ASF REEF EVOLUTION SALT (Reasons not to)

vitaliyphoto · Sep 9, 2024

Quite disappointed with this salt mix for the following reasons:

1. Bacterial Bloom in the mixing containter. I couldn’t believe my eyes but after trying to find where the smell was coming from I have traced it to my full mixing Brute tote. It smells like biopellets/sulfur. Prebiotic salt seemed like a good idea up to this point. Now, this only happened on the 3rd mix. Question is: where did NO3 and PO4 come from to cause bacterial bloom or is it only needed in super small quantity if any?
2. Alkalinity is way off at 10.5 vs claimed range of 7.7-8.3. BOO.

I think the moment Dr. Tim puts his name on something everyone jumps on it without checking the quality of the product. And this product is NOT quality.

vitaliyphoto · Sep 9, 2024

A couple of images with supporting evidence (the salt tested 10.2 that time within Hanna accuracy):

bogner · Jun 16, 2025

Yeah, I’m kinda having issues with is dissolving and gumming up my mixing pump with precipitation. I’ll keep using this box but I am not sure if I will buy it again.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 17, 2025

I personally would not use a salt mix that had organic material intentionally added. I think that's a poor design attribute.

In this case it claims to have amino acids and vitamins. So if you mix up a batch of new salt water and do not use it quickly, bacteria will grow in it, consuming the trace elements. It might also become anaerobic if not continually aerated, depending on how much is there.

Finally, I find some of the claims in the product analysis they publish to be rather strange.

In the link below, one can see it contains less than 10 ppm iodide. Wow, what a useful statement when NSW contains 0.06 ppm. Does that mean it might have 9 ppm? Might it have none? lol Pro tip to this company: if you cannot properly detect a component of seawater, don't say stupid stuff about it.

On the real side, I think the boron/borate is excessive.

https://www.drtimsaquatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Reef-Evolution-Sea-Salt-Analysis.pdf