I am impressed!!!

I've always suspected that Brightwell provides most of the calcium in their salt via calcium oxide. This would explain the high heat during dissolution and the "burning" sensation upon skin contact.

Also, I find this claim from their website a little optimistic:

For what it's worth, the final formulation provides all major, minor, and trace elements at concentrations within 0.000001% (with the exception of chloride) of their respective average natural seawater concentrations.
Click to expand...
 
TheH,
Have you emailed them to ask them? I presumed it was just the higher magnesium levels. The salt goes in the water, not on your skin............................LOL.
Their is a warning about that right on the label. That is a very very VERY low percentage level.
I would think some very sophisticated/expensive equipment would be need to measure down to those concentrations.......
 
TheH said:
I've always suspected that Brightwell provides most of the calcium in their salt via calcium oxide. This would explain the high heat during dissolution and the "burning" sensation upon skin contact.

Also, I find this claim from their website a little optimistic:
Click to expand...

For what it's worth I've using Brightwell salt because my favorite LFS (vividaquariums) uses it for their tanks including their display and if you've had the pleasure of seeing that tank in person you'd probably want to do whatever it is they're doing. This is my third bucket of Brightwell (i switched over from TM) and I have not experienced heat issues and most definitely not 140 degrees F / the only way I can see this happening is if you add a cup of water to a large amount of salt but even then I doubt it. I'm still a fan.....

BTW Made in the U.S.A. is a big deal for me.....
 
TheH said:
I've always suspected that Brightwell provides most of the calcium in their salt via calcium oxide. This would explain the high heat during dissolution and the "burning" sensation upon skin contact.

Also, I find this claim from their website a little optimistic:
Click to expand...

Don't know about the calcium oxide but the nsw values statement for all elements (trace, minor, major) is very dubious.
 
I tried the Brightwells salt and wasn't all that impressed.It did take less salt to mix it up,but I always had "dirt"/black film stuck too the sides and bottom of the bucket.Maybe I just got a hold of a bad batch IDK.It didn't matter how I mixed it.I tried warming the water up to temp first then mixed it with a PH...mixed it by hand (a plastic rod).....let the PH warm the water while mixing it...ect. Thinking I was pouring it in too fast,by just dumping the amount in,I tried doing just a little at a time,but to no avail.I also noticed a strange smell when mixing it in the water.Possibly due to the heat?
 
GTSI said:
Be careful with the Brightwell, it gets extremely hot once in contact with water. I was told that it may contain Kalkwasser, but as I never dealt with Kalk, I can't confirm. For giggles, I measured the temperature and it hit around 140 degrees.
Click to expand...

FWIW, Seachem Aquavitro Salinity is the same. it gets hot when mixed, and it is supposed to. users of that salt all say it is "spot on" also, meaning, all the parameters measured is exactly what is printed on the bucket I am almost running out of salt and looking for new salt. I heard a lot of good things about seachem salinity but it seems hard to find, so I may try the brightwell. thanks for the post.
 
meshwheel said:
natural seawater would pollute MY TANK WATER.......................
Click to expand...

I'd kill (well, maybe only give up my a spare part of my anatomy... no, mind out of the gutter... I mean eye tooth) to get a good source of natural sea water here in Kansas. The planktonic (sp?) content would be a lot better food than all the bacteria and mulm we could possibly culture.
 
reefgeezer,
I can not even use the seawater off the coast of California here. It's too polluted and is loaded with both good and bad bacteria.
The water that is trucked in to local pet shops has to be filtered to remove all particulates. Including bacterias, cycsts, plankton etc. I know it is then UV'd and or ozoned. As both bacteria and plankton die quickly in the pumped in seawater that goes into the boat.So, it has to be filtered first.
Anytime I have ever tested Catalina Seawater it has had a nitrate level of at least 10 ppm.
I am sure you are correct, the planktonic food would be most valuable I would assume.
As long as the corals you keep would consume those from that specific area.:fish2:
 
I've known people near southern Cal. that use NSW and have great reefs. I don't however know where they get it. There's still an eye tooth in it for anyone who can get some to Kansas.
 
Scrippts Institute has free ocean water that is filtered I believe in a sand filter directly from the ocean.
However, it's about 75 miles from my house down a very busy freeway!
 
I got one bucket from petstore.com ($55) before they corrected their price :)
anyway, I mixed 5 gallons last weekend, and my initial impressions are

its really concentrated. the directions say 1/2 cup per gallon, so I used 2.5 cups for 5 gallons and I ended up with 1.032 SG! my calculations show I only need 2 cups to mix 5 gallons to get 1.025. I need 3 cups of RC per 5 gallons mix to get 1.025.

no clumps at all in the salt. I have never bought a bucket or bag of salt of RC or Seachem reef that did not have clumps.

I like the bucket with a sealed lid. it is a pain to open, but I am sure the bucket has not been tampered with. unlike those screw on lid, where someone could open it and close it back. I suspect the seachem buckets my LFS is selling have been opened, but that is another story.

on the not so good part. alk is 8, ca is 380, mg is 1100. I did not roll the bucket around to mix up the contents before opening though, So I'll do that before I mix my next batch. If it comes out around 9/420/1300, then I would not mind paying the higher/corrected price next time around. Its not that much more considering you need 2/3rds that amount to mix up the same sg as RC.
 
meshwheel said:
Scrippts Institute has free ocean water that is filtered I believe in a sand filter directly from the ocean.
However, it's about 75 miles from my house down a very busy freeway!
Click to expand...

ive heard alot of good/bad reviews about scripps water havent tried it myself but im interested in seeing how it is
 
For what it's worth, the final formulation provides all major, minor, and trace elements at concentrations within 0.000001% (with the exception of chloride) of their respective average natural seawater concentrations.
Click to expand...

I would like to see them back up this claim with an independent lab test of their salt showing this accuracy. It sends up marketing hype warnings to me with claims like this.

I tried a bucket with my 28 gallon nano-cube and wasn't that impressed. I switched back to IO.

David
 
meshwheel, one question. If this is so great why don't you carry it? While you don't work for them, you are in the business are you not?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
dosing question
Replies
1
Views
99
kharmaguru
kharmaguru
Brian60077
Red Sea Salt
Replies
3
Views
340
Uncle99
Uncle99
P
New saltwater toxic?
Replies
8
Views
160
pelagic
P
E
Setting up new 60 gallon tank. Mixing initial water question
Replies
7
Views
308
Elmareefer
E
A
Salt water in wood
Replies
6
Views
2K
C.Eymann
C.Eymann
Back
Top