TROPIC MARIN.....BACK TO NORMAL YET???????

[twiatr2001]

Yeah but their ICP system is pretty cool, it has an AI portion of it where it can tell if you are not only going to have to increase dosing but will let you know if you're getting close to an algae bloom or not. I heard a lot about this salt while listening to Adam Sutherlands podcast, beyond the reef, they had Claude there from Fauna Marin, he is a very knowledgeable man.

 

[jp_75]

Tropic Marine is fine! Also liked Red Sea blue bucket. Only issue i have with it is low Magnesium

 

[rtparty]

Yeah but their ICP system is pretty cool, it has an AI portion of it where it can tell if you are not only going to have to increase dosing but will let you know if you're getting close to an algae bloom or not. I heard a lot about this salt while listening to Adam Sutherlands podcast, beyond the reef, they had Claude there from Fauna Marin, he is a very knowledgeable man.

There is absolutely no way you can tell from an ICP if you are about to experience an algae bloom. Typical Fanua Marin though with outrageous marketing and no science

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

OK, used some of the Turkey TMP.

Smelled the salt as soon as I opened it, and it smelled typical. Looked clean. Mixed it up and it looked clean. Tested for ammonia, and it was 0. No residue or deposits in bucket afterward.

Came in this morning in and all corals looked good… nothing stressed, nothing closed. Looks like we’ll be ok using this salt in-house. Probably just a bad batch that went out from the Turkish facility.

 

[rtparty]

OK, used some of the Turkey TMP.

Smelled the salt as soon as I opened it, and it smelled typical. Looked clean. Mixed it up and it looked clean. Tested for ammonia, and it was 0. No residue or deposits in bucket afterward.

Came in this morning in and all corals looked good… nothing stressed, nothing closed. Looks like we’ll be ok using this salt in-house. Probably just a bad batch that went out from the Turkish facility.

BRS used a ton of leftover Turkey TM salt in over 70 tanks at their facility and had zero issues with it

 

[twiatr2001]

Well here we are, just read this, this information would have been critical early on!

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

hi there.

thanks a ton for the detailed explanation. That does help clarify to a degree. I confess this is an old thread, and I'm not entirely sure why it even got bumped again. As it seems, the consensus is that there are no further issues with Tropic Marin that I or any of us are aware of. I'm sure this was nothing short of a nightmare for you to deal with.

I do have one follow up question regarding the oily film as I personally experienced this myself, but it was not limited to the Turkish made blend. I saw this same oily film with German buckets made in the same span. probably around 2018-2020 if I had to guess.

It was undeniably existent in the mixed saltwater. Now whether it was a problem I do not know but, do you have any idea what this may have been? I still have about 10 buckets of it here that if I mixed up even a 5 gallon buckets worth, you would see the oily film guaranteed.

Again, I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say thank you for coming on and explaining I don't really have any skin in this game at this point, but I have been still very curious about that oily film.

 

[MuratAlp]

hi there.

thanks a ton for the detailed explanation. That does help clarify to a degree. I confess this is an old thread, and I'm not entirely sure why it even got bumped again. As it seems, the consensus is that there are no further issues with Tropic Marin that I or any of us are aware of. I'm sure this was nothing short of a nightmare for you to deal with.

I do have one follow up question regarding the oily film as I personally experienced this myself, but it was not limited to the Turkish made blend. I saw this same oily film with German buckets made in the same span. probably around 2018-2020 if I had to guess.

It was undeniably existent in the mixed saltwater. Now whether it was a problem I do not know but, do you have any idea what this may have been? I still have about 10 buckets of it here that if I mixed up even a 5 gallon buckets worth, you would see the oily film guaranteed.

Again, I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say thank you for coming on and explaining I don't really have any skin in this game at this point, but I have been still very curious about that oily film.

Frankly, I thought it was over, too. But when I saw that tests were being carried out on the salt produced in Turkey in January 2025 and the images were shared, I wanted to make a statement.

I can easily tell you this. If you have buckets or boxes produced in Turkey, you can consume it with peace of mind. By the way, we were not producing on the dates you specified. Therefore, it would not be right for me to speculate about them.

 

[BryanM]

I don't know anything about this, all I can say is I switched to Tropic Marin Pro Reef about 3 months ago, and due to a new tank migration and fighting dinos I'm already 2/3rds thru that bucket and things seem quite fine in my tiny little world here :)

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Frankly, I thought it was over, too. But when I saw that tests were being carried out on the salt produced in Turkey in January 2025 and the images were shared, I wanted to make a statement.

I can easily tell you this. If you have buckets or boxes produced in Turkey, you can consume it with peace of mind. By the way, we were not producing on the dates you specified. Therefore, it would not be right for me to speculate about them.

Your post was removed because we're a little suspicious being that this was your first post within our community and it being a very serious post.

 

[MuratAlp]

Your post was removed because we're a little suspicious being that this was your first post within our community and it being a very serious post.

