seachem reef salt

[DrBDC]

I have used Oceanic, Coralife, and IO. I think the IO with a cup of Randy's formula 2 Ca and a cup of his magnesium supplement work perfect when mixing in a 32 gallon Brute.

[Travis]

Originally posted by CAreefer
From SeaChem site
Composition of Seachem ReefSaltâ„¢


Ion Concentration (ppm)
Chloride 19336
Sodium 10752
Sulfate 2657
Magnesium 1317
Potassium 421
Calcium 442
Carbonate/Bicarbonate 142
Strontium 9.5
Boron 16
Bromide 64
Iodide 0.060
Lithium 0.3
Silicon <0.1
Iron 0.0098
Copper 0.0003
Nickel <0.015
Zinc 0.0107
Manganese 0.0023
Molybdenum 0.0098
Cobalt 0.0004
Vanadium <0.015
Selenium <0.019
Rubidium 0.118
Barium <0.04

Well, testing is completed. First a few params,

Tank

Sg 1.025

CA 425

Alk 8.0

Mg 1280

Temp 77

Ph 8.07

The titration of the tests says 1 drop = .5 ppm boron. I titrated 20 drops 1 at a time swirling 10 seconds between drops into each of the two samples equaling 10 ppm boron. I never even saw a hint of the requisite color change.

I didn't run the test to color change to try and make the test last. After reading that, I will test the tank water only to find the actual value for a baseline.

The fresh mixed batch was mixed to 1.025 sg. Keep in mind that the sample was not at tank temp nor had it been aerated. I will mix the 40 gallons for the weekly water change tommorrow and test it after 24 hrs. Will be at temp and "aged"

I tested samples of both, tank and FRESHLY mixed salt.
I stopped at 10 ppm on both samples.
I just ran a test on a tank sample to completion and got a result of 18 ppm boron. 4x above NSW levels.

I would have to guess that the fresh mixed would have easily equalled that and probably gone closer to 20 ppm. Again, I will test a batch of properly mixed, heated and aerated on friday or so.

CAReefer

I was not able to get the same results with several tests of several different batches. I switched to Seachem and was immediately suprised to find that the major levels I'm concerned with did not test (Salifert) even close to what Seachem advertised. I spoke with one of their reps and they sent me Seachem test kits. Those were just as far off and also didn't even match their reference solution. But I should also add that I tried Salifert's kits on their reference solutions and the Salfert kits also did not test accurate. Here is a post that I posted in another thread. I am copying and pasting it here to save myself from having to write it all up again:

Today was chemistry day. I know I've been busy but needed to get back to the whole Seachem salt/test kit ordeal.

Now first I need to point out that I was doing my routine tests on my tank today. I ran out of my Salifert magnesium test and so I used a new one that I already had laying around ready for when the other one ran out. I had not tested the main tank since I started doing a bunch of water changes with the Seachem salt. Before using the Seachem salt my tank was consistently testing around 1150-1200 ppm. When I did my test today with the new kit it read 1320ppm. I find that very strange because why would my magnesium in the main tank have gone up when using a salt that was testing less than 1200. Either way, there is obviously a discrepency between the old Salifert Magnesium kit and the new one. Unfortunately, the old one was all used up so I could take a sample from the same solution and compare them with both test kits. So this is now making me doubtful about the accuracy of the Salifert kits. I mean how do we know which numbers to believe?

Now that we have that out of the way. I went ahead and tested my water change water with the Salifert kits. This water has been mixing and aerating for over a week and I checked today and adjusted it to 35 ppt specific gravity. The most interesting result from the round of tests with Salifert kits was that the magnesium read way higher than the previous tests I had performed on the Seachem salt. This leads me to believe that either my old kit was reading low or the new one is reading high or one of them may have been right on. It is highly doubtful that there would be this large of a difference due to a different bag of the same salt mix.

