Low Alk: NeoMarine Salt

[BST310]

Anyone else running NeoMarine and get low Alk? I am trying to get more serious about my reef keeping and really make it a goal to keep and grow SPS long term.

I have tested in the past and always got an Alk of 7.0 or so with freshly mixed water, they claim 7.5. I chalked it up to improper mixing habits IE adding salt to cold water.

This go around I followed their instructions to a tee and got 6.8. I am trying to maintain Alk between 7.5-8 dkh, so not ideal. Thinking about switching to Red Sea blue bucket as I am almost through the NeoMarine.

 

[Coloredrock]

Listening to the talking heads on different pod casts, some of the speculation is that the elements settle at different rates in it dry form and to mix up the salt as much as possible before making a batch. Who knows.

 

[joseserrano]

They do recommend to mix the whole thing at once. Julian spring sells his salt in 50g bags fit that reason. Tustin being said, you’ll have to ride regardless so not to not if a problem.

 

[Smite]

NeoMarine did always mix around that 7.0 range for me too. I had issues mixing it in cold water, brightwell told me preheat before mixing and once I did that it mixed very clear and quickly for me. I do roll my buckets on all salt since reading settling issues. If it has a bag, I'll pull the bag and lets some air in it. Tumble it around and pour it back into the bucket.

I swapped to blue bucket per Ali at Amazing Aquariums and Reefs recommendation. It mixes well and has parameters closer to what I like to keep my tank at 8.5-9. I still preheat my water and blue bucket mixes very quick.

 

[Smite]

One other recommendation of his that has been working flawlessly for me is that Tropic Marin precision hydrometer. That in combo with a cheap 500ml graduated cylinder off amazon takes all the guess work out of calibrating whatever you're using for testing salinity.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/high-precision-hydrometer-tropic-marin.html
https://www.amazon.com/500mL-Gradua...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[BST310]

NeoMarine did always mix around that 7.0 range for me too. I had issues mixing it in cold water, brightwell told me preheat before mixing and once I did that it mixed very clear and quickly for me. I do roll my buckets on all salt since reading settling issues. If it has a bag, I'll pull the bag and lets some air in it. Tumble it around and pour it back into the bucket.

I swapped to blue bucket per Ali at Amazing Aquariums and Reefs recommendation. It mixes well and has parameters closer to what I like to keep my tank at 8.5-9. I still preheat my water and blue bucket mixes very quick.

Funny I switched from Tropic Marin Pro to Neo Marine based on Ali's recommendation. I think he mentioned he had since switched to the Blue Bucket. I was looking for slightly higher Alk and it was around the time TM was having batch issues anyway. Maybe I will give the blue bucket a shot and pick-up the hydrometer for calibration. I calibrate my Hanna quarterly with their test fluid.

Listening to the talking heads on different pod casts, some of the speculation is that the elements settle at different rates in it dry form and to mix up the salt as much as possible before making a batch. Who knows.

They do recommend to mix the whole thing at once. Julian spring sells his salt in 50g bags fit that reason. Tustin being said, you’ll have to ride regardless so not to not if a problem.

Noted on mixing it up, I started doing that about halfway through the bucket. I think another salt mix sounds like a better choice considering I am only making 2-4 gallons at a time. I will grab a smaller bucket this go around make it a lot easier than trying to throw that 5 gallon bucket over your shoulder to mix. LOL.

 

[drexel]

I know TM pro is more expensive, but I would use that salt if I were still doing water changes. I have a little left in my RS blue bucket, but I'm going back to TM pro as soon as I can find a bucket locally. The liked how the blue bucket mixed, but it always left some brown crap in the bucket if I stored any, which I do. I never had the problem with TM pro. The other thing people miss with mixing salt, is the right water movement. In order to mix it properly, you need that water turning over like crazy, so using an oversized pump in a smaller bucket will do the trick. I never heat my water, as that tends to cause more precipitation for me. But, the larger pump usually heats the water a little when I'm mixing. I also used to bump up my alk with a little soda ash when I was mixing TM pro after it was mixed, which is something you can do to any salt that is mixing low in alk. The other trick that I do when mixing salt, is only putting in half at first, waiting until it mixes clear, then I add a cup or half a cup (depending on how much I'm mixing) until I reach 35ppt. I found this method kept TM pro at around 8dkh pretty much all the time, then I would add a few mL of soda ash to kick it up to 8.3/8.5
I do like how Julian packages his salt, which makes it super easy to mix up a certain amount without guessing. If I can't find TM pro, then I might try some of Julian's salt next time?

 

[drexel]

And for those who worry about TM's QT now, I wouldn't worry at all. I'm sure their QT is hyper critical now, as another mishap would spell doom for them. Btw, they were the only ones out there who publicly admitted to the issue. No other salt brand has ever admitted to these issues and they all had issues in the past.

 

[joseserrano]

Funny I switched from Tropic Marin Pro to Neo Marine based on Ali's recommendation. I think he mentioned he had since switched to the Blue Bucket. I was looking for slightly higher Alk and it was around the time TM was having batch issues anyway. Maybe I will give the blue bucket a shot and pick-up the hydrometer for calibration. I calibrate my Hanna quarterly with their test fluid.




Noted on mixing it up, I started doing that about halfway through the bucket. I think another salt mix sounds like a better choice considering I am only making 2-4 gallons at a time. I will grab a smaller bucket this go around make it a lot easier than trying to throw that 5 gallon bucket over your shoulder to mix. LOL.

I believe blue bucket Red Sea maybe lower than brightwell. But I’m also using it. Red Sea