Salt questions ???

[goodreef]

There was a reefer who could only keep damsels in his tank. After asking him questions regarding his husbandry, we could not find any issues … until we saw what salt he used!!
He was using normal table salt in his tank!!

Obviously, some major, minor, and trace elements are needed for the fishes. We don’t know exactly which are needed for optimal health. Are these elements still made available, or already precipitated out, or chemically changed.

Of course, for those who just want to keep damsels or any hardy fishes, it is OK. For others who value the health and color of their fishes, I propose something better.

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Ok, I'm bringing this thread back up as I saw a add for RedSea salt and it intrigued me. I took a look at their website to day and found this.

http://www.redseafish.com/uploadimages/Salt brochure 2010 Eng.pdf

According to their brochure and their website:

From the clear, unpolluted waters close to the unique living reef
of the Red Sea, seawater is pumped through a series of shallow
ponds and goes through a natural evaporation process in the hot
dry desert sun.
In the first pond the Red Sea water is evaporated from its natural
salinity of 40ppt to a salinity of approx 250ppt, precipitating out all
of the calcium and heavy metals from the water.
In subsequent ponds, as more water evaporates, sodium chloride
crystals begin to form leaving other ions such as Magnesium and
Potassium in concentrated brine.
At the end of the evaporation process the remaining brine is drained away leaving behind crystals of raw sodium chloride that undergo
a proprietary process of washing and drying to remove organic and other impurities.
The end result is pure, white, food-grade crystals of Sodium Chloride that also include 45 of the other elements that are naturally
present in the waters of the Red Sea. This element enriched sodium chloride is the basis for both of Red Sea's salt mixes providing
part of the "œliving reef" inside every grain of harvested salt.
This sodium chloride with its natural array of minor and trace elements, that is free from excessive levels of heavy metals or organics,
comprises over 72% of Red Sea's salts and therefore by definition provides a quality and homogeneity of finished product that is
unachievable artificially.
The next stage in the process is to add back to the sodium chloride the calcium, magnesium, potassium and all of the other elements
in a consistent, homogenous mix. This is achieved by working in small batches with strict quality control.
The absence of excessive levels of heavy metals in our materials obviates the need for chemical binders that significantly affect the
function of protein skimmers.


So why can't we do the same with something like the morton salt mentioned earlier? I know there are kits to measure for calcium and magnesium, but is there test kits that can measure for the proper amounts of Potassium? Can the other missing elements be added in by using a good trace element addative?

Just throwing things out there.