anyone had a problem with Kent salt?
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sherm71tank
Premium Member
I had HUGE problems with Kent salt. I used them for years and it was great. Then, one day after doing a water change I notice my corals are puking, skimmer going nuts. Did some tests, alk was practically non-existant. Turned out ( after much talking and investigation and sending salt samples to Kent ) that they have been acquired by Central Pet and now they suck. Don't buy Kent.
wishntoboutside
professional snow flake
there was a tread in the anouncement section a while back. do a search. i recall it was low in salinty.
When we were at IMAC in April, the Rowa Rep asked to use some of our water mixed with Kent Salt in a test with their PO4 kit. He came back a little later with dark dark blue water. Now this is 2 day old fresh saltwater. The following day we brought a sample of straight RO water and altwater from a brand new bucket of Kent Salt. The plain RO water was perfect. The saltwater was load with phosphates. We took this over to the Kent Reps with a sample of the salt. Needless to say they haven't returned any of our calls to date.
jamal-188
In Memoriam
Acutally the problem with low alk happend before central was mixing their own salt. When the problem occured another company which I won't mention was making their salt(not saying who's fault it was, just that central wasn't actually "making" the salt, just supplying ingredients I believe). This problem was on an isolated rather large batch that hit the market. They have since fixed this issue and now mix all their own salt.
Amphiprion
Premium Member
Central owns all of the companies you are probably thinking about
. Most people don't realize that while the problem was fairly recent, the buyout by Central Pet was not--it was at least several years ago. The whole problem resulted from a recent change of factories they made and it was not isolated. According to their lead rep, almost all new batches manifested the problem, but it is fixed now. There were a whole lot of other problems, too, so it wasn't limited to the salt. Not to mention that they frantically packed up headquarters in Acworth, GA to their new location in Wisconsin. I heard that was a mess as well.
jamal-188
In Memoriam
QUOTE]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8418392#post8418392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amphiprion
Central owns all of the companies you are probably thinking about . Most people don't realize that while the problem was fairly recent, the buyout by Central Pet was not--it was at least several years ago. The whole problem resulted from a recent change of factories they made and it was not isolated. According to their lead rep, almost all new batches manifested the problem, but it is fixed now. There were a whole lot of other problems, too, so it wasn't limited to the salt. Not to mention that they frantically packed up headquarters in Acworth, GA to their new location in Wisconsin. I heard that was a mess as well. [/QUOTE]
Aquarium systems was actually the company mixing the salt at the time. According to AS it was Kents fault supplying bad ingredients.. but who really knows. Kent was indeed purchased by Central a few years ago but I do not believe that had anything to do with the salt problem. It has only been in the last several months that Central has been making all three of there brands of salt. Just out of curosity who is there lead rep, and what other problems are you referring to?
Headquarters was moved to Wisconsin and supply was affected somewhat and they did experience some problems as expected from moving 1/2 way across the country and. They are getting back on track now.
Central owns all of the companies you are probably thinking about
. Most people don't realize that while the problem was fairly recent, the buyout by Central Pet was not--it was at least several years ago. The whole problem resulted from a recent change of factories they made and it was not isolated. According to their lead rep, almost all new batches manifested the problem, but it is fixed now. There were a whole lot of other problems, too, so it wasn't limited to the salt. Not to mention that they frantically packed up headquarters in Acworth, GA to their new location in Wisconsin. I heard that was a mess as well. [/QUOTE] Aquarium systems was actually the company mixing the salt at the time. According to AS it was Kents fault supplying bad ingredients.. but who really knows. Kent was indeed purchased by Central a few years ago but I do not believe that had anything to do with the salt problem. It has only been in the last several months that Central has been making all three of there brands of salt. Just out of curosity who is there lead rep, and what other problems are you referring to?
Headquarters was moved to Wisconsin and supply was affected somewhat and they did experience some problems as expected from moving 1/2 way across the country and. They are getting back on track now.
shelburn61
New member
Is this a standard problem for kent not common to other salts?
