Lasse
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A normal commercial salt blend consist of six major salts NaCl, KCl, MgCl2, MgSO4, CaCl2 and NaHCO3
4 years ago - I did a investigation where we construct a salt with these 6 elements as a base. I use food-grade quality for all except the MgSO4 (technical quality which, as it turned out, was unfortunate). I calculated the amount of each salt needed to achieve concentrations close to natural levels of Na, K, Cl, Mg, and S and alkalinity, and ad them one after the other. After every addition - I sent in an ICP-OES test to Triton in order to see if we get the right number and if there was any impurities. The result was rather surprising and you can see the result below for each major group. It was a stepwise addition and analyse after each step.
Unwanted compounds
Only one detected and surprisingly enough, it was copper, and it was found in the first addition - NaCL.
Lithium group - wanted levels Li - 50-150 µg/L, Ni - 2-5 µg/L and Mo - 10-15 µg/L Lithium is an impurity in NaCl and MgCl2 - and only impurities is enough. Ni and Mo is both impurities in NaCl
Iron group - no impurities
iodine groups Zn - impurities in NaCl well above wanted concentrations 1-3 µg/L and total explosion of manganese in the MgSO4 - wanted figure 0.2-1 µg/L
Silicon group - impurities already in the NaCl - wanted concentrations around 50-250 µg/L
Phosphorous - surprise - NaCl again the main polluted salt
Barium group - wanted 10 - 100 µg/L NaCl and MgCl has it already as contaminants
Macro-elements with no own salts. B wanted 4 mg/L, Br wanted 67 mg/L and
Sr around 8 mg/L
To all of this can be added that the technical grade MgSO4 I used content a very high contamination of NH3/NH4 that create enormous problems for me. Do not use Epsom salt without testing for ammonia is written on the inside of my eyelid novadays
Why do I show all this? Because it shows verry well that food-grade salts is not pure enough in order to produce a highly pure salt for us. It needs an better purity than that and normal food grade NaCl has a lot of contaminants in it.
But it shows also another thing. Contamination of V, I, Cr, Co, Fe, Ni, Mo, B and Sr in the 6 main salts is not enough to get wanted concentrations. They need to be added.
If I should do 1 metric ton of this salt as a dry product and try to get 2-3 µg/L of V i have to add a amount of X gram to this metric ton. How much? With this salt it needs 38 gr to 1 liter of water to get a acceptable salt with good parameters - I need to put 2 µ V in these 38 gr - 20 µg in 380 gram; 200 µg to 3.8 kg; 2 mg to 38 Kg; 20 mg to 380 kg and 200 mg (or 0.2 g) to 3.8 metric ton. I want to do 1 metric ton - therefore I need 0.05 gram V. Now I put these 0.05 g V in 1 metric ton and start to mix in a way that they all spread out and where ever I take 38 gr of this batch - it should content 2 µg V
Let us say - its impossible to do that. But Sr than - I need to add 8 mg to these 38 gram dry salt that you should mix to 1 L of liquid saltwater. Lets do the same equation 80 mg to 380 gr; 0.8 gr to 3.8 Kg, 8 gr to 38 Kg; 80 gr to 380 Kg and 0,8 Kg to 3.8 metric ton. -> 210 gr/ metric ton. I will say that evenly distributing 210 grams within a metric ton is also impossible.
There is no dry salt on the market that can ensure that even substances present at the milligram level are evenly distributed in their dry salt mixture - not to mention those in the microgram range.
The reason I stopped doing regular water changes was the yo-yo effect I observed in many parameters whenever I changed the water. And it is thanks to ICP analyses that we now have the opportunity to see this.
Therefore - I think that this new salt - if it comes with an ICP-MS certificate - could be a very wanted tool in the toolbox for many aquarists. You know what you have to add in order to get what you want.
IMO - you can´t fix overdosing of many trace compounds with regular dry salts because you do not know what you get - its an Russian roulette.
Sincerely Lasse
4 years ago - I did a investigation where we construct a salt with these 6 elements as a base. I use food-grade quality for all except the MgSO4 (technical quality which, as it turned out, was unfortunate). I calculated the amount of each salt needed to achieve concentrations close to natural levels of Na, K, Cl, Mg, and S and alkalinity, and ad them one after the other. After every addition - I sent in an ICP-OES test to Triton in order to see if we get the right number and if there was any impurities. The result was rather surprising and you can see the result below for each major group. It was a stepwise addition and analyse after each step.
Unwanted compounds
Only one detected and surprisingly enough, it was copper, and it was found in the first addition - NaCL.
Lithium group - wanted levels Li - 50-150 µg/L, Ni - 2-5 µg/L and Mo - 10-15 µg/L Lithium is an impurity in NaCl and MgCl2 - and only impurities is enough. Ni and Mo is both impurities in NaCl
Iron group - no impurities
iodine groups Zn - impurities in NaCl well above wanted concentrations 1-3 µg/L and total explosion of manganese in the MgSO4 - wanted figure 0.2-1 µg/L
Silicon group - impurities already in the NaCl - wanted concentrations around 50-250 µg/L
Phosphorous - surprise - NaCl again the main polluted salt
Barium group - wanted 10 - 100 µg/L NaCl and MgCl has it already as contaminants
Macro-elements with no own salts. B wanted 4 mg/L, Br wanted 67 mg/L and
Sr around 8 mg/L
To all of this can be added that the technical grade MgSO4 I used content a very high contamination of NH3/NH4 that create enormous problems for me. Do not use Epsom salt without testing for ammonia is written on the inside of my eyelid novadays
Why do I show all this? Because it shows verry well that food-grade salts is not pure enough in order to produce a highly pure salt for us. It needs an better purity than that and normal food grade NaCl has a lot of contaminants in it.
But it shows also another thing. Contamination of V, I, Cr, Co, Fe, Ni, Mo, B and Sr in the 6 main salts is not enough to get wanted concentrations. They need to be added.
If I should do 1 metric ton of this salt as a dry product and try to get 2-3 µg/L of V i have to add a amount of X gram to this metric ton. How much? With this salt it needs 38 gr to 1 liter of water to get a acceptable salt with good parameters - I need to put 2 µ V in these 38 gr - 20 µg in 380 gram; 200 µg to 3.8 kg; 2 mg to 38 Kg; 20 mg to 380 kg and 200 mg (or 0.2 g) to 3.8 metric ton. I want to do 1 metric ton - therefore I need 0.05 gram V. Now I put these 0.05 g V in 1 metric ton and start to mix in a way that they all spread out and where ever I take 38 gr of this batch - it should content 2 µg V
Let us say - its impossible to do that. But Sr than - I need to add 8 mg to these 38 gram dry salt that you should mix to 1 L of liquid saltwater. Lets do the same equation 80 mg to 380 gr; 0.8 gr to 3.8 Kg, 8 gr to 38 Kg; 80 gr to 380 Kg and 0,8 Kg to 3.8 metric ton. -> 210 gr/ metric ton. I will say that evenly distributing 210 grams within a metric ton is also impossible.
There is no dry salt on the market that can ensure that even substances present at the milligram level are evenly distributed in their dry salt mixture - not to mention those in the microgram range.
The reason I stopped doing regular water changes was the yo-yo effect I observed in many parameters whenever I changed the water. And it is thanks to ICP analyses that we now have the opportunity to see this.
Therefore - I think that this new salt - if it comes with an ICP-MS certificate - could be a very wanted tool in the toolbox for many aquarists. You know what you have to add in order to get what you want.
IMO - you can´t fix overdosing of many trace compounds with regular dry salts because you do not know what you get - its an Russian roulette.
Sincerely Lasse
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