Since Lou was in correspondence with several individuals on this platform when these events initially unfolded, I joined in January 2022 to observe the discussions firsthand. I remained a silent spectator, simply watching as events transpired.
To my astonishment, even after three years, this issue continues to be debated. Given this, I felt compelled to clarify the facts: your members deserve to know the truth. There is absolutely nothing in this product that could pose any harm to marine life. In fact, as I have noticed, some individuals are still using it today—further proving its safety. Those who have it in their possession can continue to use it with complete confidence.
However, if ensuring that your members are properly informed is not a priority, then, unfortunately, there is little I can do. There is no mystery to be uncovered. I personally oversaw the production of hundreds of tons of this product. If a few images from storage are not sufficient, there are hundreds more available.
LoL.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

However, if ensuring that your members are properly informed is not a priority, then, unfortunately, there is little I can do.

Threads like these exist because we care that information is passed on to our community. We're just not going to let someone who has never posted before pop on and make very serious claims. We don't even allow people to sign up just to leave feedback because of shilling and false flaming.

 

[MuratAlp]

Threads like these exist because we care that information is passed on to our community. We're just not going to let someone who has never posted before pop on and make very serious claims. We don't even allow people to sign up just to leave feedback because of shilling and false flaming.

If you have such an attitude, why didn't you block people who shared false information and disparaged products in January 2022? I can tell you this for the last time. No one knows more about this issue than I do. Anyway, these were my first and last posts today. You continue with your discussions based on false information and assumptions, far from real information.
All the best,

 

[twiatr2001]

I don't want to step on anyone's toes here, but, why come out with this information now? Why not earlier and put an end to the false information? Or was it merely a test of time and gathering information?

 

[MuratAlp]

I don't want to step on anyone's toes here, but, why come out with this information now? Why not earlier and put an end to the false information? Or was it merely a test of time and gathering information?

Yes, that's a good question. I'm a businessman. I have production facilities in different countries for different subjects. I was in Kenya last week to establish a new facility. I saw coral farming there. And this topic came to my mind. I wanted to go in and see what developments were happening. Luckily, I saw the comments about the buckets I produce. I was even surprised. Even though 3 years had passed, it was still being discussed. I gave a very detailed explanation so that people know the facts. The site's management sees how often I visit. Probably once a year or so. My difference from everyone who has discussed this issue so far is that I am the person who knows the subject in detail. I can prove this legally. In fact, this information was finalized in early 2023. This is the answer to your question.

 

[twiatr2001]

Thank you for the clarity on this, although I did not have any of these buckets in question, I often thought of a possibility of user error, and always asked the question, why isn't there more of these batches that are, quote on quote, "bad". I have a bucket of the pro salt sitting in my basement and its about 80% full, I did not use this salt because the alkalinity ended up being to low for my liking and didn't see the benefits of adding more alkalinity to raise it to the desired 8.3, but I will say it was very hard to try and get rid of this by selling. I can now see the effects of this on the company and the consumers. Unfortunately the world we live in, is in fact this way, majority of forums, and I'm not pointing fingers because this goes for automotive ones as well, these are sometimes the places for people to get their frustrations out and usually they are not good reviews, in a perfect world, Id love to see more people post positive reviews and or experiences rather than negative ones. Thank you gain for taking the time to answer my questions, and as for the salt I was going to start my next tank up with it, and now I feel better about using it.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Yes, that's a good question. I'm a businessman. I have production facilities in different countries for different subjects. I was in Kenya last week to establish a new facility. I saw coral farming there. And this topic came to my mind. I wanted to go in and see what developments were happening. Luckily, I saw the comments about the buckets I produce. I was even surprised. Even though 3 years had passed, it was still being discussed. I gave a very detailed explanation so that people know the facts. The site's management sees how often I visit. Probably once a year or so. My difference from everyone who has discussed this issue so far is that I am the person who knows the subject in detail. I can prove this legally. In fact, this information was finalized in early 2023. This is the answer to your question.

I can’t remember if I was the one who bumped this thread recently (probably was), but I definitely had some questions due to the fact that we ended up with 2 pallets of the Turkish salt.

We were given a pretty strict ‘no resale’ mandate by the supplier, which was fine…it wasn’t like we paid a ton for it. But it seemed to me like several people had insisted the product was contaminated, but that was not meshing with the product we had on hand. So I was simply seeking updates and clarification on the product because, while we can’t and will not resell the product, 20,000 gallons worth of usable salt can definitely take a decent chunk out of our operational overhead.

I’m relieved to see that there is nothing really substantive to the claims that Turkish salt is contaminated. Some people were pretty adamant that it was, to the point that supliers were seemingly led to fire-sale their product on hand.