After performing the round of tests with the Salifert kits I went on to the Seachem kits. I decided to go ahead and perform the reference tests first. I had not performed the reference tests with these kits yet so I figured it would be smartest to do those first to see if the kits were even reading accurately. And I'm glad I did because the readings were way off what the reference solution was. Now remember that the Seachem rep I've been communicating with claims that all of their reference solutions are verified by the University of Georgia to ensure accuracy. Since the readings were way off the reference numbers I didn't even bother trying tests on the water change water. The only kit that did not come with a reference solution was the alkalinity kit. So I did go ahead and perform a test on the water change water with this one just to check it agains the Salifert test.

After all of this I decided to check the Seachem magnesium and calcium reference solutions with my Salifert tests kits to see how accurately they are reading. I was also suprised with the results as they were a little ways off the reference numbers. Here are the results.

test..................kit....................KH................Ca..................Mg
water
change
water............Salifert................8.8..............385...............1305
water
change
water............Seachem.............14.0............NA..................NA
reference solution #'s
verified by U of G.....................NA...............390...............1160
reference.....Seachem..............NA...............445...............1225
reference.....Salifert.................NA...............405...............1290

And here are the numbers that I previously posted:
....................................Alkalinity in..................................
........................................meq/L............Ca...............Mg
First 100g batch.................3.38............350............1120
(Salifert)
Second 100g batch............2.91............375............1215
(Salifert)
Third 100g batch................2.86............375............1170
(Salifert)
Third 100g batch................6.80............420............1713
(Seachem)
Seachem Claims.................142(???).....442............1317

Now there are 4 things that are interesting about all the results.
1) As we already know, the salt has yet to test out as claimed by Seachem.
2)Sechem's own test kits do not read correctly with the reference solution.
3)Salifert's test kits also do not read correctly with the reference solution.
4)How can we even be sure that the reference solution is accurate as promised by Seachem.

I always knew that the test kits that we use (Salifert included) are not high end test kits and we can only interpret the output as a reference. But I did not realize there could be so much variation between even different batches of the same brand and type of kit. I am really losing my faith in trusting any number that comes out of a hobbiest test kit. The only one I can really trust right now is the Salifert alkalinity test. I don't know if it reads accurately but I do know I have gone through a lot of these kits and they ALWAYS read consistently. So I know that a reading of 10.0 dKH may not mean my tank is truly 10.0 dKH. But if I get a reading one time of 10.0 and the next time it is 9.0 I know that my alkalinity HAS dropped. And that is about as far as we can take the results.

In the beginning I was upset about how the Seachem salt was testing so far off from what they post. But in the end, I have learned that we really can't trust any test kit much farther than we can throw it. My final conclusion is that the Seachem salt may very well be at the same levels it claims but I will never know unless I send a sample to a lab and spend thousands of dollars to have it tested.

Right now I only have enough Seachem salt left for 1 water change so it is time to order some more soon. I will most likely be going back to Reef Crystals because it has worked for me for the past year. And also because the F&S site recently took their extra weight fee of about $15 per bucket off of their salt. So it is now more economical for me to continue purchasing Reef Crystals and saving $15 on every bucket of salt.

[HowardW]

Originally posted by Illusion
yes I am aware of the differences from NSW values to ASW values... I still feel that No directly added elements beyond NSW values is needed nor should it be done.. The closer I can keep my tank to NSW the better I feel... Extra Borate, Extra Mg, Extra Ca (oceanic levels) Is all just bogus... Why would you want to add an Element beyond NSW values on purpose... We all have to deal with the Elements that we have no control over but why deal with Elements put in deliberatly by a mfg when It beyond NSW values... Their claim as to better buffering capabilities Is a joke as well.. I am sure It helps but in a properly maintained Reef tank you shouldnt have issues with the buffering anyways... I am not knocking Seachem... I use a few of their products however I wont use their Salt due to the borate Levels.. Same reason why I moved away from Oceanic... I dont want the 600+ppm of CA and the 1600ppm of Mg... Its not needed in these levels why not shoot for 450 or 500 for Ca and 1300ppm for Mg at NSW salinity? Seems more logical... Anyone running at posted Sg levels on the packaging is more than Likely not running a reef tank as 1.023 is a bit low for most avid reefers...

James

I don't even know where to start