A General Guide to Salt Mixes

[stratos21ss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13893193#post13893193 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
Thanks for your input. It seems if I want to focus on carbonate alkalinity , this is the wrong mix for me!

Some people using systems like zeovit seem to believe that precise control of alkalinity (and that being mostly carbonate alkalinity) near the 7-8 dKH range is important, and if so, then yes, I'd select a different mix.

You're welcome and Happy Reefing .

My ULNS alk is in the 6.5-7.0 range..I am tired of trying to figure out what the values really are with my SCRS water changes. If I switch to another salt and perform 10% changes with makeup water at 10.0 alk into my system with 6.5 alk - what is the rate of increase and will it harm (burn tips) of SPS?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I do not know about levels of alkalintiy in ULNS that might cause burnt tips, but the water change calculation is easy.

Each 10% change with 10 dKH salt would boost alkalinity as follows (assuming it never got depleted by anything):

6.5
6.9
7.2
7.5
7.7
7.9
8.1
8.3
8.5
8.6
8.8
8.9
and so on slowly up to 10 dKH

 

[stratos21ss]

..thank you Randy for the info. I will need to plan for more testing to see what the results are week to week until it gets predictable on uptake. I am guessing it is doable, but not the ideal since stability is supposed to be the route to take..just that there are no salts that offer low alk without some sort of complication (price, availability or chemistry). I guess the demand is not there for a manufacturer to mass market a low alk salt.

To complicate this more, I suppose I could use a NaCl free salt? I currently maintain my system with the Fauna Marin balling light version of two part. I could move to a balling complete system..then I am basically making my own salt mix i guess.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sodium chloride free? Yes, but what you rally want is an alkalintiy free salt mix, right? How does the no NaCl help?

 

[stratos21ss]

Correct, I don't know the alk influence/values obtained from mixing the sodium free salt to the two part and I also don't know if it's possible not to use any of the normal salt mixes while only using the sodium free stuff.

My thought was that my dosing would control the amount of calcium, magnesium and carbonate with no interference on those values from the salt added. I guess I am way off.

 

[dfstan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13893095#post13893095 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by VegasReefer
By deductive reasoning I would say that using the DDMMYYBBBB^* method of naming their batch this was produced July 13^th 2008, and was the 118^th batch.

^*DD= Day, MM= Month, YY= Year, BBBB= batch, and alows for 9999 batches per day.

Of coarse I don'tknow for sure that is how they do it, but from looking at it I would have to assume it

thanks vegas...

in this case, which batch is the newer that doesn't produce the brown residue? muzzy, do you know?

TIA

 

[HowardW]

I have asked the head chemist at Red Sea in Israel about that brown residue in the past in regard to the very same stuff you sometimes get after mixing up Red Sea Salt, and he explained to me it was a result of the solar evaporation process and the fact they have not yet perfected their cleaning process, and also that it was harmless.

Of course others will no doubt say the D&D salt is completely different and superior to the Red Sea salt because it costs nearly twice as much and carries a 'designer' brand name. :lol:

 

[dfstan]

giving D+D another try after speaking to my LFS, whom i have renewed my good relationship. will update again if there's any further brown residue.

 

[skey44]

I get residue from seachem reef too. probably already been adressed, but i'm sure many salts have this. i haven't seen it cause a problem.

 

[Canarygirl]

same here...major residue from Seachem Reef Salt, and also from Coralife -- wowzer! Get out the white vinegar...

 

[chris023]

