DIY Red Sea Salt? Possible?

[Sam1]

Whilst having a look online for some salt a thought crossed my mind as we all know anything marine related has an increased cost. I came across a company selling red sea salt direct from the Rea Sea from my understanding which at best is basic, each crystal contains 45 trace elements with only foundation elements needing to be topped up to make it suitable for our reefs after looking at red sea salt they also harvest their salt from the red sea and add trace elements, considering the sheer scale required to harvest so much salt from the ocean I can't see there being many companies actually doing the harvesting.

Am I completely bonkers to think that this may work or is it possible? I was thinking of buying some and making a batch up testing the sample and then adjusting to the needed values and then to send a sample of for an ICP to see just exactly what is in.

At the moment from what I can see the cheapest red sea coral pro salt works out at about £2.72 per kg where as this is only £1 kg or even less if buying in bulk! and foundation elements wouldn't be much.

Just wondering has anyone tried this in the past or know of anyone who has?

Btw I am happy to just keep buying the salt as I do but just wondering.

 

[Sam1]

There is also a video showing some information it mentions Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium as well as all the other trace elements then showing Fe(iron), Sr(Strontium), Ba(Barium), B(Boron), Co(cobalt), Mn(Manganese), B2(Boron??), F2(Fluorine), I2(Iodine).

It would be interesting to know what is in the basic salt before adding.

Also if you listen in the video they say the calcium precipitate first, I wonder if this is separated meaning there is little or no calcium in the raw salt mix?

 

[rtparty]

Randy has a recipe for your own DIY salt. You’d have to search for it and see if it’s something you’re willing to tackle

 

[TX_REEF]

I think it's possible - Polo Reef literally uses regular pure cooking sodium chloride based on what I've seen in his videos and just adds other elements/minerals separately. Check out 17:54 of the below video.



Also see 1:15 of below:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No one can dry out ocean water and then redissolve it. Calcium carbonate will precipitate and not redissolve.

So a salt sold for any purpose that is just dried seawater is not useful for making seawater, unless you add back things that couldn't redissolve.

Even worse, saLTs sold for eating ("SEA SALT") will be very low in magnesium and sulfate as those cause diarrhea, and the products are basically just dirty sodium chloride.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What is Seawater? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

An Artificial Seawater Recipe
For those who are interested, the following artificial seawater recipe is taken from "Chemical Oceanography" by Frank Millero. It makes a recipe that matches 35 ppt seawater in terms of major ions, but does not try to match all minor and trace elements, most of which will be present as impurities in the major elements.

23.98 g sodium chloride
5.029 g magnesium chloride
4.01 g sodium sulfate
1.14 g calcium chloride
0.699 g potassium chloride
0.172 g sodium bicarbonate
0.100 g potassium bromide
0.0254 g boric acid
0.0143 g strontium chloride
0.0029 g sodium fluoride
Water to 1 kg total weight.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Also if you listen in the video they say the calcium precipitate first, I wonder if this is separated meaning there is little or no calcium in the raw salt mix?

The biggest effect is on alk, since there's not enough alk in seawater to precipitate all of the calcium.

 

[rtparty]

I think it's possible - Polo Reef literally uses regular pure cooking sodium chloride based on what I've seen in his videos and just adds other elements/minerals separately. Check out 17:54 of the below video.



Also see 1:15 of below:

Andrew uses ESV's 4 part system. It has been around for at least 15 years. It has a ton of research and development that went into it

 

[Reef_Freak720]

The biggest effect is on alk, since there's not enough alk in seawater to precipitate all of the calcium.

I just want to say I usually find you whenever I google anything I need to know and it's insane.
Thank you for all you do

 

[ナイトコア猫]

This Aquaforest "Reef Mineral Salt" has no sodium. There are trace amounts of seawater minerals in this. Also, this can be used for "Balling Method". But does it have enough trace amounts of seawater minerals?　What do you think, @Randy Holmes-Farley ?

[:en]Reef Mineral Salt - Aquaforest Official Website[:pl]Reef Mineral Salt - oficjalna strona Aquaforest[:]

aquaforest.eu

But it doesn't matter. I prefer Randy's link: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-red-sea-salt-possible.1023391/#post-12003496. We will use a small amount of materials on Amazon!

 

[Sam1]

No one can dry out ocean water and then redissolve it. Calcium carbonate will precipitate and not redissolve.

So a salt sold for any purpose that is just dried seawater is not useful for making seawater, unless you add back things that couldn't redissolve.

Even worse, saLTs sold for eating ("SEA SALT") will be very low in magnesium and sulfate as those cause diarrhea, and the products are basically just dirty sodium chloride.

Please forgive me as i'm not well up on the chemistry aspects as you are, Red sea coral pro salt boasts about being salt from the red sea ocean that has been dried out and then has main foundation elements calcium, magnesium ect added to allow for elevated levels in the finished mix. So if I used dried red sea salt that they claim contains 45 of the trace elements then by adding the foundation elements I shouldn't be far off but obviously would have to work out the correct mix would be alot of trial and error I would guess? and then would require an ICP test to see if the mix contains all of the trace elements.

