A General Guide to Salt Mixes

[Billybeau1]

Any issues with Seachem salt?

I've not heard many with the Reef Salt. Nice high calcium and magnesium numbers and alk in the middle of the recommended range. Many satisfied users.

The new Aquavitro seems to be having some problems at the moment. Not many happy consumers from what I've read to this point. The jury is still out on this new salt.

 

[galoot]

I'm not too happy with Aquavitro Salinity so far! I guess I have a bucket worth to decide whether to purchase again or not =)

 

[tweetyfish]

Any issues with Seachem salt?

Same question.

 

[Merfin70]

What are folks experiencing with the Aquavitro Salinity? I'm trying it and can attest to the very slow mixing time. Takes like a day generally more for the cloudiness to go away. Even after a couple of days it's not completely clear. But beyond that seemed OK. Just wondering if I need to be looking out for other items.

 

[galoot]

for me it's the prrrrrrrrrroooooooollloonnnggggged cloudiness. i think 4 days is just a little excessive, don't you!?!

 

[Merfin70]

:thumbsup: Yes I've never had the patience to wait it out so I just use it after 2 days or so. My tank is exclusively Salinity as I just set it up in January so I can at least say it looks OK in the tank.

 

[Beenalongtime79]

4 days of cloudiness.... that stinks, i would in no way have the patience to wait that out! I am currently switching to RC, but have always loved how fast and how clear the tropic marin salts mix.

 

[JoshuaG]

I have been using the Aquavitro Salinity for a few weeks now, was previously using Seachem Reef Salt. Anyone else annoyed by the smell of the salt? Kinda odd to bring up, but man it just stinks, lol. I too have had problems with it being cloudy, even after a day it's still not cleared up. I have never had a GHA problem the past 8 months and within a week of using the new salt I noticed it start popping up all over the rocks. Nothing else was changed in the tank, so I'm not really sure what's up with that.

 

[Merfin70]

Yes is does have a bit of a funky smell. I read an explaination as to why somewhere but can't lay my hands on it.

 

[Finsky]

Four days! No way would I accept it!

I used to hand mix my Reef Crystals by hand with warm water, four gallons in a five gallon salt bucket, three times. Mixing vigorously with the first two gallons of hot water and the second two of cold water. By the time I was pouring the water into the tank, it was crystal clear!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I use 7.5 cups of Reef Crystals in 12 gallons of water which I mix at least 24 hours with a 400 gph and 270 gph Hagen power heads and a heater in a 20 gallon Ruffneck for my weekly water changes.

I use 12.5 cups of Reef Crystals in 20 gallons of water which I run at least 24 hours with a 400 gph and 270 gph Hagen power heads and a heater in a 32 gallon Ruffneck for my monthly water change and canister cleaning.

I could mix using two 400 gph Hagens and a heater except I am savings the extra 400 gph and 270 gph Hagens for back up should one of the others break down.

I used to use all four power heads four years ago in a 55 gallon African Cichlid tank with a Hagen Aqua Clear 500 powerfilter before I started my 120 reef four years ago this July.

 

[Billybeau1]

Hmmmm, interesting.

 

[redsea reefer]

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

 

[Aquarist007]

Is B-ionics two part out of sync with the new IO?
I have started 5 tanks on two part over the last few weeks. Test first, bring up the alk, cal, and mag indiviudually so the the three are in the preferred ranges and then initiate the two part according to suggestions on the bottles. I then leave the dosing with the respective owners for one week and then recheck
Each time the mag, and calcium has been fine, pretty close to what I established the week before. However in each case the alkalinity has risen sharply from about 10 and change initially to 14 dkH.
I don't think this is a coinincidence?

 

[bertoni]

A change of 4 dKH is equivalent to about 26 ppm of calcium, and that's close to noise in the test kits. It's possible that the calcium in your B-Ionic jugs is a bit off, but it seems reasonably close, though. The salt mix won't matter in this case, unless water changes are done that skew the levels.

 

[Aquarist007]

A change of 4 dKH is equivalent to about 26 ppm of calcium, and that's close to noise in the test kits. It's possible that the calcium in your B-Ionic jugs is a bit off, but it seems reasonably close, though. The salt mix won't matter in this case, unless water changes are done that skew the levels.

Bertoni, the calcium level was only 400 ppm. With a dkh level of 14 is that not out of balance?

 

[bertoni]

If the alkalinity rose 4 dKH, I'd expect a rise in calcium of around 26 ppm, assuming no water changes, perfect B-Ionic, and no alkalinity consumption by processes other than calcification. 26 ppm isn't necessarily easy to detect with hobbyist test kits.

 

[Aquarist007]

If the alkalinity rose 4 dKH, I'd expect a rise in calcium of around 26 ppm, assuming no water changes, perfect B-Ionic, and no alkalinity consumption by processes other than calcification. 26 ppm isn't necessarily easy to detect with hobbyist test kits.

Even the salifert tests?

 

[bertoni]

The Salifert kits are ±8 ppm at their best, so that's very close.

 

[lbaldrey]

What is this cup youll talk of for measuring salt etc? :rolleye1:

I wonder why not something precise like grams / oz etc?

 

[Aquarist007]

What is this cup youll talk of for measuring salt etc? :rolleye1:

I wonder why not something precise like grams / oz etc?

A couple of reasons you can't recommend exact mixtures of salt might be the temp of the water dissolving the salt, the amount of agitation, the settling time of the salt in the original mixture bucket, the brand of salt being used.

I have found that with experience you can come pretty close to the amount of salt you need to add to each new batch or container---it really doesn't matter what you are using to add the salt with.