Switched to Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt-- so why the low Alk and Calcium??

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm on my second 200 gallon bucket of Tropic Marin pro, neither bucket has mixed up anywhere close to what they claim.

On average:
Alk 6.3-6.7
Cal 410-430
Mag 1230-1280

M not sure what they say, but each of those values overlaps 35 ppt seawater. What salinity is your measurement intended to be at?

 

[Arcadiareef]

Just mixed my first batch, alk 6.2, cal over 500 on Salifert, tested cal twice, same results.

 

[Simplyorange]

Just mixed a new bucket from BRS and the alk came in at 7 @ 1.026. I'm afraid to use it.

Should I contact brs?

 

[MTBake]

Just mixed a new bucket from BRS and the alk came in at 7 @ 1.026. I'm afraid to use it.

Should I contact brs?

That sounds like the correct alk level for TM Pro. The classic mixes to a higher alk level, fwiw.

 

[Simplyorange]

I'm just coming from reef crystal that's all. I hope the change in salts is better, Just concerned.

 

[Intense37754]

I'm just coming from reef crystal that's all. I hope the change in salts is better, Just concerned.

As many will say on here that one is not really better than the other, just different for individuals tank needs.

You might want to bring your numbers up closer to where the tank is now by dosing when mixing and do smaller water changes. But I think you will like Tropic Marin when you see results and would prefer Classic over Pro for higher alk

I like the Classic because I have minimal corals over another brand I used, it mixes very clean, can stay in mixing container for a very long time and there’s no longer precipitation on gyres.

 

[Mark_4880]

I would tripple check the salinity. It seems like all those values, except maybe the Ca, are 2 or 3% low. Maybe the sg is a little lower than desired?

Lou,
Sorry for the late response, but yes after our phone call I bought a Hanna salinity checker and the parameters are now consistent with your values stated.

On a side note, I will not ever trust a handheld refractometer again. My friends Milwaukee digital refractometer was not accurate either. After getting salinity on target at 35ppt my tank has done a big turn around!

The Hanna salinity checker values are right on with ATI icp test I sent out, after tank was at 35 ppt. I think ATI had it at 35.17.

Thanks for your time and help Lou!

 

[User1]

Lou,
Sorry for the late response, but yes after our phone call I bought a Hanna salinity checker and the parameters are now consistent with your values stated.

On a side note, I will not ever trust a handheld refractometer again. My friends Milwaukee digital refractometer was not accurate either. After getting salinity on target at 35ppt my tank has done a big turn around!

The Hanna salinity checker values are right on with ATI icp test I sent out, after tank was at 35 ppt. I think ATI had it at 35.17.

Thanks for your time and help Lou!

Your Hanna is reading more accurate than the Milwaukee? Did you calibrate both and use a reference standard? Just wondering has my Milwaukee, older green model - forget number tends to read higher.

I've heard mixed things on the Hanna but personally haven't tried it.

 

[Mark_4880]

M not sure what they say, but each of those values overlaps 35 ppt seawater. What salinity is your measurement intended to be at?

Randy Holmes! Thanks for chiming in. You are correct, I was mixing way low due to inaccurate handheld refractometer.

 

[Mark_4880]

Your Hanna is reading more accurate than the Milwaukee? Did you calibrate both and use a reference standard? Just wondering has my Milwaukee, older green model - forget number tends to read higher.

I've heard mixed things on the Hanna but personally haven't tried it.

My friends Milwaukee reads very low, we calibrated before use.
I can't say enough good things about the Hanna checker

 

[User1]

My friends Milwaukee reads very low, we calibrated before use.
I can't say enough good things about the Hanna checker

Thanks for the info.

 

[Joshua Warne]

Just mixed a new bucket from BRS and the alk came in at 7 @ 1.026. I'm afraid to use it.

Should I contact brs?

The pro version is 8 dkh. You should always measure your Alk before every water change and adjust accordingly. Also, brs doesn’t mix their salt.

 

[Lou Ekus]

Tropic Marin Pro-Reef salt mix should have a alkalinity of between 7 and 8 dkh. These are the target numbers for that mix.

@Joshua Warne What do you mean that "Also, brs doesn’t mix their salt. "?

 

[DWill]

I’ve been using TM Pro with no problem on my now 3 month old IM 10 gallon.