Apparently Kent, Instant Ocean, and Reef Crystlas are all made by Aquarium Systems and are basically the same salt:
http://www.aquacraft.net/sp0003.html
SPStoner
Team RC
Central acquired Kent in January of 2004.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=93879&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=483082&highlight=
Within 1 year of then, the Kent salt was no longer being made by Aquarium Systems, but by Coralife. The average hobbyist can tell when the change took place by the olor of the word "Kent" on the buckets. It was orginally White, and then changed to yellow after the switch (or I may have that backwards...)
I guarantee that it is no longer made by aquarium systems(instant ocean) as these two companies are each others biggest competitor. Central owns kent marine, all glass, oceanic, coralife and United Pet group owns perfecto, marineland, instant ocean, tetra, and jungle labs.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=93879&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=483082&highlight=
Within 1 year of then, the Kent salt was no longer being made by Aquarium Systems, but by Coralife. The average hobbyist can tell when the change took place by the olor of the word "Kent" on the buckets. It was orginally White, and then changed to yellow after the switch (or I may have that backwards...)
I guarantee that it is no longer made by aquarium systems(instant ocean) as these two companies are each others biggest competitor. Central owns kent marine, all glass, oceanic, coralife and United Pet group owns perfecto, marineland, instant ocean, tetra, and jungle labs.
Amphiprion
Premium Member
Aquarium systems was actually the company mixing the salt at the time. According to AS it was Kents fault supplying bad ingredients.. but who really knows. Kent was indeed purchased by Central a few years ago but I do not believe that had anything to do with the salt problem. It has only been in the last several months that Central has been making all three of there brands of salt. Just out of curosity who is there lead rep, and what other problems are you referring to?
Headquarters was moved to Wisconsin and supply was affected somewhat and they did experience some problems as expected from moving 1/2 way across the country and. They are getting back on track now. [/QUOTE]
I am not going to really mention names on here. If you want his name, pm me. According to him, the problems began well after moving production from the marineland manufacturing plant (aquarium systems no longer existed at that point) to the Central coralife plant. This corresponded with different lot numbers and a change in bucket design, etc (though the latter happened later). When kent got their salt through the marineland plant, it simply provided an instant ocean base salt for kent, who added greater quantities of selected chemicals, so your explanation wouldn't provide for nonexistent alkalinity. Other problems were mainly product shortages and bad batches of certain products, like coral vite. I don't know where you got your information from, but it isn't correct. The reason I know what I know is because of our store's ties with kent marine (mainly when jack kent owned it still) and plenty of ties with inside people.
SPStoner
Team RC
You are pretty much 100% correct, amphiprion. The issues that took place with the kent salt coincided with the move to the ESU/Coralife maufacturing plant. When the Kent salt was being made by ASI, they provided their own trace element and vitamin mixture which was added to the IO basic formula in lieu of the IO trace elemnt and vitamin mix. It really was a very similar salt. Also, your comment about Aquarium Systems is somewhat false. This was well after Marineland purchased Aquarium Systems, but the company does still exist today. I live 10 minutes from there and see it all the time, right where it has been for the past 30 years at least. The only thing that has changed is the sign now says "Aquarium Systems, A Spectrum brands Company" coinciding with Marinelands recent acquisition by Spectrum (formerly the Rayovac Corp)
Regardless, IMO, the Kent salt has not been as consistant as I have seen in the past. I, too, got some of the "zero alk" salt a while back. It has scared me away from trying another batch anytime soon.
Regardless, IMO, the Kent salt has not been as consistant as I have seen in the past. I, too, got some of the "zero alk" salt a while back. It has scared me away from trying another batch anytime soon.
Serioussnaps
New member
BOTH SALTS SUCK SO WHATS THE ISSUE HERE?
Al G Blenny
New member
I can't believe people still fall for that phony report. From what I hear the owner of the company had his wifes lab make up that report. Don't believe anything you read. Especially when the company printing the papers is the one that benifits from the results. The s-15 is just advertising.
Also be warned that the owner almost sued one of our local reef clubs. Just because of the initials of their website. I should be carefull with what I say here. I might get sued as well.
