Chunks in Tropic Marin Pro Reef

[BrettE]

Any idea what these chunks are? This bucket of salt was made in Germany.

 

[KrisReef]

The one looks like a sharpie marker but the other two could be chunks of dried drywall mud or who knows what?

I have seen poorly mixed buckets with mag flake chunks clearly showing but these chunks are something else, maybe part of or foreign to the salt mixing process.

I have tasted mag flakes and they have a unique flavor but I don’t think I would taste test those chunks. It might be baking soda and it might be a toxic contaminant, from the picture it’s a mystery.

Mix up the whole batch and run an ICP and see if you get anything out of the ordinary?

 

[EnterName]

It's possible it's just some chemical compound that got wet and hardened a bit into a chunk. This happens and in this case it can be crushed into a powder again.

Otherwise, please contact Tropic marin (https://www.tropic-marin.com/kontakt?lang=en), they might want to know if something is wrong in their manufacturing process. They will probably need the batch number which should be somewhere on the container.

If you are lucky they might give you a free replacement or other goodies, and they will know what exactly this stuff is.

 

[KrisReef]

It's possible it's just some chemical compound that got wet and hardened a bit into a chunk. This happens and in this case it can be crushed into a powder again.

Otherwise, please contact Tropic marin (https://www.tropic-marin.com/kontakt?lang=en), they might want to know if something is wrong in their manufacturing process. They will probably need the batch number which should be somewhere on the container.

If you are lucky they might give you a free replacement or other goodies, and they will know what exactly this stuff is.

Some reactions result in lowering the alk that the slat will mix too. If the op mixes up the salt they need to test the resulting parameters to ensure it mixes to the expected Alk, CA, Mg, at least.

 

[EnterName]

It's possible it's just some chemical compound that got wet and hardened a bit into a chunk. This happens and in this case it can be crushed into a powder again.

Otherwise, please contact Tropic marin (https://www.tropic-marin.com/kontakt?lang=en), they might want to know if something is wrong in their manufacturing process. They will probably need the batch number which should be somewhere on the container.

If you are lucky they might give you a free replacement or other goodies, and they will know what exactly this stuff is.

Some reactions result in lowering the alk that the slat will mix too. If the op mixes up the salt they need to test the resulting parameters to ensure it mixes to the expected Alk, CA, Mg, at least.

So you are assuming some insoluble compounds might have formed and if mixed they can't provide alkalinity, calcium, etc., as they won't go back into solution?

Might be possible (e.g. Calcium carbonate, Magnesium carbonate, etc. could have formed), but I don't know if the difference will be significant. Maybe testing helps, but if something is off, I wouldn't trust the bucket at all and replace it instead of hoping other elements are fine.

If the sharpie was actually in the bucket then something is wrong and I would simply get a new bucket instead of spending the time (and money) for an ICP test. The manufacturer will surely offer a free replacement in this case.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I think it most likely it’s just clumpy normal stuff from the mix. I’d see if it dissolves as usual.

 

[BrettE]

If the sharpie was actually in the bucket

I added the Sharpie only for scale.

 

[KrisReef]

I added the Sharpie only for scale.

I was impressed with the Sharpie scale as a useful, common object instead of a ruler to help verify the size of the 2 mystery globs.

Are the globs hardened together or do they crumble to dust when they are handled?

I won’t ask you your parameters or for a picture under blues onl. I really like the sharpie scale! It works.

 

[EnterName]

If the sharpie was actually in the bucket

I added the Sharpie only for scale.

Yeah I thought so, lol
That's why I wasn't really worried about the chunks as its fairly common for salts or balling solutions to have chunks in them. There are some hygroscopic compounds in them which will simply suck water out of the surrounding air and then this stuff happens. Condensation through changing temperatures is another factor.