Looking for some advice on salt (hope it's ok to put this in this thread =)
I have been using Red Sea Coral Pro for about six months on my 150 mixed reef. I switched from IO when I started to need better calcium and magnesium numbers. Since I switched I have been battling low pH issues (7.8-8.0 cycle). Now I realize many factors can lead to low pH and I'm not 100% sure what the cause is (excess CO2 possibly). I started dripping kalkwasser 24/7 as my top-off for the past month or so, and my numbers have drastically improved (8.0 - 8.2 cycle). Not to mention (although I realize I am) that other aspects of my system have improved with the addition of kalk. Phosphates and Nitrates are 0 (they were a little high before kalk).
Anyway, the kalk alone should be providing be good numbers on calcium and alk (although i'm not quite sure what the number are on calc/alk in kalk at 2 tsp per gal, i probably should test that), so I feel like I may be wasting money on Red Sea salt when I could get twice the bang for my buck with IO. The problem is according to the results from this thread, IO has an alk of 12 and If I continue dripping kalk, will my alk shoot through the roof? I guess if it does raise alk too high, I could just stop dripping the kalk, but then I would have to address calc/mag again (even though I will probably have to deal with mag regardless as IO has low mag numbers). I really would like to see if Red Sea was the cause of my low pH, but another part of me is thinking that now that I have things clicking, why muck with it, but again, this hobby is expensive enough without wasting money on salt when it's not needed.
I realize everyone has there favorite mixes and I believe that it really depends on your system and other equipment/supplements. I see no need for expensive salt when using things like calcium reactors and such. Any advice/opinions/suggestions is most appreciated.
Would be nice if there was a salt the had average alk and high mag ;-)
Thanks.

 

[LuisC]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13911501#post13911501 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skey44
I get residue from seachem reef too. probably already been adressed, but i'm sure many salts have this. i haven't seen it cause a problem.

I get residue from IO and Reef Crystals as well...

 

[LuisC]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13893638#post13893638 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
I do not know about levels of alkalintiy in ULNS that might cause burnt tips, but the water change calculation is easy.

Each 10% change with 10 dKH salt would boost alkalinity as follows (assuming it never got depleted by anything):

6.5
6.9
7.2
7.5
7.7
7.9
8.1
8.3
8.5
8.6
8.8
8.9
and so on slowly up to 10 dKH

Randy,

That is allot of water changes ...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, it seems like a small concern to me against the background of lots of import and export, but it seems to concern the ULNS folks quite a bit.

 

[Billybeau1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13913918#post13913918 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chris023
Would be nice if there was a salt the had average alk and high mag ;-)
Thanks.

That would be nice Chris if in fact every ones tank had the same rate of consumption. Unfortunately, they do not.

You cannot blame any salt mix on your pH. The pH of any salt mix is fairly insignificant when added to the main tank. CO₂ is almost always the controlling factor.

Too many reefers get hung up on the 8.3 number. Anything above 7.8 should be fine in any tank with good husbandry.

If you want cut costs, you may want to try something like Coralife. This salt will give you plenty of Calcium and Magnesium and all you have to do is add so baking soda to keep Alkalinity in check.

 

[Rick Davis]

Great thread Billybeau1 - appreciate your work on this.

I'm getting back into the hobby after a few years layoff and have been able to read some of this thread - but not all. Last I read, Coralife was an OK choice for an SPS tank after adding some baking soda like you suggested to beef up alkalinity. The high CA content may cause precip during mixing but other than that - Any other issues with Coralife?

Thanks.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11974613#post11974613 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by roxy25
Yes this is the same type I got while on seachem it was deep red almost black on my sand bed then in my sump I had green and you can just pick it off by hand felt like someone put snot in your hand so gross.

it went away when I got back on RS pro , my friends had cyano, dinos and red slime while on this salt

I dont normally read every single post when threads are this long. Ive been trying to read it all and glad I am. I would like to add my experience. Roxy I will try and get a shot of my problem. (post of separate thread so we dont mess this one up)

Seems like Seachem does not make consistent batches IMO. Three buckets were fine until this new bucket I started using two months ago. Thank You for sharing this I second guessed my husbandry

 

[Mojo Jojo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12044434#post12044434 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EvilE
that was a bad comparison Billy!!:lol: Car companies always bash each other, and say they outperform each other, out tow each other etc. etc. But I like and agree with your point! They shouldn't bash--bad business

I find this pretty funny to be honest. C'mon dont tell me you dont feel like getting a beer after you see that Toyota chomp your F-150 :lol:

 

[Billybeau1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13931833#post13931833 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rick Davis
Great thread Billybeau1 - appreciate your work on this.

I'm getting back into the hobby after a few years layoff and have been able to read some of this thread - but not all. Last I read, Coralife was an OK choice for an SPS tank after adding some baking soda like you suggested to beef up alkalinity. The high CA content may cause precip during mixing but other than that - Any other issues with Coralife?

Thanks.

None that I am aware of at this time. A number of reefers that switched over the last year report good results.

 

[EvilE]

so, ultimately, what is the best salt to use?