What Salt Do You Use

horsehunter · 07-30-2003, 04:31 PM

I would like to see a number of posts of not only what salt you use but what water and how it tests out at aquarium temp and salinity.

PH
Alkalinity
Calcium
Phosphate

I have started out using Red Sea and it comes out a little low in PH and Calcium so that after getting my targets where I want them, I am going to do a water change and start chasing numbers again.

Thanks Frank

horsehunter · 07-30-2003, 04:36 PM

My Red Sea at 78deg and 1.025 mixed with Culligan RO water was

PH 7.8
Alk 6DKH
Ca 300

Aged Salt · 07-30-2003, 05:36 PM

Also use RS salt--with my CR, I can also drip KW, I'm able have good #'s for my SPS tank

07-30-2003, 06:45 PM

i use io salt.....

tdwyatt · 07-30-2003, 08:58 PM

Morton's...

although Ms. Dash is good when I don't want all that sodium...

definitely the smart@$$ answer, IO in the aquariums...

MontanaRocknReefer · 07-30-2003, 08:59 PM

IO salt and don't test unless my critters tell me too!

cyberchef · 07-30-2003, 09:57 PM

IO and everything looks fine so I can't tell you the params...

Temp between 76 and 80, my thermometer is not that accurate... Stick on strip do hicky...

Salinity 1.025/1.026 with a refractometer.

horsehunter · 07-31-2003, 02:45 AM

NUMBERS
I was hoping to get numbers for many different brands mixed by ordinary folk and not people with an intrest in selling salt.
Without numbers you are telling me nothing, I already know that IO has the biggest market share. There is a thread at Nano Reef where a guy is talking about low calcium levels of IO.

Frank

PaintGuru · 07-31-2003, 06:06 AM

See the thing is most people don't test their salt that goes into the tank because (a) the pH/alk is designed to be within the acceptable range and a 0.1 difference is insignificant, (b) most people add calcium to their tank and do not use water changes as their main source of calcium, and finally (c) we are too lazy and if it is working, why bother? As far as what salt I use, I am changing back from the Crystal Sea crap to IO again.

tdwyatt · 07-31-2003, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by PaintGuru
See the thing is ... we are too lazy and if it is working, why bother? ...(especially with) IO

AMEN!!!

There is a reason that Tom Frakes salt is number one in a highly competative market, too bad he isn't still with AS.

Junkzoo · 07-31-2003, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tdwyatt
AMEN!!!

There is a reason that Tom Frakes salt is number one in a highly competative market, too bad he isn't still with AS.

Ditto Tom!

horsehunter · 07-31-2003, 02:00 PM

I f I do a water change using salt mix that is lower in PH Alk and Calcium than my tank parameters I am throwing away my additives. Iwould think you would want to use the salt that came closest to your tank targets or at least adjust your replacement water to match your tank water before doing the water change.

I am new to salt water but have kept cichlids for many years, however my cichlids happily swim in my wellwater just as it comes from my taps only corrected for temperature.

Life was so simple before salt.

Frank

07-31-2003, 02:20 PM

life is so simple now that i use io

LongShot · 07-31-2003, 02:59 PM

FWIW, I think Frank makes a valid point. Salt mixes are not all the same nor are they constant over time. For example, I recently measured Ca on a fresh batch of "Brand A" at 330 ppm where as a batch of "Brand B", prepared in exactly the same way, to the same Sp.G, and allowed to "age" for the same amount of time, exhibited a Ca of 425 ppm. And when I checked "Brand A" six months ago, it showed a Ca of 400. All the calcium tests were run using a Sailfert kit, and the numbers reported here are the average results of multiple tests. The Std. Dev. on the individual data points was about 15 ppm.

In my own paticular system, I don't have a hign enough evaporative loss to get "Brand A" much above 370 ppm Ca using KW alone, and if I use enough of one of the 2-part calcium/alk supplements to boost the Ca near 400, it runs the Sp. G. up to unacceptable levels.

Now maybe I've just got too much time on my hands, or maybe I'm just prone to fussing, but I think it does make sense to pay attention to details like this.

Regards,
Bert

PaintGuru · 07-31-2003, 03:13 PM

See the problem is, no one has ever reported "massive deaths" or "coral die-off" because of a water change where they were using the same kind of salt, just a different batch. Again I think most of us are lazy and do not even test our water unless something is visually wrong. I mean my pH swings from 7.9-8.3 from night to day respectively, do you think I care if the water change water is 8.1 compared to 8.2? Not one bit. As far as calcium goes, lets say I run my tank calcium at 400 ppm. Say I do a 10% water change with water at 350 ppm. So that means the tank now has a calcium level of (0.9*400 + 0.1*350 = 395 ppm). Again, this is insignificant. I understand making sure everything is close if you are doing say, a 50% change, but for the 10-20% most people do on a regular basis, it is not worth the trouble.

LongShot, it sounds like you need a calcium reactor, even though I'd be happy with 370 ppm Ca.

horsehunter · 07-31-2003, 04:28 PM

PG you have probably convinced me

Bert how do the 2parts raise salinity?

I skipped chemistry in school I was taking geometry in the pool room.

Frank

PaintGuru · 07-31-2003, 05:07 PM

I'm really not trying to "turn you to the dark side", just trying to explain to you why not many people test their salt going in, other than temperature and salinity.

LongShot · 07-31-2003, 09:22 PM

With the 2-part calcium supplements, the alkalinity component usually is mostly NaHCO3 and the calcium component is most often CaCL primarily. These 2 in combination eventually scew the ionic balance in favor of Na+ and Cl- over time, and will increase your salinity. If you're doing 10% or more water changes on a weekly basis, the effect is minimized, but it will show up eventually.

The problem I have with PaintGuru's logic,

[snip]
Say I do a 10% water change with water at 350 ppm. So that means the tank now has a calcium level of (0.9*400 + 0.1*350 = 395 ppm). Again, this is insignificant.
[snip]

is while this is very true for the isolated water change, if you continue to use a calcium poor salt mix you will drive your calcium down to it's "lowest common denominator".

Again, whether or not any of this has a significant effect on the long term success of any given reef tank is so dependent on such a wide variety of other factors (tank volume, husbandry practices, creatures hosted, bio-load, to name just a few) that it's impossible to say with any degree of certainty. Me, I like to aggravate myself with such things

, and my critters have, over the years, shown some appreciation for the effort, so I continue to follow the same path. What'd be interesting would be to get another similar tank (hmmmm, there's an idea for pursuading my better half to tolerate that idea... "Honey, it's an EXPERIMENT"

), be a bit less "picky" and see what the results are.

Regards,
Bert

PaintGuru · 07-31-2003, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LongShot
What'd be interesting would be to get another similar tank (hmmmm, there's an idea for pursuading my better half to tolerate that idea... "Honey, it's an EXPERIMENT" ), be a bit less "picky" and see what the results are.

I think you definitely need to get another tank....in the name of science

.