The Ultimate Salt Test

[rtparty]

I wanted to get this thread up and going before the holidays soak up all my time. I did a live YouTube with Deven from ReefDudes going over things but it is about 1.5 hours long. I will write up a more detailed explanation here in this first post soon.

I am a hobbyist first and foremost. I have no formal training on exact testing methods or anything like that. I did the best I could and think my method was good enough for our use. I am not taricha

TESTING METHOD

All salts were purchased randomly so no cherry picking from a company. Not a sinlge company knew I was doing this. I used a BRS 7 stage RODI unit that had all new filters and tested 0's across the board on my own tank's recent ICP. I then monitored every RODI result with each test sent in to see how the filters were doing. We saw all 0's the whole time. 15 gallons of water was added to a grey Brute trash can and each salt was WEIGHED. I would heat the RO water up to 74F before adding salt UNLESS the salt specifically stated otherwise (Red Sea Coral Pro for example.) Salt was added slowly to not cause precipitation.

All salt was mixed for 24 hours (except Red Sea Pro) before the ICP was collected and I ran my own home testing on Salifert test kits that were brand new for this test. Why did I choose Salifert? Becasue Amazon had them to me next day when I realized all my Red Sea kits had expired or were super close.


YouTube Video:


Google Sheets Link:




TLDR version: I sent off brand new batches of saltwater to ATI for ICP testing. These are the results. No bias. No sponsorship. All paid out of my own pocket and on my own time.

 

[MnFish1]

I wanted to get this thread up and going before the holidays soak up all my time. I did a live YouTube with Deven from ReefDudes going over things but it is about 1.5 hours long. I will write up a more detailed explanation here in this first post soon.

I am a hobbyist first and foremost. I have no formal training on exact testing methods or anything like that. I did the best I could and think my method was good enough for our use. I am not taricha

TESTING METHOD

All salts were purchased randomly so no cherry picking from a company. Not a sinlge company knew I was doing this. I used a BRS 7 stage RODI unit that had all new filters and tested 0's across the board on my own tank's recent ICP. I then monitored every RODI result with each test sent in to see how the filters were doing. We saw all 0's the whole time. 15 gallons of water was added to a grey Brute trash can and each salt was WEIGHED. I would heat the RO water up to 74F before adding salt UNLESS the salt specifically stated otherwise (Red Sea Coral Pro for example.) Salt was added slowly to not cause precipitation.

All salt was mixed for 24 hours (except Red Sea Pro) before the ICP was collected and I ran my own home testing on Salifert test kits that were brand new for this test. Why did I choose Salifert? Becasue Amazon had them to me next day when I realized all my Red Sea kits had expired or were super close.


YouTube Video:


Google Sheets Link:




TLDR version: I sent off brand new batches of saltwater to ATI for ICP testing. These are the results. No bias. No sponsorship. All paid out of my own pocket and on my own time.

Please ask the moderators - to put this in the research section - its important information

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for doing this work. It will take some time to digest, but some results are unexpectedly off, such as Brightwell calcium.

 

[Biokabe]

I personally am a little curious about that copper reading in the Red Sea blue bucket. Seems to me that copper is something that absolutely shouldn't be present in any concentration in a salt mix. If true, that's worth switching salts over.

 

[Om84]

This is amazing work. Thanks for providing us with this useful information! Do the companies provide data on their own salt for all these parameters?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This is amazing work. Thanks for providing us with this useful information! Do the companies provide data on their own salt for all these parameters?

Some provide some info, and others do not.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I personally am a little curious about that copper reading in the Red Sea blue bucket. Seems to me that copper is something that absolutely shouldn't be present in any concentration in a salt mix. If true, that's worth switching salts over.

Copper is a required element and needs to be present at some level, but the Red Sea blue value is unexpectedly high, if accurate.

 

[Om84]

@rtparty I know you didn't test for natural sea water but would be useful to add a column for comparison purposes. I'll have to look but I'm sure all those parameters have a general range that is known. I find it interesting that by comparison is IO purple really that much different than IO Reef Crystals?

 

[Jeeperz]

Something isn't right with your IO tests. No way is regular IO dkh 11 and reef crystals at dkh 9.4

 

[TokenReefer]

Something isn't right with your IO tests. No way is regular IO dkh 11 and reef crystals at dkh 9.4

That does seem a bit off..

 

[rtparty]

Thanks for doing this work. It will take some time to digest, but some results are unexpectedly off, such as Brightwell calcium.

Yes, the Brightwell was low but matched my Salifert kit. There was actually a substance left behind in the mixing bin. Looked like sand. I think a couple results might be atypical. Hobby grade kits and all. I am definitely not a chemist in any way. It was actually this testing that got me to ask you about the difference in my alkalinity results compared to ATI. It remained constant throughout the testing. ATI would read lower my home kits

 

[Rmckoy]

Something isn't right with your IO tests. No way is regular IO dkh 11 and reef crystals at dkh 9.4

There was something very weird about the salt when I started and used both .

