Brightwell NeoMarine question

[lakeviewink]

I've been using this for about 18 months now and am very happy with it.
That being said, I just opened a new 150g bucket and the last two 15g water changes I've mixed up have been screwy. It's been cloudy even after 24 hrs of mixing, there seems to be some precipitant on the pump and heater, and there is a blackish/greyish oily slick on the surface.
I thought the first batch I must've accidentally used a dirty pump or something but I know it was clean the second time around, I made sure of it. I also mixed up the salt mix more this time before using it, just in case of settling from shipping and storage.

My TDS is 000-001 so I don't think it's my water but something is causing this reaction. I checked the pH on the batch and it is 8.8 !?

Anyone out there have a similar experience or suggestion?

 

[mcarroll]

I'd say if you suspect a dirty pump (oily??) then more than likely that was the issue. (Keep the reefing gear separate from the industrial gear!) Try mixing a batch without a pump (e.g. by hand) in a new container if you haven't already. (Could be just a small batch so that it's convenient.) Would be interesting to see if you got the same results.

In any case, if you really think it's the salt, I'd place a call to Brightwell for their take on it and post any results from the call too!

-Matt

 

[lakeviewink]

My point was, it's not the pump. Everything was thoroughly clean the second batch.
It's the chemistry. I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue?

 

[lakeviewink]

I'd say if you suspect a dirty pump (oily??) then more than likely that was the issue. (Keep the reefing gear separate from the industrial gear!)

-Matt

Industrial gear? My Fish room has reef gear in it. I don't know how I would mingle any "industrial" gear with it. Lol, thanks for the reminder though.

 

[mcarroll]

Well you suspected something black and oily came off one of your pumps....industrial equipment was a pure guess, but something must've made the pump oily (or whatever the stuff was) if that was the case. Just speculating along with you.

As far as the chemistry, sorry I don't have direct experience with anything like that in their salt (or anyone else's). A call/email to Brightwell is still my recommendation....and I'd be curious to hear what they say.

This is purely an anecdote, but I do vaguely remember seeing some magnesium dosing solution that had sat for a long time and evaporated down to a solid and it had a tiny amount of black liquid in the solid magnesium crystal hunk the rest had become...and these salts are sorta oily to the touch. (Even our two-part dosing solutions feel a bit oily.) But I don't know if this stuff would float to form a slick and this does nothing to explain the cloudiness....which I guess is calcium precipitating. Maybe Mg is too then? Very, very strange set of symptoms if that's right at all.

Come to think of it....pH 8.8 is probably high enough to do just that. Never seen the results of raising pH that high in seawater to say it for sure....but it's a logical explanation. If so, Brightwell's batch must be off...which I'm sure they'd love to know about and take care of.

Keep us posted!

-Matt

 

[Rosco]

I've had the same issue as you, lakeviewink. I've been using NeoMarine for the past 12 months, and just opened a new 150g bucket and mixed the first batch. The water was much cloudier than normal, and took more than 24hrs to clear up, after which there was a film on top of the water and on the pump and heater in the bucket. I noticed that the salt in the new bucket also looked different than the last bit of salt in my old bucket - it was slightly off-white and had a more powdery consistency that had settled quite a bit in shipping. I mixed up the entire new bucket to make sure it wasn't an issue of the salt mixture separating. I will contact the company today to see if this is an issue in their manufacturing process. I'm hesitant to use the newly mixed salt water.

 

[Rosco]

Update: Just talked with Brightwell - it is a problem with one of the ingredients in their mixture. They were very nice about it and are sending me a replacement bucket.

 

[ifarmer]

how to contact brightwell?
I am using brightwell salt, 2 parts supplements. just want to have their contact info handy just in case I will run into any problems.
thanks

 

[Rosco]

Their support page lists various e-mails and a phone number: 570.486.4720

They will ask for the lot number from the salt if you have an issue with it.

 

[mcarroll]

Update: Just talked with Brightwell - it is a problem with one of the ingredients in their mixture. They were very nice about it and are sending me a replacement bucket.

Thanks for taking the time to post your reolution!

-Matt

 

[lakeviewink]

Update: Just talked with Brightwell - it is a problem with one of the ingredients in their mixture. They were very nice about it and are sending me a replacement bucket.

I talked to Brightell. I was waiting to see how the new bucket mixed up before updating the thread. They gave me the same answer, bad batch. So far, the new bucket is mixing up 100% better, I just recieved it and started using it yesterday. Thanks for your input. Let us know how your new bucket is please.…

 

[CoralFragZ]

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[lakeviewink]

The new bucket was great but since then I have had another bad bucket. I just emailed them again today and they are sending another replacement. This is what my mixing barrel, pump and heater looked like after the bad batch this time.
I have to say though that they have great customer service.

 

[mcarroll]

Strange!

I know this is off-topic, but I'd lose the heater...unless you're mixing in a sub-room-temperature (<70º-ish) environment, no good will come from it....only some precipitation.

And if you must heat, I'd only do it prior to adding the salt mix.

Consider that a storm doesn't rain pre-heated water on the reef. My mix water starts out at around 64ºF-ish in the RODI vat with room temp about 70ºF+.

I do nothing to heat the water, and I've done water changes up to 30% without issue. (Currently doing 5% daily.) My reef is about 5+ years old.

Good luck!

-Matt

P.S. Hopefully Brightwell will contact your retailer (and their supplier) to get this permanently straightened out. Do you think they collected enough info from you to do this?

 

[CoralFragZ]

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[mcarroll]

Since this brightwell salt issue I have had an STN event in my tank again and had to chop up my Prize SSC this morning. Was that the same with your experience? I prob. Did two 60G waterchanges with the bad salt. I am concerned moving forward with brightwell.

Man that's too bad!

Was you water cloudy like the OP's at the time you did both of the water changes? If not I bet you are having a different issue. If so - and this is a rule of thumb - never put anything cloudy in the tank.

It probably doesn't need to be said, but salt, two part and any other chemical that's really worthwhile is going to mix clear (i.e. everything is going into solution). Never cloudy - which always means something is NOT in solution...which is a problem in almost all cases.

-Matt

 

[CoralFragZ]

Man that's too bad!

Was you water cloudy like the OP's at the time you did both of the water changes? If not I bet you are having a different issue. If so - and this is a rule of thumb - never put anything cloudy in the tank.

It probably doesn't need to be said, but salt, two part and any other chemical that's really worthwhile is going to mix clear (i.e. everything is going into solution). Never cloudy - which always means something is NOT in solution...which is a problem in almost all cases.

-Matt

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[Aquariums To Go]

I normally use Aquasonic (an Australian brand) but I just bought 4 x 300gallon boxes of neomarine to try; which is 2 x 150g bags in each box. I make 150g at a time. Two bags I got the same results both times. I just checked and they are all the same batch, so sending about to send an irate email to the aussie supplier and brightwell.

He is what 150 gallons looks like after leaving the sediment to settle for a day. What a waste.

 

[that Reef Guy]

I have heard of this too.

A Local Reefer in Michigan was actually giving away a couple buckets of this Salt away for free because it mixed cloudy.

He said that it should be fine for Fish only tanks.

 

[Lonelyreef]

Use good ole reliable reef crystals. Most widely used and consistent results in the industry.