness is the cause of percipetation of CA. I had try tropica marine pro, red sea pro before, once they clear up they stay clear. I really don't know what is in the corallife salt.

 

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

The new Coralife mix is high in Ca+. That's probably what is going on here. Maybe you are using a bucket and getting uneven amounts as stuff tends to settle in a bucket. Maybe you are putting too much mix in such a small amount of water? But you said you were doing it slowly and mixing with powerhead. I think this new mix was tested to have 500 Ca+. Maybe you need less of the new mix and you are putting in the same amounts you use to? I would put just a little in and then test the salinity. When that is right ck. the pH, Ca, Alk. If you are using a bucket try putting 1/2 in another bucket or something and mix it all around to try an even it all out then store it in smaller containers. I'm gonna get some Coralife just as soon as my Instant Ocean runs out and I'm not buying buckets anymore.

 

[rekk]

Well, I will give that a try next week when I do my weekly water change. Thanks SCIFI.
But what I don't understand is how would water clear up first then the longer it get mixed the more milkier it gets? The container I use is a clear food grade container. When I pouring the salt, it got the initial cloudness which is no biggy. I would said the water clarity is approx. 50%. About 30 min. later the water clarity reachs about 95%. I can clear see power head in the bottom of container and there is no visible salt left at the bottom of tank. But it starts down grade from there. One hour later, the whole soultion turn into cloudy white water. I let it run thru the night, it does not go way.

BTW, I mix the salt per the instructuion it came with. Since this is new salt i am trying, I acturally use digitial scale to weight out oz. per gallons ratio both times. The salinity and PH come out pretty much right on the spec. I have not have chance to test the CA and ALK yet. I really don't want to thru away the water, so I made my water change with it. Since I only doing about 12% wate change each week, the majority of tank water are still contiain red sea salt mix. The cloudness kind goes away about 10 min mix with the main tank water. So far no ill effect.
O, Ya! that remine me, the bucket acurally come with 3 seperated sealed bags. I might give another bag a try next week.

 

[lukinrats]

I can tell you this Rekk... I did not read the directions for the salt when I mixed it, but if I had to guess, I would say that the direction probably suggested 1/2" cup of salt per gallon of water... I measured what it took to mix 5 gallons of water... If I would have followed the 1/2" cup per gallon, then I would have put 2.5 cups in my 5 gallons of water... I did not follow this rule of thumb, and it took me 2.25 cups to make 5 gallons to 35

So, how many cups of salt did you put in your 7 gallons? Did you put 3.5 cups?
If you were to go by my measurement, you would put .45 cups per gallon... Meaning you would put just a little less than 3 1/4 cups of salt to make your 7 gallons

May not mean anything, but if you put the 3.5 cups in 7 gallons then the salt could have been a little strong, and may have caused a precipitation

Later,
Nathan

 

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

That chemical reaction, precipitation, might just take time to happen. I don't remember how the entire reaction occurs.

Oh yea. Coralife comes in a bucket with 3 separate bags.. or you ordered a bucket and they sent you 3 bags. I read that Marinedepot is sending out 3 bags instead of buckets. Maybe it's not a supply thing but people are complaining more about buckets have stuff settle in them and giving you a totally diff. concentration from top to bottom. I would ask Coralife too, even if you get help here first.

Maybe you are mixing it wrong... but if you salinity is where it should be then it's ok. Ck. what you're measuring salinity with too. That could be a dangerous thing to make a mistake on.

 

[rekk]

Nathan, thanks for replies. I see you found this thread too.
I used to just go with cup measureing method with red sea pro. But since I am trying the new salt, I like to take extra caution to meause it out with ditigal scale. The directions that come with salt states 4 cups per 10 gal or 0.29lb per gal of water, so I weight out 32.48 ounces. (0.29lb x 7 gallons =2.03 lb x 16 = 32.48 oz ). I think my math is correct. As I said, I did this two times, one last week and one last night, same measument and same result. And I know the digitial scale is not off. I notice on your thread, you said your water mix temp is around 81F. I am wondering if water temp. would play the role there.....Its been pretty hot here, I think my ro/di water temp is somewhere around 83 to 85...I'll pay attention nex time.

SCIFI, good suggestion. I'll try to email Corallife to get some feedback too. BTW, I bought my bucket in local Petsmart store. They price match with Dr. F&S. Love the free T-shirt that come with it tho. wondering if you got a free T-shirt if marinedepot just sending out 3 bags? Wife likes the shirt and wants one too, i told her I get one for her next time when I buy a new bucket, but if this cloudness continute, i might have to give up on it and try some other salt. Oh, and I meaure the salinity with Refractometer that I calibrate with pinpoint salinity calibration fluid to 35ppt, I think my salinity measurement is not that far off either.

