Cali Kid Corals

Easiest mixing salt!

aqua-nut

aqua-nut

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I know some of you use ESV's B-Ionic salt system. For those of you who don't...

It's a four part salt mix. Two dry, sodium chloride and magnesium sulfate, and two liquid, part A and B.

This is my first experience with it. When I opened the NaCl bag I was a little discouraged. There were lots of lumps! Big lumps! This is usually the kiss of death with most all-in-one salt mixes. I gave it a shot anyway.

About two minutes after dropping it into the RO/DI there were no lumps. It was completely dissolved! The water was clear!!

Same thing with the mag-sulfate! In fact it might have mixed even faster. It's completely mixed by the time I measure out the A and B parts.

So in the time it took me to measure out the parts, it is mixed. There seems to be no precipitant like my previous salt.

When Craig Bingman spoke about reef chemistry, he mentioned you should mix the usual salt mixes before using because they settle out. Now that seems like a BIG pain. I never did it. Now there is no need to do that - or feel guilty about not doing it.

Lastly, the old salt was very dusty. I wore a mask because it irritated my nose and lungs. ESV doesn't seem nearly as dusty.

So that's the upside. What's the down side?

No endless supply of plastic buckets! Well maybe this could go on the positive side too? :)

Four things to measure. That's not all that bad. Kind of like making biscuits from scratch vs. Bisquick. You still need to measure out something. Doing it three times more is not that bad.

Cost. It could be a little more expensive. I was using Redsea Coral Pro at about $0.43/gal ( I got it on sale for $0.36/gal). ESV is about the same as RS-CP when RS-CP is not on sale.
 
Thanks for the write-up, John! I've heard a harrowing story about the long-term effects of breathing in particulates from salt mixes, and make sure I wear a respirator when making saltwater with "conventional" salt.

Were you able to test the water parameters?
 
lattehiatus said:
Were you able to test the water parameters?
Click to expand...

I haven't tested it yet. I'll include the new SW in my testing in the next couple of days.

I was thinking about all the fine particles from conventional one part salt vs. the lack of dust from ESV. I wonder if the fine particles are the hard to dissolve components? Perhaps they are made really small so they dissolve better???

I'm not sure how much damage is done by the infrequent exposure we get. Exposure to the fine particles on a daily basis couldn't be healthy! Of course there are people with all sorts of allergies and sensitivities. I don't wear a respirator (although I do have one), just a good dust mask. It's like wearing safety glasses - no harm in using them.

Might have to change my handle to 'reef bandit'! :)
 
Supposedly the reason it mixes so well is because the hard-to-dissolve parts are already dissolved in the liquid parts.
But yes, finer particles should mix faster as well.

Good data!
 
lattehiatus said:
Were you able to test the water parameters?
Click to expand...


Took me a while to get around to testing. I hate testing. The kits seem so, well, crude and amateurish.

My mix was a little lower than NSW specific gravity (1.0245 vs 1.026). I did this on purpose to bring down the SG of the main tank. This might have effected the readings a little. If I remembered quantitative Chem (or math!), I could figure it out! :)

I'm more concerned about the inaccuracies of the tests. My testing procedures are, of course, without error! :rolleyes:

With that caveat...

Alk = 8.6 dKH
Ca = 387 ppm
Mg = 1320 ppm

This is a tad below the published values for a SG of 1.026:
alk at 3.25 meq/L (9.1 dKH)
450 ppm Ca
1400 ppm Mg.
 
I decided to give this salt a try, ordered some last night. I still have half a bucket of the other stuff, so it'll be a while before I try it. The biggest reason I want to try this salt is that, like you I'm not good about mixing my salt before adding it to the water.
 
Just to be clear, I always mix salt several days in advance. My big reason for switching was I didn't like how RSCP took so long to dissolve and it always left a lot of precipitant in the mix container, pump, heater, etc.

It's nice to know it can be used right away. We never know when an emergency WC will be needed!
 
I like Craig Bingman’s trick: Get a nice plug-in type drill, attach a large paint mixer (Home Depot) and go to town. It creates a serious vortex mixing the salt. The water is crystal clear after a couple of minutes (and that is mostly to get rid of all the air that was driven into the water while mixing it). I use it after 24 hours but I’d bet that I could use it in a pinch if I needed.
 
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