A General Guide to Salt Mixes

[ECFENCING]

The sump water level never changes because it adds water and removes water at exactly the same rate. It takes it out a bit upstream of where it adds it in the sump. So my auto top off (using limewater and a float switch) is unaffected.

Randy: Thanks..

I was referring to the new saltwater bin. I guess if you keep a lid on it there would be little to no evaporation and the change in sg in the new saltwater bin would be negligible.

As far as the sump the LM3 with the water exchange module work exactly as you described

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, I have my water in Brute cans plumbed together to make a larger reservoir, and with the lids on I expect there is no evaporation to speak of.

 

[Canarygirl]

Randy, is there a thread somewhere that describes the design for your auto-wc system? I know some people make a pretty complex design...I'd rather go for simpler as long as it's reliable and safe.

 

[ECFENCING]

Randy, is there a thread somewhere that describes the design for your auto-wc system? I know some people make a pretty complex design...I'd rather go for simpler as long as it's reliable and safe.

Canary girl: I'd like to hear that as well.

However you can get a litermeter III with an auto exchange module and that would do the trick.

It's a bit pricey though at almost $460 combined for the LM3 and water exchange module

 

[HighlandReefer]

Reef-Filler 2000-2 6.5 GPD Per Head
$323.90
http://www.championlighting.com/product.php?productid=17517&cat=386&page=1

 

[HighlandReefer]

Randy uses this type of pump and has one pump head adding salt water from a reservoir with the other head removing saltwater from like a sump. Both at the same time. I plan on setting up a auto change system using this method too.

They have different pumps rated for different rates and they are adjustable.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Here's a thread on auto water changes:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1793663

and

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1753054

 

[Canarygirl]

A few minutes ago I bought a used LM3 from a friend and will now buy the LM remote WC pump , total damage coming to ~$380 including shipping. Am I missing anything (I hope not)? I think the LM3 comes with one pump so with the remote WC pump that shoudl be everything (?)

I also have a non-adjustable Cole Parmer pump that I've never used so maybe I can hook that up to the LM3 to dose my daily Zeostart.

Apologies to all the salt-readers for side-tracking the discussion. I think this is going to be helpful for keeping my reef chemistry more stable.

 

[rgonzalez]

Why do I hear bad things about Coralife? I've read a lot/heard a lot that it's the cheapest/worst type of salt to use in a reef tank. However, looking at this data, it seems more than adequate:

Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium

CoraLife
560
9
1380

Am I missing something?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It used to be a poor choice, with greatly excessive lithium. It may be better now in that respect, but it points out that there is a lot more to salt than the big 3. I personally do not prefer the high calcium it has. I also do not like that it has vitamins added to it.

 

[rgonzalez]

Interesting about the lithium. So in regards to the other "Non 3" elements, would you then say IO is missing that what RC has? Or is this an endless debate?

It used to be a poor choice, with greatly excessive lithium. It may be better now in that respect, but it points out that there is a lot more to salt than the big 3. I personally do not prefer the high calcium it has. I also do not like that it has vitamins added to it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't think IO is missing anything useful that RC has (aside possibly from a little extra calcium and magnesium), but some might disagree.

 

[ECFENCING]

Randy: Should alk increase as specific gravity increases?

I made a batch of 27 gallons of B-Ionic at 1.0264 sg and got the following results:

Alk 10.9 or 3.89 meq/L (Salifert)
Calcium 430 (API-that's all I have at the moment)
Magnesium between 1260 and 1290 so say 1275 (Salifert)

According to ESV at 1.0235 sg the following parameters should be achieved:

450 ppm Calcium • 3.25 meq/L Alkalinity • 1400 ppm Magnesium

Something seems to be off. I did test ALk three times and it was consistently near 10.9 dkh

Is there anything I can do to lower the alk in the batch? I run my system near 9.0 but even if I change 30 gallons on 105 total system it won't make much of a difference.

 

[ECFENCING]

I just realized that my question has a simple explanation I think.

With esv there is mag, salt, and two part calcium and alkalinity additive.

When I made 10% less water to get a salinity of 1.026 I did not reduce calcium and alkalinity additives or mag by 10%.

I think I should have made the entire 30gallons tested levels and then added extra salt at the end to bring it up to 1.0264

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That might work fine. I'm not certain what is in each of the parts.

According to ESV at 1.0235 sg the following parameters should be achieved:

450 ppm Calcium • 3.25 meq/L Alkalinity • 1400 ppm Magnesium

Do you have a link to where they claim that? I'd like to read what they say.

 

[ECFENCING]

Randy

See below for the link


http://www.esvco.com/

When you click on more information you can download the brochure for this salt..

I just spoke with someone at ESV and they told me that more accurate results would be obtained with a scale than with their scoops and beakers....

As far as boosting up magnesium they indicated to me that their mag supplement should work to boost it up to a more desired level and that simply adding more mag sulfate will increase sulfate as well..

With respect to the higher alk they indicated that it would be higher at a higher specific gravity proportional to the amount of water I used so the batch was supposed to be at 30 but I used 27 gallons so Alk should be about 11% higher than 9.25 dkh so say 10.2 dkh so I'm not that far off.

I believe there was also an issue with some Salifert Alk tests....a while back but not sure I fall into that category

Component A and Component B are more than just Alk and Calcium supplements. They contain "other" elements.

 

[Canarygirl]

they indicated to me that their mag supplement should work to boost it up to a more desired level and that simply adding more mag sulfate will increase sulfate as well..

since their mg component is mg sulfate (epsom salt), is it a desirable thing to increase the sulfate in relation to chlorides in the overall mix?...I wondered this anyway. I asked Randy about it somewhere whether it would be better to use this mg sulfate to increase the mg in this mix or use ESV B-Ionic magnesium supp (IIRC he said it would be fine to use the mg sulfate but for ongoing supplementation, he would choose the B-Ionic mg supplement).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Magnesium sulfate cannot be the only source of magnesium in their mix. Even if they use no other sulfate salt sin the mix, the must use a lot of magnesium chloride. If it were only Epsom salt, that would necessarily make the sulfate level way out of line for NSW.

Making a salt mix with 1300 ppm of magnesium with Epsom salt alone will push sulfate to 5,135 ppm, or almost 90% more than the normal 2712 ppm.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

See below for the link

Thanks, that clears something up for me (based on what you wrote and why they would give numbers for such a low salinity), but makes me ask why you said they gave numbers for sg = 1.0235, when what I read is for 34 ppt, which has a sg of 1.0256.

 

[Canarygirl]

Got it; I think I misinterpreted what you wrote EFencing, what ESV must have meant by "their mg supplement" is their B-Ionic mg supplement not the mg sulfate powder in their SW mix. Okey dokey now we're cooking with gas. :beer: