Salt mixes and your thoughts

What if instead of taking a breathalyser to start your car you had to bring in a water sample in order to purchase an aquatic animal. I would shop at that store and also likely keep samples of natural sea water in my vehicle. :-D

I LOVE that idea! I'd shop exclusively at a store with "strict parameters" like that. My reefer buddy just got back from Aqua Traders and said that their live tanks where horrible...dying Blue Tangs, nasty water, just heart-breaking. I wish there was a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Aquatic Marine Life. I'd like to see stores like that busted. These are little lives we're caring for - not inanimate plastic crap from China that you can just throw away when you're tired of it. As you can see, stuff like that really ruffles my tail feathers.

i like salinity when i have the money but i use kent's reef salt when money is tight but as for color and hhealth salinity

Originally Posted by shmoliken

there's a whole thread on rc about aquavitro, cloudy water, and changing kh values, depending on when you test for it and the temp when you mix it up. it'd take a search under their chemistry forum. i currently am using it half and half with reefcrystals, and it does cloud the reservoir water for about 12 hours, but i have detected none of the kh shifts they talk about. but i only do a 3 gal change every day, adding 590 grams of salt. no large changes at all. i am very, very happy with it, no smell, and for some reason it takes less salt to achieve the same 1.025 than brightwell, r/c, tropic marin reefpro, or any other salt i have used. at my lfs it's 90 for the foot busting barrel, only 40 cents a gal. r/c works out to 35 cents a gallon. $11 more per 200 gallons.

Hey Paul where are you buying the aquavitro? I have used many different salts over the years and My favorite has always been Tropic Marine Pro. I am currently finishing off a bag of..... gasp RC.

Since I have been long distance reefing so to speak the RC was easiest to pick up when I needed salt quick.l I am ready for a change. I can't really say that the RC has been bad for my tank, but I absolutely hate the residue it leaves behind in my mixing can. I am debating on trying the aquavitro or the new ESV Bionic 4 part salt. I prefer to buy my salt locally so I guess it depends on what the LFS can get for me. I will update on any changes I notice with the new salt.

Do you like the aquavitro Paul?

Originally Posted by ento_reefer

Hey Paul where are you buying the aquavitro? I have used many different salts over the years and My favorite has always been Tropic Marine Pro. I am currently finishing off a bag of..... gasp RC.

Since I have been long distance reefing so to speak the RC was easiest to pick up when I needed salt quick.l I am ready for a change. I can't really say that the RC has been bad for my tank, but I absolutely hate the residue it leaves behind in my mixing can. I am debating on trying the aquavitro or the new ESV Bionic 4 part salt. I prefer to buy my salt locally so I guess it depends on what the LFS can get for me. I will update on any changes I notice with the new salt.

Do you like the aquavitro Paul?

ellen,
i got mine at fishbowl. there are definite issues. way too long to type, but it needs to be mixed slowly and at around 70 deg. otherwise there is serious calcium carb precipitation. coated my entire 20 long reservoir. starts out very cloudy. great param numbers, fr sure.
here's an email from seachem:

Hello Paul,

Thank you for your question. What you are seeing is a precipitation of calcium carbonate. I have found that this can be reduced in a few ways. The most effective, adding the salt in smaller batches. While it may not be ideal, adding the salt in smaller amounts, maybe 100-200g at a time, and giving half an hour or so for it to mix will reduce the amount of precipitant. Decreasing the temperature helps quite a bit, as well. Lower temperatures mean more oxygen and keep precipitation to a minimum. Another way to increase the oxygen is to slow down your pump. The more agitated the water is the more CO2 it will bring in from the atmosphere. This can cause excessive precipitation. When I mix at home I mix my water at about 70 degrees using a small Hydor pump in a closed container. I then slowly increase the temperature up to 78 and show very little to no precipitation. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Product Support
1080

Originally Posted by shmoliken

ellen,
i got mine at fishbowl. there are definite issues. way too long to type, but it needs to be mixed slowly and at around 70 deg. otherwise there is serious calcium carb precipitation. coated my entire 20 long reservoir. starts out very cloudy. great param numbers, fr sure.
here's an email from seachem:

Hello Paul,

Thank you for your question. What you are seeing is a precipitation of calcium carbonate. I have found that this can be reduced in a few ways. The most effective, adding the salt in smaller batches. While it may not be ideal, adding the salt in smaller amounts, maybe 100-200g at a time, and giving half an hour or so for it to mix will reduce the amount of precipitant. Decreasing the temperature helps quite a bit, as well. Lower temperatures mean more oxygen and keep precipitation to a minimum. Another way to increase the oxygen is to slow down your pump. The more agitated the water is the more CO2 it will bring in from the atmosphere. This can cause excessive precipitation. When I mix at home I mix my water at about 70 degrees using a small Hydor pump in a closed container. I then slowly increase the temperature up to 78 and show very little to no precipitation. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Product Support
1080

Thanks for posting the info Paul. I was just reading on RC where TMPC has had some bad batches lately with low alk and some people have lost corals. Maybe it was a good thng I had reef crystals?? Matbe I will try the ESV salt. I need to see if someone can order it for me.

I just swapped to regular instant ocean. I don't have enough corals to worry about getting reef crystals any more. Also doseing is cheaper than the extra you pay for the reef crystals.

Another way to increase the oxygen is to slow down your pump. The more agitated the water is the more CO2 it will bring in from the atmosphere.

Im not buying all that they say in Paul's response he got. Increased surface agitation promotes better gas exchange. Air is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen with about .04% carbon dioxide. Surface agitation is going to bring in way more O2 then CO2.

I do agree with adding the salt in small amounts though. I add about half of what i need and wait a while and add almost all of the rest wait again and then add whats needed to target.