The Ultimate Salt Test

[rtparty]

Mark your calendars!

Going live with Deven on Wednesday the 19th to wrap this up. I believe there are 4 more salts that I will get added to the list. NYOS, 2 AquaForest salts, and AccurSea (thanks again spsick)

Major shout out to those who helped out or even offered to help in some way.

 

[FoolishWizard]

Following for that NYOS salt info

 

[rtparty]

Following for that NYOS salt info

Defintely my salt of choice now and what I have been using for a few months since I got some

 

[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

I think part of the issue - is that you're treating all salts the same (i.e. mixing them the same) - when only some recommend mixing for 24 hours others do not. I'm not sure how big a difference this makes - but - my Brightwell has always had 'in line' Ca. Brightwell is one of the salts that asks for 24 hour mixing - so obviously the mixing issue is not causing it - this was more of a general comment. Thanks for the work! @Daniel@R2R can this be moved to the experimental section - its extremely important information (if the authors agree)

Edit - I know I commented on this issue already - however - I'm not sure all salts should be mixed for 24 hours.

 

[FoolishWizard]

Defintely my salt of choice now and what I have been using for a few months since I got some

Good to know!

I did a little research (not much info out there yet) before my current build and thats what I ended up going with.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

@Daniel@R2R can this be moved to the experimental section - its extremely important information (if the authors agree)

If the OP wants it moved, I'm happy to do so!

 

[rtparty]

I think part of the issue - is that you're treating all salts the same (i.e. mixing them the same) - when only some recommend mixing for 24 hours others do not. I'm not sure how big a difference this makes - but - my Brightwell has always had 'in line' Ca. Brightwell is one of the salts that asks for 24 hour mixing - so obviously the mixing issue is not causing it - this was more of a general comment. Thanks for the work! @Daniel@R2R can this be moved to the experimental section - its extremely important information (if the authors agree)

Edit - I know I commented on this issue already - however - I'm not sure all salts should be mixed for 24 hours.

I talk about this in live for sure but also in my 1st post (I’m pretty sure.)

I mixed to the instructions given by the manufacturer. For example, Red Sea black bucket being used within 4 hours or whatever it is. I made sure to test within that time frame.

If the manufacturer gave no instructions or weren’t clear, I usually went the 24 hour mark unless I knew it’s an “unstable” salt. Unstable usually meaning high parameter and precipitation is likely.

 

[rtparty]

If the OP wants it moved, I'm happy to do so!

Is it better off in the experimental section? I don’t know nearly enough about the two to know if it better belongs elsewhere

 

[MnFish1]

Is it better off in the experimental section? I don’t know nearly enough about the two to know if it better belongs elsewhere

IMHO - it well be well read there - and saved for the future

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Is it better off in the experimental section? I don’t know nearly enough about the two to know if it better belongs elsewhere

IMO it fits here well enough, but I agree with @MnFish1 that the research and experiment forum is tailor-made for this type of thread and investigation. So I'm in agreement with the idea of moving it over there. However, it's totally up to you and fine in either place. So...your call.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is it better off in the experimental section? I don’t know nearly enough about the two to know if it better belongs elsewhere

IMO, no. Far fewer people read that section.

 

[rtparty]

IMO, no. Far fewer people read that section.

I looked at that section and over half the posts on the 1st page don’t belong there lol

I’ll keep the thread here where it gets more eyes

 

[rtparty]

Live done. I probably used some poor wording but c’est la vie. I’ve never claimed to be a chemist.

The last 4 salts have been added to the spreadsheet in the first post.

Thanks again to @taricha and @spsick for the help!

 

[spsick]

Great additions! Thanks for all your work on this Ryan! The availability of third-party evaluations of this kind of stuff is far too sparse in our hobby, especially after the shift at BRS.

 

[jtichenor]

I just did an ICP test on a fresh mix of Fritz blue box salt. Mixed at 72 degrees to 35ppt. Alk measured 8.6 4hrs after mixing (same time as ICP sample).
Here are the results:

 

[rtparty]

Great additions! Thanks for all your work on this Ryan! The availability of third-party evaluations of this kind of stuff is far too sparse in our hobby, especially after the shift at BRS.

TBH after going through all this, I understand BRS’s reluctance to get into the salt testing game again.

I think my main takeaway is to get a good idea on what salt runs the alkalinity each user is looking for. Most of the other values are second to that IMO. At least when it comes to parameters. I personally look for clean and consistent at the alkalinity I run as my determining factors.

The 3 biggest “misses” were both IO salts and Brightwell. The IO alkalinity missed on both IMO. Not too shocked though. My opinion is lowest cost almost always means lowest QC or lowest quality raw materials. Higher quantity can only cut costs so far. And recently we’ve seen a major price hike on IO salt. Like they kept it way too cheap, way too long.

Brightwell just flat out missed. It was either a bad batch or I completely messed up the mixing of it.

 

[ReefDreamz]

Is the bromine result for Neomarine at 8.2 mg/l correct, or should it be 82 mg/l?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The 3 biggest “misses” were both IO salts and Brightwell. The IO alkalinity missed on both IMO. Not too shocked though. My opinion is lowest cost almost always means lowest QC or lowest quality raw materials. Higher quantity can only cut costs so far. And recently we’ve seen a major price hike on IO salt. Like they kept it way too cheap, way too long.

What did they miss? Were there more tests than I saw reported? Normal IO at 11 dKH seems typical.

 

[rtparty]

What did they miss? Were there more tests than I saw reported? Normal IO at 11 dKH seems typical.

My other IO buckets I’ve used and tested (just home testing, no ICP) in the past had alkalinity around 10dkh most of the time. Some higher, some lower. Shows the lack of consistency in their salt for sure when you find a dozen or more posts with the alkalinity all over the place with IO.

Could it be testing error? Absolutely. Then again, if that’s the case we can throw a lot of numbers out for all brands.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My other IO buckets I’ve used and tested (just home testing, no ICP) in the past had alkalinity around 10dkh most of the time. Some higher, some lower. Shows the lack of consistency in their salt for sure when you find a dozen or more posts with the alkalinity all over the place with IO.

Could it be testing error? Absolutely. Then again, if that’s the case we can throw a lot of numbers out for all brands.

OK, thanks. Another thing that impacts alk with a high alk mix is how much, if any, calcium carbonate has precipitated and settled out before the measurement. In my case, where I let sometimes IO sit for a long time on its old precipitated solids (which can act as seed crystals for more precipitaiton), I often got much lower alk. One study I did for other purposes showed the alk in the barrel was 7 dKH.