att: ESV salt user- need advice

[trivan]

I don't think anyone mentioned this but, the instructions for 5 gallons, doesn't call for 5 gallons of water. You have to use less to compensate for the liquid part a& b. I do mix with less water and then add to get salinity dialed in. I made this mistake the first time.

 

[acesq]

I love this salt, am on my third 200 gal "set". I do 15 gal weekly water changes. I have found that the best way to make up the water is to put about 13-14 gallons in my rubbermaid container, add the components per the directions to make 15 gallons (I do not weigh, but use the supplied scoops (for the dry components) and cup (for the wet components)) measure the s.g. (it will be high) then add more water to dilute down to 1.025. I used to use the newly mixed water immediately, but now leave it mixing with the powerhead for at least a few hours as I have found that the alk and calcium levels are high when first mixed but stabilize at the reported parameters (approx 470-480 and 9-10).

This takes only slightly more work than a standard salt mix, but the quality of the water more than makes up for it. There are absolutely no precipitates or other "gunk" left in the mixing bucket.

 

[Bobba]

I am currently mixing up the ESV for a new 12gal long. It definitely is not yielding what ESV claims. At this point that really is not a big concern to me. I suppose if I had a 300 gallon tank and was doing 50 gallon water changes it might be. I am actuallymixing 3 batches since I only have 5 gallon buckets. The "mix it strong then add more water" is working well. One other thing I have noticed beside the clarity is that it isn't sticky. Whenever I mixed IO or Oceanic, my hands would always feel sticky. This salt does not have that effect. So far- I like it!

 

[AGYDAL]

Most salt mixes have binding agents in them, that's the nasty stuff that makes the water look cloudy when first mixed. Since the ESV is multiple parts there isn't a need for these binding agents.

 

[somewherre]

Fwiw, I use a baby scale to weigh out the water in a bucket (which then gets transfered to a barrel), and a kitchen scale for the other stuff. I've never had any issues with the salinity being off.

 

[Jakef150]

well i bought a scale. I followed grams weight by scale.

same thing, i dont see any change.

My sodium reading by Refractometer is 1021.

I had to use almost 2 cup of sodium to raise it to 1.026

MG is little low 1320 as per grams weight. so i had to add 1 tbsp to raise it to close 1380/1400

comp A and Comp B is almost perfect.

I emailed ESV and will see what they will say...

I dont want to run out of sodium before MG, comp a and b

Jake

 

[royvoss]

i have been using esv salt since it came out, i use a scale to weight it out. i use less water and sneek up to the 1.0256 sg. works every time., esv will tell you the same thing. spoke with them many times, all the res of the paramaters are in line. i mix about 150 per clip.

 

[ryshark]

I use the scoops and cups that come with it and it comes out at 1.025/1.026. As mentioned above the instructions say to make 5-gallons to use less than 5-gallons of water. I have gone through about 10 of the 200-gallon boxes and all of them have mixed up correctly. In my opinion busting out as scale is way overkill(especially when you make 20-25gallons as I do), the scoops and cups work fine. If I am a little careless in the amount of water I use and I need to adjust by .001 or so, then I will add a little more RODI water if I need to adjust down or follow the instructions for a 1-gallon mix (minus the water) if I need to raise it. My question is, has anybody tested the PO4 of this stuff?