 

[subman719]

I'd like to add my 2 cents to the precipitation of the Coralife topic... I too get the milkiness when mixing up a fresh batch but I don't sweat it anymore because it does go away after a while. I have a 30gal high tank with a 150 watt heater and 1600gph powerhead that mixes it. I have a salinity gauge in the tank that I calibrated with my refractometer and marked it at 1.025sg. (those plastic jobs aren't the most accurate). I fill the tank with fresh RO/DI water (while the pump and heater are on) and pour in about 2/3 's of the bag of salt. Let it mix for a while and check the gauge. Then I keep adding a little more salt until it hits the 1.025 mark and "bingo"... done! I don't bother checking the other measurements on the mixing tank because of the slow dilution when added to my sump. Whatever Coralife's readings happen to be seem to be working great!!! Since switching to it from the Coral Pro, my hair algae went away and now my coraline algae and corals are blooming like crazy!!! I ordered 3 pails of the salt when Foster & Smith had it on sale so I have 3 shirts for anyone who wants them... love the shirt but looks like a night gown on me! (just a tad too big!) LOL

 

[rekk]

Interesting, Subman. Thx for shaing your experience.
It sounds like you also switch from red sea to coralife. Althought, i don't have hair algae when I use coral pro, but I got this Udotea sp. (AKA Mermaid’s Fan) algae grow on my rocks. It is not as invasive as hair alage but nothing I do seems to get rid of it. That is also why I decide I am done with red sea brand after two buckets.
It seems like you have a good experience with corallife. I really don't like to change different brands of salt all the time. I guess I'll give coralife a try for a little longer and maybe try different way to mix it. Hopfuly, I will have good result as you do.

 

[OceanAV]

Just wanted to share my experience with Tunze Reef Excel Lab Marine Salt.
I was using Tropic Marine for the last year - consistent with CA around 350ppm and Alk around 9.2dKH. After seeing the numbers on page 1 I thought that CA and Alk of Tunze Salt is pretty close to what I would like to see in my tank. So, I got 2 bags from PA. Mixed 8gallons of RO/DI to 1.025 (checked with calibrated refractometer). Let it mix for 24 hours with MJ1200 at 79F. Took measurements and got the following (both tests are Salifert):
CA: 470ppm
Alk: 5.5dKH
It’s not a typo 5.5dKH â€"œ way too low IMHO. Added 0.6 tsp of Backing Soda to bump Alk and got it to 9.6dKH â€"œ much better, but I expected better from Tunze…
I’m on was my first bag. If second bag will produce different results â€"œ I will post here.

 

[Rickyrooz1]

Why did you only mix 8 gallons of water? hat's not very much to get a real accurate measurement because the salt mix isn't uniform. Every scoop has a different amount of elements and some settle at the bottom of the bucket.

 

[OceanAV]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12986189#post12986189 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rickyrooz1
Why did you only mix 8 gallons of water?

I am doing 8g water change every weekend on my 75g.

That's not very much to get a real accurate measurement because the salt mix isn't uniform. Every scoop has a different amount of elements and some settle at the bottom of the bucket.

I "mixed" the salt inside the bag before adding it to the water.
I will definitely check my next mix to see if these numbers change.

 

[oceannano]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11657194#post11657194 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aastretch64
I've had 3 buckets of reef crystals mixed to 1.026, and the calcium is only 380, mag is 1200, and alkalinity is 12. Tested with Sailfert. I am fed up with spending extra money to dose my salt mix!

Alex

I got the same results.... And I just picked up a new bucket of RC today! Looks like I'll be mixing it half & half with Coralife salt to bump up the Ca.

 

[Billybeau1]

I was hoping this was resolved by now.

I may have to update my numbers at some point.

 

[rick s]

Here are the results of my first bucket of H2Ocean salt. I was not able to "stir up" much of the dry salt in the bucket. I did stir up the top 2-3 inches. I aerated the freshwater prior to adding the salt, during the mixing, and then afterwards. Water tested 36 hours after mixing:

Mixed to 1.026(4-ish)

Alkalinity, 9dkh (Elos)
Calcium, 450 (Salifert)
Magnesium, 1440 (Salifert)
PO4, 0 (Salifert)

 

[calli]

D-D H2Ocean Magnesium Pro PLUS Salt Mix

Anyone use this new mix? the price is crazy...

Parameters when mixed to a S.G: of 1.025 @ 25°C = 35.5 ppt

pH 8.3
dKH 9.3
Calcium (Ca2+) 440
Magnesium (Mg2+) 1340

 

[calli]

LOL hey Rick sorry about that.. I just noticed your post...

did you have to add anything to the water?

 

[Linkblaze]

I'm getting the following with Reef Crystals mixed at 1.026:

Ca: 520 (API)
dKH: 12 (API)
Mg: 1290 (Salifert)

I must be getting the Calcium that other people are missing! Similar results on two buckets BTW. Maybe I'm doing the darn Ca test wrong, may take it to the LFS for independent confirmation.

 

[ksed]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13035443#post13035443 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by calli
D-D H2Ocean Magnesium Pro PLUS Salt Mix

Anyone use this new mix? the price is crazy...

Parameters when mixed to a S.G: of 1.025 @ 25°C = 35.5 ppt

pH 8.3
dKH 9.3
Calcium (Ca2+) 440
Magnesium (Mg2+) 1340

Price may be a little high but its the most consistant salt with those numbers on the market. I've tried RC ,TMP, IO and neither salt can match those # and consistancy IMO.

 

[Billybeau1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13039368#post13039368 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Linkblaze
I'm getting the following with Reef Crystals mixed at 1.026:

Ca: 520 (API)
dKH: 12 (API)
Mg: 1290 (Salifert)

I must be getting the Calcium that other people are missing! Similar results on two buckets BTW. Maybe I'm doing the darn Ca test wrong, may take it to the LFS for independent confirmation.

Dana, you alk and mag numbers are right on. I suspect you have a bad calcium kit or testing error.

 

[Billybeau1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13040687#post13040687 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ksed
Price may be a little high but its the most consistant salt with those numbers on the market. I've tried RC ,TMP, IO and neither salt can match those # and consistancy IMO.

I always say, there is a salt for everyone. I'm glad it works for you. That's all that counts, right