brand of saltwater mixes

[newreefer03]

I'm curious to see what other people use for their saltwater mixes. I recently found a website www.aquacraft.net that publishes a e-newsletter that published a study of the content of the various saltwater mixes on the market. The top 3 mixes are made by their company. The report is very interesting and got me so interested that I ordered from them. I am new at this and wondered what others thought. This may be propaganda but it may have truth in it.

 

[LFS42]

It's a propaganda ploy.
We tested this stuff and found trace amonia after mixing it.
then after it sat in the vat for a few days, nitrates were about 40 mg/l

kind of defeats the purpose of a water change.
just to let you know.

 

[starr]

I have also seen that site and e-mailed to a retired chemist that owns a lfs. he said that they are full of it. if i can find his reply to me i will post it.


starrs2001

 

[reefworm]

OK, time for someone who has the URL to post Craig Bingman's salt mix study. FWIW, I've used Kent and Instant Ocean will good results.

Nevermind, found it
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm ... efault.asp

regards,
-rw

 

[newreefer03]

Wow! Thanks, LFS42, you were right! I checked the ammonia level of my newly mixed tank water and it measured 0.25 ppm by the red sea ammonia test. I never would have thought to check the mix and would have thought it was the tank cycling. I threw in some right now bacteria last night. My question now is what should I do about this ammonia level as I am supposed to get some live rock tomorrow. Should I stop the shipment or is the level low enough for me to correct via a water change with a different saltwater mix or should I dump the water and start over with a different mix. I have about 60 gal mixed. I wrote a complaint and emailed it to the company. I can't believe they could sell something like this.

 

[LFS42]

someone posted a chart that shows how many water changes are needed for reducing nitrates.
can't find it right now.
I would do at least a 50% change w/a different mix.l

 

[Gatortailale1]

Should I stop the shipment or is the level low enough for me to correct via a water change with a different saltwater mix

Don't stop shipment. Just do water changes and let the rock cure. Depending on size of your tank, you can cure rock a week and drain all the water and then add new water with better salt mix. [if your tank is under 100 gals]

You are / should have some detritus and stuff to suck out after you cure the rock a week or so. Do water change then. then add sand and replace rock on sand and wait another week or 2 until all readings at 0

Just my advice.

 

[liquid]

Just go out and buy a bag of Instant Ocean salt. 90% of the reefers out there use it, including the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago:

Pallets of Instant Ocean @ The Shedd Aquarium:

You won't go wrong.

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

We personally prefer Tropic Marin over everything else - however, here at our shop we sell Kent, IO and Tropic Marin and use any of them without a qualm. IO is usually the cheapest name brand salt and if cost is your only concern I would grab it.

Salts I personally counsel customers to avoid:

AquaCraft, Michael Del Prete is the Marc Weiss of the Salt market, only worse at trying to pass off advertising as valid scientific evidence.

Coralife - too inconsistent from batch to batch (notorious for being deplete in Mg levels)

Red Sea (heck any product by Red Sea LOL) Red Sea's whole concept of rehydrating salts is invalid, drying saltwater is going to give you many insoluable compounds - if the supplement with additional salts then you are also getting a large amount of calicum carbonate and other insoluable compounds and I would bet by weight that you must use more Red Sea to get to a desired salinity level.

 

[reefworm]

here's the chart to which I think LFS42 is referring:
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm ... efault.asp

regards,
-rw

 

[LFS42]

Sort of,
It was an easier chart than that, but that will work

 

[newreefer03]

Well I called TBS and explained the situation. Richard the owner recommended holding off on shipping the LR and I agreed. Mary the sales person also recommended that I start over with new water, maybe even spring water. I forgot to say I also put Prime conditioner into the water this AM, which is supposed to eliminate ammonia, chlorine, and chloramine and detoxify nitrite/nitrates. Any way I tested the tank water this morning and it tested .25 ppm. I also tested my tap water and surprisingly it was positive for ammonia at .25 ppm. I then test some bottled spring water which came out negative. Wondering if it was my tap water only causing the ammonia I tested the coral marine mix with the bottle spring water and that came back positive at .25 ppm. I went out and got Instant Ocean mix at the LFS. The guy there offered to test my water so this afternoon I took a sample to the LFS. The tank saltwater tested negative by a Jungle ammonia test strip. I had the guy use my Red sea test kit and it came back between 0 and .25. He felt that maybe the bacteria and the Prime were starting to work and that I should just let the tank cycle. I have decided to wait overnight and retest in the morning. If it is still positive, I will do at least a 50% water change with instant ocean, maybe all but I will have to get either spring water or find a source of R/O water. If negative or <.25 I may do a 10-20% change in 2 days. Any suggestions?

 

[reefworm]

A complete cycle - ammonia spike, followed by nitrite and then nitrate spikes - will take a number of days, depending on how quickly your nitrifying bacteria populations grow. Be patient. :wink: Good things in a reef happen slowly - bad things happen quickly! I would not do any water changes until the cycle is complete, if even then. If the cycle is complete and all readiings are 0, there should be no need for a change until you start adding creatures that are depeleing trace elements.

Good move on getting the IO for your mix. I would also suggest you use RO/DI water for your solution, if you're not already, and you won't need to use the water conditioner, nor will you have other contaminants that will fuel algae blooms or worse.

regards,
-rw