Trouble with Oceanic Salt

wrassie86

wrassie86

Member
Hey guys anyone else having calcium problems with Oceanic salt?Ihave been seeing my calcium levels rising good for some time using this salt over the last several months.but a DIY project that added 30g of new water to my tank put the calcium level at around 600ppm.i tested a new bucket i made this moring and it was 800ppm also tested my r/o di water 0.i just made a bucket of coralife salt and it tested at 420ppm
Test kits used were Seachem and AP.
I guesse its time for me to switch back to my old method of Reef cystals and instant ocean mix
 
wrassie86

wrassie86

Member
Ya i must have just got a bad batch.but where there's one there's more.just a heads up for those getting ready to do water changes.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
I had a bad batch of Oceanic. The cal was at 800. I bought another batch of the salt and this one was fine. Of the three I've bought, one was bad.
 
wrassie86

wrassie86

Member

Originally posted by footbag
I had a bad batch of Oceanic. The cal was at 800. I bought another batch of the salt and this one was fine. Of the three I've bought, one was bad.

ya i remember your thread.i thought i had heard of somebody else with same problem.Do you remember about how long ago it was that you had the bad salt?
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
I just tested my newest batch after I disposed of the water from the old batch. It is still very high. I stopped counting drops at 880ppm. I'm going to retest tomorrow. And probably make a smaller batch to test. I'm using a haegen test. I will probably order the sally test kit just to be safe. I think I'm switching back to IO or Reef Crystals for the time being.
Nano ca - 760ppm
90g ca - 520ppm
Gotta get the nano's calcium down.
 
calvindo

calvindo

Member
i posted a thread about a month ago, asking the same question.
YES, calcium is high in oceanic salt. for that reason, i continue to use oceanic. before switching over to this salt mix, i usually have to dose calcium, whenever a water change is done.
 
wrassie86

wrassie86

Member
Did you do full tests on the new batch or just the calcium? i forgot to do this and dumped it out.it was the last of the Oceanic i had.might be a good idea if you think the test kit may be at fault.if all the other levels are right,ph,alk,sg.i used 2 different ca tests on mine.
 
wrassie86

wrassie86

Member

Originally posted by calvindo
i posted a thread about a month ago, asking the same question.
YES, calcium is high in oceanic salt. for that reason, i continue to use oceanic. before switching over to this salt mix, i usually have to dose calcium, whenever a water change is done.
You Are right,But it should not be in the 6-800ppm range in a freshly mixed 5g bucket with a SG of 1.022. The CA should only be about 450 or alittle less.same as Reef cystals or coralife ect.
 
S

synyster11

Guest
I started my 120g with this salt and do a 5 gallon water change every week. My CA is sitting at 600 right now and was at 500 for a while???
I like the high numbers but they are getting kinda too high. Hmmm I should just pick up a calcium hog to start using some of it up.
 
nas19320

nas19320

Active Member
I read something briefly about Oceanic and its high Calcium and Mg. I believe what the company said was that the salt has an approx. concentration of calcium of 420-460 ppm at a salinity of 29 ppt. So when mixed at a higher value of closer to 35 ppt, the concentration of Calcium will be higher.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
Yes it would be higher but only about 15% higher, correct? So I think that 540ppm would be acceptable, but this is very very high.
I'm waiting for a response from Oceanic, I asked a lot of questions so hopefully someone will know the answers.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
Here is the reply E-mail from Oceanic...(The analogy is pretty dumb)
Actually, we have had a few comments along these lines and identified problems as not being salt related. You may want to check the salinity you are testing at and check the test kit requirements and parameters. Test kits are subject to age and temperature, and reagents perform differently at different salinities and temperatures at the time of the test. Add to this that most test kits at best are only accurate to within +/- 40 ppm, with a variation of 80 ppm being common, and it then becomes possible to test calcium levels and get results that are higher than the calcium we add to it.
Here is an analogy: If you could go to a bar and test an alcoholic beverage for alcohol content, and the bar tender adds one once of alcohol to 4 ounces of mix. You then run your home test for alcohol and it says there is 80% alcohol. Now if the bar tender only added 20% to the drink, then that test could show 10% to 30% in a test with variables, but the 80% result would simply be not possible as only 20% was mixed in. Therefore, the 80% result would have to be a result of test methodology, test reagents, or other variables involved.
Please let me know if you have any other questions or if I can be of further assistance.
Thank You!
Matt Kaplinsky
Oceanic Systems Inc.
1-800-554-6229 ext 721
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
I'm going to be sending my salt back to Oceanic for testing. He did think that the test results I was getting seemed weird.
A few ?'s though...
Has anyone noticed dirt in their mixing bucket after they add the salt? I've been getting tons of it and cannot figure out how its getting into my sealed mixing bucket. A -- member just said he was getting the same.
What salinity were your Ca results taken at? Oceanic bases their 440ppm @ 29ppt. That would be 520 @ 35ppt
Also, for those that had high Ca, where in the country are you? (I'm in PA) What sized bucket did you buy?
 
wrassie86

wrassie86

Member
This sounds like the same crap coralife told me 4 yrs ago when i had big problems with there salt.i sent it to them at my cost.they said the salt was alittle messed up and thats it.the big F$&K you.I lost some nice corals:mad:
At least when i found a piece of a mouse in a can of bud light i was drinking, they were nice enough to send me a few cases :D
Anyway mine was a 50g mix and i live in WI SG@1.023 ca of 720ppm tests were seachem and AP
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
He said they would replace it with good salt. It may cost be a bunch to ship it back, but the 90g jug goes for $42. Its useless if it has high Ca because all of my recent water changes have been to try to get my Ca down. I'll take what I can get.
If they replace it I'll check the new salt and it will be from a different batch.
He said that batch numbers are written on buckets, but on the jugs it is on the cardboard box that you never see at the store. Anyone have a bucket with high Ca?
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
Just an update on my situation. Habib from another message board that we cannot post said that there has been a problem with certain test kits testing Ca on Oceanic salt.
Apparently there have been a few people with this same issue. So, I just bought a Salifert test kit and tested the Nano and the Water Change mix and both came to 430ppm. Now I'm realizing that I need to test my 90g because it read 500+. GTG
BTW the test kit is the Nutrafin by Hagen.
 
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