ESV inconsistancy

[ohiojeffsreef]

I have been buying ESV by the 5 gallon bucket. Has anyone run into a problem with inconsistency in the mix? I have noticed switching from one bucket to another I would see some rise and fall of my Alk. I broke into a new pale and my Alk took a nose dive. My reef is a wreck, and I am wondering if others ran into this? I suppose if I am going to make a switch after all these years, now would be the time.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've not heard of such issues aside from this post. You are talking about their salt mix? Don't you mix the parts yourself?

 

[ohiojeffsreef]

no, this was the alk portion of the two part. I have used them for 7 years now, and never had any real consistency issues. Yes, I mix it with RO water. All I can figure is I got an old bucket or something. I get them through BRS, but again they have been nothing but great to me. I am just baffled.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It was powder? I can't see how that could be off by much, assuming it wasn't a totally wrong ingredient, like calcium chloride.

 

[greg 45]

Have you called ESV to resole the issue.
They are a stand up company , I would think they can assist you better than the forum .

 

[Acro76]

Never had an issue here... but i have had plenty of test kit inconsistency, particularly when we are almost out of a kit, then we break open a new one. Sometimes varies as much as 1 dkh from the old kit to the new (Elos, Salifert, etc.).

Were you able to test the b-ionic to see if it was in fact low in alk?

Their email is [email protected]

 

[ohiojeffsreef]

I am just curious if there was a bad batch out there or if it was possible that it can get old. Replacing the bucket of solution doesn't do much, and I certainly don't expect them to replace livestock or anything. I am lucky in one way, I sat up a frag system after the last disaster, so I have starts of all the stuff that died. Just kind of upsetting though.

I didn't test the actual bucket, but I tested my water with both red sea and api kits just as a double witness that it wasn't the kit and both showed the same. It was in the mid 7's by both tests. Also when I broke out a new bucket the levels returned to their normal 8.7-9. now I could see the bucket being mis-labled and it actually being the calcium portion inside maybe, but I have never heard of anything like this. Thanks everyone. I am going to email them just to touch base and see if they know of any issues.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The only other issue I can see might be if you thought you were getting the concentrate and it was regular B-ionic (or vice versa), or B-ionic Bicarbonate (which is weaker).

 

[ohiojeffsreef]

Needless to say I am going to take one more look to make sure I haven't missed something on my end. I have a pretty good routine down now, so I don't think so, but I could have. I have also been in touch with them and am going to call once I get off work and double check the bucket to make sure I didn't mess up. now that you mention the solution versus the concentrate I want to make sure I didn't make that mistake.

 

[mshur]

i agree with Randy, first time i see this topic came up.. ive been using for years with no issues...

 

[Rjramos]

Needless to say I am going to take one more look to make sure I haven't missed something on my end. I have a pretty good routine down now, so I don't think so, but I could have. I have also been in touch with them and am going to call once I get off work and double check the bucket to make sure I didn't mess up. now that you mention the solution versus the concentrate I want to make sure I didn't make that mistake.

I have been using the 4 gallons set delivered in a 5 gal bucket for years. I mix the amount of RO indicated and mix well. I have had a large chunk of crystallized solid in the alkalinity container but it dissolves with heating the RO water a little and breaking it up with a stick. Although I have never actually tested the concentration of my mixed solutions, I had never had issues in my tanks. I continue with the same daily dose of both solutions and the parameters are maintained at the same levels as the previous batch. I use up the 4 gal set in about 1 yr. Anyways, talk to them and let us know on this thread. I am curious to know if there is consistency issues.

 

[reef lover]

Loyal esv user....following...

 

[ohiojeffsreef]

Okay, I figured it out when I got home. ESV switched from a 4 gallon jug to a five gallon bucket. They are marked this side up in shipping, but of course UPS throws them any which way. Unlike the jugs they have been using for years, the pales leak. I have three sitting in reserve because I try and make sure I have plenty of everything I use. I opened the boxes and noticed one was stained where it had been wet. I sat the pales up on my workbench and noted all three had a different amount of concentrate in them. Apparently the one that nuked my reef must have leaked enough to cause me real problems. ESV has only used the pales recently, and that is where the problem lies.

 

[Rjramos]

Okay, I figured it out when I got home. ESV switched from a 4 gallon jug to a five gallon bucket. They are marked this side up in shipping, but of course UPS throws them any which way. Unlike the jugs they have been using for years, the pales leak. I have three sitting in reserve because I try and make sure I have plenty of everything I use. I opened the boxes and noticed one was stained where it had been wet. I sat the pales up on my workbench and noted all three had a different amount of concentrate in them. Apparently the one that nuked my reef must have leaked enough to cause me real problems. ESV has only used the pales recently, and that is where the problem lies.

If the leaked amount is enough, like a completely wet box that the pail is shipped in, then I would say yes, the concentration after you dilute it is gonna be high. From my experience
I have had a wet and precipitate stained box on one side with a 5 gal pail of alkalinity. I called up the vendor, afraid of unknown amount that leaked out and they just send me another set without questioning. When the new set got in I compared the levels and they were the same. So I am now using the one that leaked for about 1 month now. In the month I have noticed slightly higher alk (8.6 to 10.6) and calcium (400 to 430) So I will dial down my daily doses for 2 weeks and see where it goes. This has happened before to me with new batch concentrations, but it's never a drastic change that causes my alk or ca to sky rocket or plummet. The first couple of months that I start using a new batch, I tend to check my parameters more often. Once I figure the daily dose for the pail, I continue dose this amount until the pail runs out with very little fluctuations in the parameters. [emoji106]

 

[ohiojeffsreef]

The leak also explains the smaller changes I have spotted with each bucket. I don't think they normally leak very much, but they do leak. I am convinced of that now. Now that I know this I am still considering my options. The gallons would be an option, but cost me more. We will see. After 7 years of success with B-ionic, changing isn't something I really want to do either.

 

[ohiojeffsreef]

ok, here is the last box I opened. I would like to point out someone at BRS wrapped it in two plastic bags, so they knew it was leaking. I want to also note the outside of the box looked perfectly fine, no wetness. Say what you want, but they are leaking, and did leak enough to drop my alk from 9 to 7.6.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't understand how a leak leads to reduced tank alkalinity, and if it did leak out, where did it go?

Many manufacturers wrap bottles of liquid in plastic "in case" of a leak, not because it is already leaking.

 

[Scorpius]

They don't use the 200 gallon system any longer I thought. Every vendor I tried in the past phased them out to the 5 gal buckets which only makes 100 gallons.

 

[ohiojeffsreef]

ok the concentrate leaks out, and when you add the 2 gallons to mix it, there isn't as much concentrate so the resulting solution isn't as concentrated as it is supposed to be. as for wrapping it in plastic, the calcium bucket wasnt wrapped, and I have only had the alk leak. ESV is sending replacement and they shared that the pale should weigh 24.7 pounds so i can add to the others and get them back up.