I've been studying salt mixes pretty in depth for the last year. As many of you know I purchase many chemicals in bulk and turn around and wholesale these to different stores. I also formulate different additives. For those that didn't know this I guess you do now. I don't sell retail (yet) so don't ask. 
By end of summer I'll become a club sponsor and sell to anyone in the club or do a group buy if anyone is interested as well as start offering retail as soon as retail packaging is complete.
In my quest of Reef Nutrition and Additives of course salt mixes have come up since it's the basic foundation of the tank water itself. If the water itself is "better" then you don't need to test or dose as much! As a result of lots (I mean lots) of testing and lab work, I've completely stopped using normal store brands and have been using my own formulated salt.
Anyway, some of the things that have caused me to do this are:
Tropic Marin: This is among the best salts out there IMHO but it's too expensive! If it were 25% cheaper I'd probably just use this and never would have set out on the "salt quest".
What I like about Tropic Marin is that it has good levels of Calcium and Magnesium. It's Strontium level is about 12% higher then NSW. It mixes up to 7.5-low 8 levels (depending on batch) of alkalinity (dKH) which is just about right but a little low IMHO. I think the "general recommended alkalinity ranges" up to 11dHK are high and can cause problems in the tank. If the salt is ionically balanced you don't need high dKH levels to get the pH buffered correctly. The pH of the this salt at mix time is around 8.21 and 24hrs later runs at 8.26.
What I don't like about Tropic Marin Sea Salt is that it has very high Copper (2x more then any other salt) and Chromium levels (almost 2x then any other salt). It also has the highest amount of P04 of all the salt brands I've ever tested. It seems to change batch to batch and runs anywhere from 0.05 to 1.20 where NSW is 0.20.
Instant Ocean is very popular and found at most LFS. What I like about it is the fact that it's normally one of the cheaper salts.
What I didn't like about IO that it has the highest Titanium level (10x more then NSW) of all the salts tested and its Aluminum level is 60x that of NSW. IO mixes up to 11.5-12 dKH on Alk (depending on batch) which is high IMHO (see above). Calcium levels of 340 is low and requires a lot of calcium additives to bring it up to reef levels. The pH of both IO & RC is normally 8.15 during mix and 8.18/8.19 respectfully 24hrs later.
IO is Extremely low in Mg. Mg is one of the more expensive additive to purchase. Some people raise IO Mg levels with Epsom salt (MgSO4) which is cheap but then have problems with sulfate buildup. This is a case of the cure is worse then the problem. To raise the Mg levels properly you need to use 10 parts MgCl2 to every 1 part MgSO4 or you'll get a sulfate imbalance which is bad.
On the other hand IO's RC generally tests around 1260 to 1290 for Mg. It definitely has more than IO but is still a little low.
IO also has a funky imbalance. The calcium level when mixed to 35 salinity comes out to 340-380 but the alkalinity comes out to 11.5-12.0 which is to high. Doing large water changes with IO will throw off any use of two part solutions, kalk and Ca reactors as the two "parts" are out of balance in the mix itself. Not good for a reef salt.
IO has the same amount of Strontium as TM but it's out of balance with the Ca level in IO. It's balanced properly in TM and "close enough" in RC to not worry about it.
Phosphate levels for IO salts are under or over NSW depending on the salt you use: Instant Ocean 0.05, Reef Crystals 0.32. Again NSW levels are around 0.20.
From everything I've leaned: If you are an fan of IO salts and run a reef, stop buying IO and ONLY buy RC. The cost difference is minimal but the ionic balance of the salt is much better. By the time you figure how much it costs to add additives to IO to get it where it should be for a reef and be in "balance", RC is cheaper.
Some general non scientific observations:
From following as many "salt" related threads on many different forums a trend I've noticed is that cynao problems seem to happen more with IO users then anyone else statistically. TM users in general have the least amount of cyano problems. I can't help but wonder if this might have something to do with an ionic imbalance in the salt and when a "nutrient" becomes available, "boom" outbreak. If anyone remembers a lecture from MACNA a bunch of tanks were setup with different salts and the IO tank had far more cyano then any other tank. That's probably what got me and others thinking about this last year.
YIELD: not picking on RC since just about every salt is similar but I thought I'd point out something about yield if you've never thought about it.
On Reef Crystals buckets it instructs us to mix it at 1.020 - 1.024 at 75*F. It's formulated so 1.4 pounds of the mix yields 5 gal of salt water at 1.021. Why would "reef salts" be formulated to mix at 1.021??? (of course to claim to mix more)
At the bottom front of the bucket you can see the net weight is 44.8 pounds. 44.8 pounds at 1.4 pounds per 5 gallons will give 160 gallons if mixed at 1.021 (160/5*1.4=44.8) so the whole bucket will give you 160 gallons only if mixed at 1.021
To prepare a mix that gives a salinity of 35 you will need 22.8% more salt for "reef tank". So the actual yield of a bucket of 160 gal at 1.021 is actually 130 gallons if prepared for reef salinity.
Here's something else I've learned. Ever noticed how some salt mixes dissolve super fast while others need time to dissolve? Most salt companies use of artificial clarifiers such as E.D.T.A. which cause a salt solution to clear quickly. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency demands requires that E.D.T.A. be excluded from any mixes it uses at its Bioassay Research Testing.
Some salts contain sodium thiosulfate and some don't. Sodium thiosulfate is a de-chlorinator and allows you to use tapwater or water containing chlorine/chloramies. This can be important even if you run an RO/DI unit if you don't check the TDS levels all the time. If you salt doesn't use a de-chlorinator and your water has some TDS then you could be allowing chlorine into your mix which is a poison. It's best to always allow your water to "stand" for 24hrs before using it which would allow this to evaporate even without the use of a de-chlorinator. However, in the event of an extreme emergency where you didn't have make up water on hand and have a serious water problem (or flood) it's nice to know you could always use tap water (if your salt supports it) without worry about chlorine poisoning. Remember I'm talking emergency here!
The absolute best way to purchase salt is in a container that can be used all at one time. Example "50 Gallon" bags. This is usually better then buying a 150-200 Gallon size as far as mix goes (not including price) because of "settlement". Big buckets have a problem where smaller grains of elements sink so that the first mixture and last mixture of the bucket are different. This doesn't matter as much on large systems but on small systems can come into play. BTW, most 50 Gallon bags can make mixing easy. Get a 44 gallon Brute trashcan and fill to 5" from the top. Drop the bag in slowly while it mixes. Then test and add more water. Depending on the brand the 50 gallon bag will normally make close to 43 gallons so you'll learn exactly how much water to put in the can (IE 2" from top) to "drop the bag in" to mix to perfect 35 salinity.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share some of the info I've learned. Now at least you know why I've been on my "salt quest". With that said I'd like to get some feedback from some of you.
Regardless of if you agree or disagree with any of the information above, I'd like to get some feedback from you guys.
I'm trying to create an ionically balanced salt (much harder to do then you think)
I've been trying to target the following for my salt mix which happens to match what I strive to keep my tank running at:
Calcium....430
Alk........8.3
Mag........1320
Strontium..9.0
PH.........8.35
This should give a salt that doesn't need any additions during mixing and shouldn't throw off your "two-part" or calcium reactors. The pH is close to what your tank should be running at so even a very large water change should not "shock" the system as often happens with some salt mixes due to drastic pH differences.
What do you guys think of the above numbers and if you don't like any of them can you tell me why? I'd really like to get as much feedback as possible.
Thanks,
Carlo
By end of summer I'll become a club sponsor and sell to anyone in the club or do a group buy if anyone is interested as well as start offering retail as soon as retail packaging is complete.In my quest of Reef Nutrition and Additives of course salt mixes have come up since it's the basic foundation of the tank water itself. If the water itself is "better" then you don't need to test or dose as much! As a result of lots (I mean lots) of testing and lab work, I've completely stopped using normal store brands and have been using my own formulated salt.
Anyway, some of the things that have caused me to do this are:
Tropic Marin: This is among the best salts out there IMHO but it's too expensive! If it were 25% cheaper I'd probably just use this and never would have set out on the "salt quest".
What I like about Tropic Marin is that it has good levels of Calcium and Magnesium. It's Strontium level is about 12% higher then NSW. It mixes up to 7.5-low 8 levels (depending on batch) of alkalinity (dKH) which is just about right but a little low IMHO. I think the "general recommended alkalinity ranges" up to 11dHK are high and can cause problems in the tank. If the salt is ionically balanced you don't need high dKH levels to get the pH buffered correctly. The pH of the this salt at mix time is around 8.21 and 24hrs later runs at 8.26.
What I don't like about Tropic Marin Sea Salt is that it has very high Copper (2x more then any other salt) and Chromium levels (almost 2x then any other salt). It also has the highest amount of P04 of all the salt brands I've ever tested. It seems to change batch to batch and runs anywhere from 0.05 to 1.20 where NSW is 0.20.
Instant Ocean is very popular and found at most LFS. What I like about it is the fact that it's normally one of the cheaper salts.
What I didn't like about IO that it has the highest Titanium level (10x more then NSW) of all the salts tested and its Aluminum level is 60x that of NSW. IO mixes up to 11.5-12 dKH on Alk (depending on batch) which is high IMHO (see above). Calcium levels of 340 is low and requires a lot of calcium additives to bring it up to reef levels. The pH of both IO & RC is normally 8.15 during mix and 8.18/8.19 respectfully 24hrs later.
IO is Extremely low in Mg. Mg is one of the more expensive additive to purchase. Some people raise IO Mg levels with Epsom salt (MgSO4) which is cheap but then have problems with sulfate buildup. This is a case of the cure is worse then the problem. To raise the Mg levels properly you need to use 10 parts MgCl2 to every 1 part MgSO4 or you'll get a sulfate imbalance which is bad.
On the other hand IO's RC generally tests around 1260 to 1290 for Mg. It definitely has more than IO but is still a little low.
IO also has a funky imbalance. The calcium level when mixed to 35 salinity comes out to 340-380 but the alkalinity comes out to 11.5-12.0 which is to high. Doing large water changes with IO will throw off any use of two part solutions, kalk and Ca reactors as the two "parts" are out of balance in the mix itself. Not good for a reef salt.
IO has the same amount of Strontium as TM but it's out of balance with the Ca level in IO. It's balanced properly in TM and "close enough" in RC to not worry about it.
Phosphate levels for IO salts are under or over NSW depending on the salt you use: Instant Ocean 0.05, Reef Crystals 0.32. Again NSW levels are around 0.20.
From everything I've leaned: If you are an fan of IO salts and run a reef, stop buying IO and ONLY buy RC. The cost difference is minimal but the ionic balance of the salt is much better. By the time you figure how much it costs to add additives to IO to get it where it should be for a reef and be in "balance", RC is cheaper.
Some general non scientific observations:
From following as many "salt" related threads on many different forums a trend I've noticed is that cynao problems seem to happen more with IO users then anyone else statistically. TM users in general have the least amount of cyano problems. I can't help but wonder if this might have something to do with an ionic imbalance in the salt and when a "nutrient" becomes available, "boom" outbreak. If anyone remembers a lecture from MACNA a bunch of tanks were setup with different salts and the IO tank had far more cyano then any other tank. That's probably what got me and others thinking about this last year.
YIELD: not picking on RC since just about every salt is similar but I thought I'd point out something about yield if you've never thought about it.
On Reef Crystals buckets it instructs us to mix it at 1.020 - 1.024 at 75*F. It's formulated so 1.4 pounds of the mix yields 5 gal of salt water at 1.021. Why would "reef salts" be formulated to mix at 1.021??? (of course to claim to mix more)
At the bottom front of the bucket you can see the net weight is 44.8 pounds. 44.8 pounds at 1.4 pounds per 5 gallons will give 160 gallons if mixed at 1.021 (160/5*1.4=44.8) so the whole bucket will give you 160 gallons only if mixed at 1.021
To prepare a mix that gives a salinity of 35 you will need 22.8% more salt for "reef tank". So the actual yield of a bucket of 160 gal at 1.021 is actually 130 gallons if prepared for reef salinity.
Here's something else I've learned. Ever noticed how some salt mixes dissolve super fast while others need time to dissolve? Most salt companies use of artificial clarifiers such as E.D.T.A. which cause a salt solution to clear quickly. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency demands requires that E.D.T.A. be excluded from any mixes it uses at its Bioassay Research Testing.
Some salts contain sodium thiosulfate and some don't. Sodium thiosulfate is a de-chlorinator and allows you to use tapwater or water containing chlorine/chloramies. This can be important even if you run an RO/DI unit if you don't check the TDS levels all the time. If you salt doesn't use a de-chlorinator and your water has some TDS then you could be allowing chlorine into your mix which is a poison. It's best to always allow your water to "stand" for 24hrs before using it which would allow this to evaporate even without the use of a de-chlorinator. However, in the event of an extreme emergency where you didn't have make up water on hand and have a serious water problem (or flood) it's nice to know you could always use tap water (if your salt supports it) without worry about chlorine poisoning. Remember I'm talking emergency here!
The absolute best way to purchase salt is in a container that can be used all at one time. Example "50 Gallon" bags. This is usually better then buying a 150-200 Gallon size as far as mix goes (not including price) because of "settlement". Big buckets have a problem where smaller grains of elements sink so that the first mixture and last mixture of the bucket are different. This doesn't matter as much on large systems but on small systems can come into play. BTW, most 50 Gallon bags can make mixing easy. Get a 44 gallon Brute trashcan and fill to 5" from the top. Drop the bag in slowly while it mixes. Then test and add more water. Depending on the brand the 50 gallon bag will normally make close to 43 gallons so you'll learn exactly how much water to put in the can (IE 2" from top) to "drop the bag in" to mix to perfect 35 salinity.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share some of the info I've learned. Now at least you know why I've been on my "salt quest". With that said I'd like to get some feedback from some of you.
Regardless of if you agree or disagree with any of the information above, I'd like to get some feedback from you guys.
I'm trying to create an ionically balanced salt (much harder to do then you think)
I've been trying to target the following for my salt mix which happens to match what I strive to keep my tank running at:
Calcium....430
Alk........8.3
Mag........1320
Strontium..9.0
PH.........8.35
This should give a salt that doesn't need any additions during mixing and shouldn't throw off your "two-part" or calcium reactors. The pH is close to what your tank should be running at so even a very large water change should not "shock" the system as often happens with some salt mixes due to drastic pH differences.
What do you guys think of the above numbers and if you don't like any of them can you tell me why? I'd really like to get as much feedback as possible.
Thanks,
Carlo