I will do some more research and look into the information provided so far.

 

[ナイトコア猫]

Please forgive me as i'm not well up on the chemistry aspects as you are, Red sea coral pro salt boasts about being salt from the red sea ocean that has been dried out and then has main foundation elements calcium, magnesium ect added to allow for elevated levels in the finished mix. So if I used dried red sea salt that they claim contains 45 of the trace elements then by adding the foundation elements I shouldn't be far off but obviously would have to work out the correct mix would be alot of trial and error I would guess? and then would require an ICP test to see if the mix contains all of the trace elements.

I will do some more research and look into the information provided so far.

Above's quote: @Randy Holmes-Farley ?

Also. Excuse me. But are many “ICP Tests” expensive? Is it economical?

 

[Sam1]

Above's quote: @Randy Holmes-Farley ?

Also. Excuse me. But are many “ICP Tests” expensive? Is it economical?

ICP tests are about £20 here in the UK they do vary depending which company you choose, i obviously would do as many tests as I could using the testing equipment I have before sending and ICP tests off but its all more for curiosity as I could be wrong but in all honesty I cannot see the big companies mixing the salt up in labs there will be a set mix where the raw salt is taken and then things added mixed in a big drum and then put in buckets/bags for sale.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I just want to say I usually find you whenever I google anything I need to know and it's insane.
Thank you for all you do

lol thx!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Please forgive me as i'm not well up on the chemistry aspects as you are, Red sea coral pro salt boasts about being salt from the red sea ocean that has been dried out and then has main foundation elements calcium, magnesium ect added to allow for elevated levels in the finished mix. So if I used dried red sea salt that they claim contains 45 of the trace elements then by adding the foundation elements I shouldn't be far off but obviously would have to work out the correct mix would be alot of trial and error I would guess? and then would require an ICP test to see if the mix contains all of the trace elements.

I will do some more research and look into the information provided so far.

well, if they say that in a way you believe it, then you have been misled. Fully dried seawater does not reconstitute with water to give the original water, and “sea salt” sold for consumption is not fully dried seawater.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Never had a Problem with Reef Crystals, nor finding decent prices on it. When I get to the bottom of one Bucket, or the last bag, and before I get into the unopened new container. I start looking around for the best deal. Never very far into that bucket or box of salt, when I have more salt on hand.

 

[Sam1]

well, if they say that in a way you believe it, then you have been misled. Fully dried seawater does not reconstitute with water to give the original water, and “sea salt” sold for consumption is not fully dried seawater.

Sorry if I was misunderstood i'm not saying I can just buy the red sea salt and add water and use it like normal aquarium salt i'm mainly curios as to what is missing from the mix to make it aquarium salt. Like I said at the beginning I am happy to keep buying salt the way I do but its purely curiosity yes I know there is a DIY mix for salt but I was wondering if dried out red sea salt contained anything else and how hard it would be to DIY a salt mix.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sorry if I was misunderstood i'm not saying I can just buy the red sea salt and add water and use it like normal aquarium salt i'm mainly curios as to what is missing from the mix to make it aquarium salt. Like I said at the beginning I am happy to keep buying salt the way I do but its purely curiosity yes I know there is a DIY mix for salt but I was wondering if dried out red sea salt contained anything else and how hard it would be to DIY a salt mix.

If a product is fully dried seawater, as opposed to partly dried seawater where the solids are kept and liquid thrown out (which is the process to make eatable sea salt) then alkalinity will be nearly completely gone, along with a significant part of the calcium.

Trace elements such as iron are far more complicated and likely depend strongly on the process details.

 

[Sam1]

If a product is fully dried seawater, as opposed to partly dried seawater where the solids are kept and liquid thrown out (which is the process to make eatable sea salt) then alkalinity will be nearly completely gone, along with a significant part of the calcium.

Trace elements such as iron are far more complicated and likely depend strongly on the process details.

So purely based on theory if I bought some, added calcium and alk then I would be on the way to a salt mix. THis obviously would all depend how it was collected and processed.

I have the option to buy a small bag so I may do some experimenting, it was all just a random thought that popped into my head when looking online for some salt and thought it was worth asking as you never know. Thank you for all of the information and help and if I find anything at all interesting (doubtful) I will update.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So purely based on theory if I bought some, added calcium and alk then I would be on the way to a salt mix. THis obviously would all depend how it was collected and processed.

I have the option to buy a small bag so I may do some experimenting, it was all just a random thought that popped into my head when looking online for some salt and thought it was worth asking as you never know. Thank you for all of the information and help and if I find anything at all interesting (doubtful) I will update.

I do not think it is likely anyone is selling fully dried seawater and I think you are likely misunderstanding what they are selling.

But yes, a full ICP analysis would help you determine what you need to add.