jsr Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 I finally got around to testing jsr's Red Sea salt. KH - 7, Ca - 300. I would really like to test the Red Sea Coral Pro next. Wow. Pretty low on both! Thanks for testing the salt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Looks like I need to switch salts. It never occurred to me to test the mixture before I did the water change. Thanks for doing this! Better salt mix means less supplementation and less $ and less frustration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4R00P3R Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 I have a whole bucket of RedSea Coral Pro. I thought that's what you were talking about. I didn't realize RedSea makes 2 kinds. If you plan on getting some anyway I recommend going to Deep Blue Aquariums. They sell buckets for $60. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 I would like to test Mg too but don't have a test kit and can't really afford one right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma13 Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 I have some Red Sea Coral Pro and wouldn't mind donating some for these tests. Biggest issue would be coordinating drop off considering we are at opposite ends of the city. I test my water everytime before a water change due to issues I previously had with some SeaChem salt (defective batch that had very bad readings, tested and confirmed by SeaChem who provided lots of free product in return. Great customer service). I have tried SeaChem Reef Salt, Tropic Marin, and Red Sea Coral Pro. I have not tested as many as Gabe and do not want to steal his thunder, but I am happy to share my results. These are all using RO/DI water and mixing to 1.025 SG. I also want to emphasize that there are always differences from batch to batch even with the same salt and source water. I test Ca, Alk, pH, and Mg of each batch. These results are also taken over the course of a year (I used SeaChem until about March, switched to Tropic Marin from March-July, and just in the past month starting using the Red Sea). SeaChem Reef Salt: pH=8.2-8.4, CA=290-310, alk=2.6-2.75 meq/L, Mg= 820-860 Tropic Marin: pH= 8.3, CA= 380-400, alk= 2.9-3.1, Mg=1000-1050 Red Sea Coral Pro: pH= 8.3, CA= 380-400, alk= 2.5-2.65, Mg= 870-950 The low magnesium has been the main reason I have changed salts. I have both a Salifert and an Elos test kit and results seem to be consistent. I am not sure there is a salt that is putting proper amounts of Magnesium into their mix. I am tackling this problem by adding MagFlake to my mix water to raise it to 3X calcium each week. This is a recent step some I will report back with results later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 Glad you posted those results. Was that Tropic Marin pro or normal. You got a much higher Ca reading than I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4R00P3R Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 (edited) I would really like to see more tests done. Can we all bring different salts to the next meeting (although only about 10 people have shown interest and I'm sure we don't all use 10 different types of salt)? You could collect the different kinds and mix up some batches when you get home. The batches should all be 1.025 sp grav, 79*F, and mixed for 24 hrs before testing. Many salts have compounds that can take a day to fully integrate. We should also wait until we have more tests so we don't have to do this twice. Let's make a list of the ones that are important. That will be a good future meeting topic: water quality, parameters and dosing. kH pH Mg Mn K Ph Ca S Si Br Se I Mo B Na Sr P Cl Hopefully some will read zero such as Si and P. Maybe we don't need to test those since a manufacturer would have to be retarded to include those elements. I didn't realize how many trace elements are important. I probably didn't even get them all listed. So who has which tests? I only have pH and kH. Oh yeah we should also get some U and Pu! j/k Edited November 20, 2007 by 4R00P3R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 To help make this information useful it would be nice to post the results as a sticky making the info more accessible. What has been tested so far? What is being used as a baseline? And what are we testing for? Also I agree the test should be conducted from the same water source if we are shooting for continuity. Just a thought. . . Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Food for thought... www.aquariumwatertesting.com You could test your RO/DI then your freshly mixed saltwater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma13 Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 It was Tropic Marin normal. I had one batch that tested really low (similar to your results, ~300), but most batches were between 380 to 400. Given the number of batches I made during the months I used Tropic Marin I threw out the low result as an outlier or possible human error. Similarly I had a low Ca batch the first time I used Red Sea Pro. I rolled the bucket around the next week before mixing and the last two batches have been around 400. Low alkalinity and magnesium have been the much more consistent problems for me. Glad you posted those results. Was that Tropic Marin pro or normal. You got a much higher Ca reading than I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 I was pointed to this thread which will give better answers than any tests we could do. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...hreadid=1216536 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4R00P3R Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 I was pointed to this thread which will give better answers than any tests we could do.http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...hreadid=1216536 Sorry to say it but that thread is a bunch of BLAH BLAH BLAH with very little practical information. The 3 or so tests they mention were all independently conducted with different water sources. One of the tests isn't even freshly missed, it was their tank water. Another didn't even say what brand of salt. Let's have a thread for discussing this topic, and another thread for "results only" which include manufactured salts and real natural sea water. That would be helpful to everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted November 21, 2007 Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 I agree on the results that have been posted so far, but once the lab has conducted the full blown tests with their own mixing the results should be very telling. Maybe you didn't read the whole thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatfouz Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 the city should report what is in the water right? i remember i found it for san diego ca a report that had in ppm all the diff stuff in the water from copper to chlorine etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4R00P3R Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 the city should report what is in the water right? i remember i found it for san diego ca a report that had in ppm all the diff stuff in the water from copper to chlorine etc We're not wondering what's in the tap water, we're wondering what's in the RO and salinated water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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