I am somewhat traumatized, as I am a survivor of the contaminated Kent Reef Carbon fiasco from 15 or so years ago. Using that product, we had 7 pretty large reef aquarium clients lose almost all corals and inverts (it didn’t seem to bother fish) in the span of 3 days. We lost a couple of those clients. So when I hear rumors of contaminated product that we could potentially use on client or in-house systems, it instantly puts me on qui vive.

Thanks for the clarification. We will continue to use that product.

 

[rtparty]

If you have such an attitude, why didn't you block people who shared false information and disparaged products in January 2022? I can tell you this for the last time. No one knows more about this issue than I do. Anyway, these were my first and last posts today. You continue with your discussions based on false information and assumptions, far from real information.
All the best,

It’s ridiculous to sit on this info for 3 years and just randomly pop up and attack Tropic Marin.

No one, not one single person on here, was calling out your company. I bet 99.9% of people on here had and have no idea who you are or that you even made the salt for TM.

What we do know for a fact was some people had serious issues back when all this went down. The common denominator was TM salt from Turkey. Not ALL TM salt from Turkey had the issues but it’s plausible (and very possible) some of it had something wrong.

TM is the one who had to deal with the PR nightmare. Why bring it up and drag them through the mud 3 years later? What’s the end game? Don’t say “correct information” either. You had 3 YEARS to share that info and chose not to. A very deliberate choice. Seems odd

 

[MuratAlp]

It’s ridiculous to sit on this info for 3 years and just randomly pop up and attack Tropic Marin.

No one, not one single person on here, was calling out your company. I bet 99.9% of people on here had and have no idea who you are or that you even made the salt for TM.

What we do know for a fact was some people had serious issues back when all this went down. The common denominator was TM salt from Turkey. Not ALL TM salt from Turkey had the issues but it’s plausible (and very possible) some of it had something wrong.

TM is the one who had to deal with the PR nightmare. Why bring it up and drag them through the mud 3 years later? What’s the end game? Don’t say “correct information” either. You had 3 YEARS to share that info and chose not to. A very deliberate choice. Seems odd

First of all, this information was confirmed at the beginning of 2023. That means it has been two years.
You're wrong—100% of people did not know about it.
There weren’t people experiencing serious issues. There were those who exaggerated the situation to take advantage of it.
Yes, there was an issue. But it had no harmful effects on aquarium livestock.

Again, you're mistaken. I'm not trying to drag anyone through the mud. I'm persistently saying that if you still have the product, you can use it with complete peace of mind. What you’re saying is in complete contradiction to this.

Yes, it may seem strange. But the reason is simple. On January 8, 2025, I saw a picture showing that salt from Turkey was still being tested. The person conducting the test stated that they found no issues. I then explained to them in great detail that this was precisely the point and reassured them that it posed no harm to aquarium livestock.

My dear "know-it-all" friend, let me tell you this: As someone who has sold thousands of tons of pharma-grade salt to American companies producing medical solutions in Turkey for years, I can say with confidence—these companies manufacture dialysis solutions, and the salt must be 99.9999% pure.

If, on January 8, 2025, that person was still able to test that salt without it solidifying or hardening, then the sodium chloride in the mixture must contain an anti-caking agent. And sodium chloride containing an anti-caking agent cannot be considered pharma-grade. Given that you claim to know this business so well, did it never cross your mind to ask how clay ended up in pharma-grade salt?

Anyway, I don't want to drag this into a long sequence of discussions. I also don’t appreciate your tone. That’s why I won’t be responding to you.

 

[MuratAlp]

I can’t remember if I was the one who bumped this thread recently (probably was), but I definitely had some questions due to the fact that we ended up with 2 pallets of the Turkish salt.

We were given a pretty strict ‘no resale’ mandate by the supplier, which was fine…it wasn’t like we paid a ton for it. But it seemed to me like several people had insisted the product was contaminated, but that was not meshing with the product we had on hand. So I was simply seeking updates and clarification on the product because, while we can’t and will not resell the product, 20,000 gallons worth of usable salt can definitely take a decent chunk out of our operational overhead.

I’m relieved to see that there is nothing really substantive to the claims that Turkish salt is contaminated. Some people were pretty adamant that it was, to the point that supliers were seemingly led to fire-sale their product on hand.

I am somewhat traumatized, as I am a survivor of the contaminated Kent Reef Carbon fiasco from 15 or so years ago. Using that product, we had 7 pretty large reef aquarium clients lose almost all corals and inverts (it didn’t seem to bother fish) in the span of 3 days. We lost a couple of those clients. So when I hear rumors of contaminated product that we could potentially use on client or in-house systems, it instantly puts me on qui vive.

Thanks for the clarification. We will continue to use that product.

If you have any other questions you would like to ask, you can reach me via my e-mail address. I always try to help. Since I am someone who travels a lot internationally, it may sometimes take me a long time to respond. I have to work in different time zones. I do not want to correspond too much on this platform. Unfortunately, there are many people who actually do not understand anything, but think they know.