Any Plans to Test Salt?

[JimWelsh]

Google says it's Dutch, and that this is the translation: "Meanwhile, I again tested a different salt by Triton , this time Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt .. here the results along with the tests of other salts:"

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks.

 

[JimWelsh]

One can divine the salinity of the samples as submitted by calculating the molarity of the various cations and anions, disregarding Fluorine, and assuming a reasonable alkalinity level, then inferring the amount of Chlorine that must have been present. By doing that, I arrive at the following values (PPT):

Korallen Zucht: 34.9
Tropic Marin Bio-Actif: 37.8
Reef Crystals: 33.2
Fauna Marin: 36.1
Tropic Marin Pro Reef: 34.1

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That was my concern with using numbers like that chart for comparing things like potassium levels.

For example, the Reef crystals looks low in K on first glance, but actually has the amount it is supposed to for that salinity (equating to 99% of the NSW level of K, assuming Jim's salinities are correct) .

IMO, either they should be made to exactly the same salinity for testing, or they should be corrected for salinity differences.

 

[Sangheili]

Maybe someone wants to normalize the data for us in Excel? :xd:

I have been thinking about creating a table like this from the "salt only" results on this sub-forum. It won't be perfect of course as testing methodologies are different between people but it still may be useful. Maybe this is something I will do after finals are over...

 

[JimWelsh]

Here you go. Boron has been converted to boric acid, and sulfur to sulfate. Units are mg/L. Please note when comparing to NSW levels whether the NSW units used are mg/L or mg/Kg, because those are not the same thing. Pilson's values are mg/Kg.

	Korallen Zucht	Tropic Marin Bio-actif	Reef Crystals	Fauna Marin	Tropic Marin Reef Pro
Cl-	19619	19719	19675	19415	19205
Na+	10700	10604	10755	10706	10681
SO4--	2557	2509	2462	2787	3030
Mg++	1356	1422	1313	1355	1357
Ca++	471	467	500	461	438
K+	406	414	394	377	422
Br-	63.9	40.4	72.4	72.3	43.4
B(OH)3	27.2	26.8	38.4	25.2	27.2
Sr++	10.5	7.9	8.8	9.8	7.3

 

[Lazys Coral House]

Maybe someone wants to normalize the data for us in Excel? :xd:

I have been thinking about creating a table like this from the "salt only" results on this sub-forum. It won't be perfect of course as testing methodologies are different between people but it still may be useful. Maybe this is something I will do after finals are over...

I agree, taking in as much data as we can from posted results, trends will begin to show. It would be nice if someone could create a web form where folks could enter in their results. Results would be stored in DB for pulling into reports. It could ask some addtional questions such as what brand salt do you use. Some folks are not true to a brand. They buy what is on sale going from one salt to another. The survey should allow folks to anwser that question by saying mixed or various so those results can be filtered out of the salt brand aggergate report. Again it won't be extremly accurate but will show trends from one salt to another. It will expose severe issues and could have a postive impact with the quality of salt we are buying by exposing problembs.

 

[JimWelsh]

I can't figure out how to edit my post above, so I'll post my correction here: I double-checked my math, and in normalizing to 35 PPT, I produced results based on mg/Kg, not mg/L.

 

[gregoryleonard]

Since Triton labs has already stated that they would recommend Tropic Marin Pro as the closest to NSW of any commercial salt (outside of their own mix). Why not just use what Triton is recommending if you have to do water changes. I ordered a 200 gal bucket on black Friday for $79 with free shipping. I haven't opened it yet to use it, as I am waiting for my second water test to come back from Triton after doing 4 weekly 10% water changes to correct for some params on my first test in early November.
If several people want to go in with me, I will get all the data from the new bucket (lot#, date, etc.) mix up a new batch (30 gal) for my next water change and send an additional test to Triton on the Tropic Marin Pro at 35pt salinity (tested with calibrated Milwaukee refractometer). and post the results for those that are interested.
I will use Tropic Marin Pro moving forward for any needed water changes.