But I do believe rc was a lot higher

 

[rtparty]

I personally am a little curious about that copper reading in the Red Sea blue bucket. Seems to me that copper is something that absolutely shouldn't be present in any concentration in a salt mix. If true, that's worth switching salts over.

I found that odd as well but have no leads to where it came from, if not from the salt. No other salt or RO result ever showed copper. Copper is essential to life but that reading was high. Red Sea is a "natural" dehydrated salt so who knows what you might find from batch to batch.

This is amazing work. Thanks for providing us with this useful information! Do the companies provide data on their own salt for all these parameters?

A lot of this testing was to test what they tell us compared to what they send. Issue is some of these salts have absolutely no standard they go off. Cheapest supplier gets their business and therfore elements and impurities change.

@rtparty I know you didn't test for natural sea water but would be useful to add a column for comparison purposes. I'll have to look but I'm sure all those parameters have a general range that is known. I find it interesting that by comparison is IO purple really that much different than IO Reef Crystals?

I will look into getting that added. Thanks. I found little difference between the two except the crud that comes with Reef Crystals.

Something isn't right with your IO tests. No way is regular IO dkh 11 and reef crystals at dkh 9.4

I address this in the video but the results matched my own kits. I am not shocked to be honest. IO has no standard that I know of. They aren't using any graded materials from what I could find.

 

[Rmckoy]

@rtparty I know you didn't test for natural sea water but would be useful to add a column for comparison purposes. I'll have to look but I'm sure all those parameters have a general range that is known. I find it interesting that by comparison is IO purple really that much different than IO Reef Crystals?

 

[rtparty]

There was something very weird about the salt when I started and used both .

But I do believe rc was a lot higher

Technically, RC should have been higher in most, if not all, elements. However, my two batches did not follow this.

 

[Sean Clark]

Interesting for sure. I am looking at how many of the elements show higher test results at lower salinity levels vs the same salt with lower higher salinity values.

Of course this just goes to show that even ICP has an accuracy range that needs to be considered.

I assume that the two samples were taken from the same batch of water and "should" be testing close to the same.

 

[MnFish1]

Yes, the Brightwell was low but matched my Salifert kit. There was actually a substance left behind in the mixing bin. Looked like sand. I think a couple results might be atypical. Hobby grade kits and all. I am definitely not a chemist in any way. It was actually this testing that got me to ask you about the difference in my alkalinity results compared to ATI. It remained constant throughout the testing. ATI would read lower my home kits

One question - some of those salts have different mixing instructions - did you follow them all - or mix all the same way( to my reading you mixed them all the same way). Additionally alkalinity is not measured by ICP - Curious if you did an independent measure - at your house - and what this showed (alkalinity wise) second did you measure the salinity of each product independently/. Not sure that dosing per weight is the way to do it (but rather according to manufacturers instructions)?

 

[Rmckoy]

I found that odd as well but have no leads to where it came from, if not from the salt. No other salt or RO result ever showed copper. Copper is essential to life but that reading was high. Red Sea is a "natural" dehydrated salt so who knows what you might find from batch to batch.


A lot of this testing was to test what they tell us compared to what they send. Issue is some of these salts have absolutely no standard they go off. Cheapest supplier gets their business and therfore elements and impurities change.


I will look into getting that added. Thanks. I found little difference between the two except the crud that comes with Reef Crystals.



I address this in the video but the results matched my own kits. I am not shocked to be honest. IO has no standard that I know of. They aren't using any graded materials from what I could find.

I can’t remember if it was randy or reef grow advocate that said a lot of minerals and elements in salts are interchanged with cheaper minerals .
so for example if magnesium is cheaper than bromide producers add a little extra magnesium in exchange .

 

[rtparty]

Interesting for sure. I am looking at how many of the elements show higher test results at lower salinity levels vs the same salt with lower salinity values.

Of course this just goes to show that even ICP has an accuracy range that needs to be considered.

I assume that the two samples were taken from the same batch of water and "should" be testing close to the same.

When I find some more time I want to address this in my OP. There are margins of error with all our testing and ICP is far from immune. These results are "good enough" as I call them and just a data point to log.

 

[Jeeperz]

I found that odd as well but have no leads to where it came from, if not from the salt. No other salt or RO result ever showed copper. Copper is essential to life but that reading was high. Red Sea is a "natural" dehydrated salt so who knows what you might find from batch to batch.


A lot of this testing was to test what they tell us compared to what they send. Issue is some of these salts have absolutely no standard they go off. Cheapest supplier gets their business and therfore elements and impurities change.


I will look into getting that added. Thanks. I found little difference between the two except the crud that comes with Reef Crystals.



I address this in the video but the results matched my own kits. I am not shocked to be honest. IO has no standard that I know of. They aren't using any graded materials from what I could find.

Maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley can chime in on this