seachem reef salt question

[snakeblitz33]

Has anyone else used this?
No matter how long I mix this salt, the water is always cloudy no matter what.
Suggestions? I think I am switching to instant ocean.

 

[camfish]

I don't have experience with it, but I have experience with instant ocean and I hate it. IO has an alk of 12 and calcium of 350...which kinda sucks. I mean, it's fine, but if you have a reef tank, I don't recommend it. Here is a chart (I didn't make it, but it is still helpful). I hope it is easy to read, I tried my best.
..............................................Calcium..Alkalinity...Magnesium
Aquatic Gardens. . . . . . . . . . . . .430..........8............1240
CoraLife....................................560..........9............1380
Crystal Sea Marinemix..................340..........9............1050
Crystal Sea Marinemix Bio-Assay....340..........9............1050
Instant Ocean............................350.........12............1070
Kent.........................................540.........11............1200
Marine Environment.....................480.........7.5...........1450
Oceanic....................................580..........8.5 ..........1650
OceanPure.................................510..........10...........1320
Red Sea....................................400...........8............1300
Red Sea Coral Pro.......................490...........7............1300
Reef Crystals.............................420..........12...........1260
SeaChem Marine Salt...................500.........10............1400
SeaChem Reef Salt......................540.........10...........1450
Tropic Marin...............................370.........10...........1230
Tropic Marin Pro Reef...................450.........8.5..........1380
Tunze Reef Salt..........................420.........9.5...........1350

 

[mr.m]

Hmm I use seachem Reef salt and love it have used seachem Marine but its not great for corals . I had no Problems with either one with being cloudy.
But i use a mag 9 to mix with with for 2 days

 

[findingnemo2]

I dont know where I read this, but, I read if you put the salt in first and then add water it is hard to mix, dont know how true, seems to be with me.

 

[nordy]

Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33
http:///forum/post/2646857
Has anyone else used this?
No matter how long I mix this salt, the water is always cloudy no matter what.
Suggestions? I think I am switching to instant ocean.

How do you mix your water? Even after adding salt to the water, you should still have a powerhead to circulate your mix for at least 24 hours, along with a heater to keep it your tank level. Mixing w/powerhead for a day or 2 should result in clear water.
I use Reef Crystals and aside from having to add a little calcium once in awhile, it's great stuff IMO.

 

[j-ville]

Great info camfish, thanks.

 

[lion_crazz]

I love SeaChem's reef salt. Mixes just fine for me, whether I add the salt first or after. I circulate my bucket with an aqua clear powerhead.
The table posted is nowhere near accurate. The current bag of SeaChem salt I am using now has a calcium of 390. I have used Oceanic salt that constantly had a much lower alkalinity. Regular Tropic Marin usually ran a little lower in calcium, and I have never seen a batch of Crystal Sea salt that was above 300 in calcium.
You cannot go by those tables. So many times, each batch is different.

 

[camfish]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
http:///forum/post/2647382
I love SeaChem's reef salt. Mixes just fine for me, whether I add the salt first or after. I circulate my bucket with an aqua clear powerhead.
The table posted is nowhere near accurate. The current bag of SeaChem salt I am using now has a calcium of 390. I have used Oceanic salt that constantly had a much lower alkalinity. Regular Tropic Marin usually ran a little lower in calcium, and I have never seen a batch of Crystal Sea salt that was above 300 in calcium.
You cannot go by those tables. So many times, each batch is different.
It is ballpark, I would say...true every batch is different.

 

[peterpaul]

It might be a precipitation of the calcium. What is your alkalinity levels?

 

[snakeblitz33]

it's a newly made batch. It wouldn't matter what alk is?
It's happened to me for 4 buckets now. I have over 1240 gallons that I have to fill and this salt is making me mad!!!

 

[stanlalee]

mixes cloudy and leaves a white residue on my storage bin. I emailed them and they said some people will have the residue (some people wont) and its harmless. they suggested a smaller powerhead so I went to a mini jet (110gph) in a 45g bin and it still does it. There have been several complaints of this. It does settle and I get clear water in my bin eventually (still white residue on the walls) but as soon as I mess with it to collect water the settled residue clouds the water right back up. It clears quickly in my tank and causes no tank cloudiness but still I dont want salt that mixes cloudy or leaves residue (which they acknowledged it can). I've tried quite a few brands now and still havent found the perfect one (id: doesn't mix easy, too low ca, too much ca, low alk ect) so after this bucket of sechem reef salt its off to the next brand to try.