 

[Keithcorals]

Since Triton labs has already stated that they would recommend Tropic Marin Pro as the closest to NSW of any commercial salt (outside of their own mix). Why not just use what Triton is recommending if you have to do water changes. I ordered a 200 gal bucket on black Friday for $79 with free shipping. I haven't opened it yet to use it, as I am waiting for my second water test to come back from Triton after doing 4 weekly 10% water changes to correct for some params on my first test in early November.
If several people want to go in with me, I will get all the data from the new bucket (lot#, date, etc.) mix up a new batch (30 gal) for my next water change and send an additional test to Triton on the Tropic Marin Pro at 35pt salinity (tested with calibrated Milwaukee refractometer). and post the results for those that are interested.
I will use Tropic Marin Pro moving forward for any needed water changes.

I would love to see the results from a test on TMP I'm not going to use it again after it threw a handful of my parameters off after a few water changes. If you are going to mix some to send in I'd be happy to pay for part of the test. You might want to look at my water test https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/triton-us/183740-keithcorals-triton-results.html or have the salt tested before using it for water changes.

 

[gregoryleonard]

I would love to see the results from a test on TMP I'm not going to use it again after it threw a handful of my parameters off after a few water changes. If you are going to mix some to send in I'd be happy to pay for part of the test. You might want to look at my water test https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/triton-us/183740-keithcorals-triton-results.html or have the salt tested before using it for water changes.

I saw that earlier. That was aquarium water you had tested after the WCs, correct? You did not send in a TMP only test.
If someone else has already sent in a TMP test recently to Triton, let us know and post results in a thread so we don't duplicated efforts. I will still be happy to send in a freshly mixed TMP water sample for testing to Triton if a few people will help out with the expense.

 

[JimWelsh]

Actually, I think that "duplicated efforts" is exactly what we want. It is probably a mistake to think that a single sample is truly representative, due to many, many factors, such as variability from batch to batch or bucket to bucket, uneven settling of the components during shipping, uneven mixing, and so on.

 

[Keithcorals]

I saw that earlier. That was aquarium water you had tested after the WCs, correct? You did not send in a TMP only test.
If someone else has already sent in a TMP test recently to Triton, let us know and post results in a thread so we don't duplicated efforts. I will still be happy to send in a freshly mixed TMP water sample for testing to Triton if a few people will help out with the expense.

Yes I have test result from before the water changes with TMP and after and other than boron I did not add anything new to my tank. I didn't test the salt by it's self though so I'm in for $20 if you get another person to help out as well that should make the test pretty affordable.

 

[Keithcorals]

Actually, I think that "duplicated efforts" is exactly what we want. It is probably a mistake to think that a single sample is truly representative, due to many, many factors, such as variability from batch to batch or bucket to bucket, uneven settling of the components during shipping, uneven mixing, and so on.

I completely agree but you have to start somewhere

 

[JimWelsh]

I know a few things have to be done and certain rules followed

Ex.
A bucket Date noted if any date is available
A brand new bucket of salt is opened.
Bucket must be mixed dry
New sterile Gloves
1# bagged and sent off in a double Food grade bag to prevent contamination.

And such you get the idea so all salt gets to the proper destination without contamination.

I'll throw my hand up as someone eager and willing (and perhaps even qualified) to accept the 1# samples and mix them as consistently as possible and send the samples in, if we can get enough contributed tests for this project. I currently have four tests I purchased at MACNA but haven't used yet, and I'd be willing to contribute three of those to this project.

I think that we should try to get as many 1# samples of each brand of salt from as many participants as possible, to "average" the samples. I have plenty of lab glassware that I can acid wash, and rinse in 18Mohm water. I also have an accurate laboratory balance for weighing the salt, can mix with 18Mohm water, and verify the consistency of the salinity of the samples with a densitometer. I'd like to be able to submit at least two and preferably three samples of each mix to check the precision of the returned results.

Thoughts, everybody?

 

[TheReefKeeper]

You know I'm in I have Red Sea Coral Pro

I also want to address the TMP I saw some data just the other day and I will say I woun't be using it any time soon. Let me see if I can find it

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Credit goes to Rich he posted them on FB I'm just copying them over here if their here already I apologize :tongue:

 

[H2O]

Looks like cheap salt is the winner here

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Credit goes to Rich he posted them on FB I'm just copying them over here if their here already I apologize :tongue:

Who ran those tests and when?

What about the TMP bothers you?

 

[wangspeed]

Who ran those tests and when?

What about the TMP bothers you?

Looks like an old AWT salt comparison paper. Would have been a lot more useful if they mixed to the same salinity instead of by weight. Useless to me though.