When I bought it no one at the LFS mentioned to me the Alk would be around 7 when mixed. I planned to run 9. I didn’t test Alk and Ca during the during the cycle nor did I do any research on ant salt mix other that than watch the BRS video. I picked TMP because of those videos.

I was a bit surprised when I found the how low Alk was, but that’s on me, the information is there in plain sight; I didn’t look for it nor did I ask.

That said, I’m pretty happy with TMP. It mixes fast and clean and simple task to add a little sodium bicarbonate to bring the Alk to 9. However, because I’m only dealing with a. 10 gallon tank I only make 10 gallons of water in a batch and I typically make a new batch every 3 weeks. it‘s easy to bump the Alk and the added cost of the bicarb isn’t really noticed.

However, if I were making larger batches I’d likely use a different salt. Maybe not a different brand, but different salt.

As to Salinity checkers. I recently bought a Hanna hand held, the one you dip. it very accurate when it’s calibrated. When the calibration starts it pretty easy to catch, the readings become increasingly variable, usually high or low by a tenth. Ive the calibration to hold well for about 2-3 weeks depending on how often you use the checker. What I’ve started doing to make the calibration drift more obvious is check the salinity 2-3 times turning off and rinsing the probe between checks. If I get the same reading each time I know the calibration is good. What I’ve started doing is just calibrating the checker when I make a batch of water, pretty much every two weeks. That seems to the amount of time the calibration hold steady and gives me a freshly calibrated checker to check the fresh batch of water. I also calibrate my refractometer and check the fresh batch with that as cross check.

 

[Ross Petersen]

I used to use this salt as well and alk was always below 7 and I try to keep mine around 8-8.5 so I switched as well.

Old thread here - what did you switch to? I'm hoping for a salt that mixes to around 8.5-9.0 dKh for a variety of reasons (e.g., water changes don't drop alk in my smaller tank; my coral QT tank has an alk that most suppliers run with; etc.)

 

[Kjames]

Old thread here - what did you switch to? I'm hoping for a salt that mixes to around 8.5-9.0 dKh for a variety of reasons (e.g., water changes don't drop alk in my smaller tank; my coral QT tank has an alk that most suppliers run with; etc.)

Tropic Marin Classic would fit well for your stated requirements.
Red Sea Coral Pro is a good choice also - just need to take into account the elevated alk of that mix.

 

[Ross Petersen]

Tropic Marin Classic would fit well for your stated requirements.
Red Sea Coral Pro is a good choice also - just need to take into account the elevated alk of that mix.

Yeah just watched another BRS video on this. Ryan from BRS just adds sodium bicarbonate to Tropic Marine Pro Reef salt before adding to his tanks. Apparently this is cheaper than getting the Classic variety of salt and adding calcium to it to raise levels.

 

[Simplyorange]

Back to reef crystal for me.... everything is perfect

 

[kkelly007]

You will not see these same issues with Tropic Marin today. This is an older post from 5 years ago and was an issue that has been long resolved. BTW, the alkalinity of the Tropic Marin Pro-Reef version is between 7-8 dH. This should be what you are probably looking for. If you have any other questions regarding Tropic Marin, I am always available to chat. You can reach me in our office, during business hours on the East Coast, at 413-367-0101.

Hi there Lou. I recognized that this is a very old thread and that you may have moved on, but I wanted to clarify something. I have a 105g SPS dominant tank and switched to TM Pro Reef several months ago. Through automated dosing, I maintain dKH at 8.7. Every other week, I perform a 20% water change and my alk drops to 7.7+/- because of the lower dKH in Pro Reef mix. I do not run a reactor. Am I using the correct salt mix? And/or should I supplementally dose the freshly mixed saltwater with alk prior to pumping into my tank during w/c's?

 

[Little c big D]

Hi there Lou. I recognized that this is a very old thread and that you may have moved on, but I wanted to clarify something. I have a 105g SPS dominant tank and switched to TM Pro Reef several months ago. Through automated dosing, I maintain dKH at 8.7. Every other week, I perform a 20% water change and my alk drops to 7.7+/- because of the lower dKH in Pro Reef mix. I do not run a reactor. Am I using the correct salt mix? And/or should I supplementally dose the freshly mixed saltwater with alk prior to pumping into my tank during w/c's?

I believe TMP is designed to mix at 7DKH. Which mine does which I test via Red sea. It's almost always spot on. I dose AFR. I believe this system is designed to let you dial in DKH as you see fit