- Today on BRS TV Reef FAQs we answer,
what is really the best way to
mix your reef tank's salt mix?
There is an answer.
(upbeat music)
Hey, I'm Ryan, your host at BRS tv reef FAQs,
today we're getting to the bottom of how to
properly mix your salt.
Something that new reefers ask all the time,
and I gotta tell you, some of the most experienced reefers
out there are probably not doing this optimally.
(mumble)
that the BRS team is in that bucket.
So, what can you expect by mixing it properly?
Well, way less precipitate and crust in your container,
stable initial levels,
and presumably fish and coral health benefits
associated with not dosing undissolved salts to the tank.
I think it's safe to assume that exposing fish gills and
coral tissue to undissolved salts isn't beneficial,
even if it's not immediately toxic.
Keep in mind that what we're describing here today
is not the bare minimum to not kill anything,
which is kind of the standard a lot of reefers
have implemented over the years.
Mostly because the data wasn't out there to know any better,
but when someone asks what's the best,
they're asking for best practices, not bare minimum.
So, today is what we believe to be the best practice
for mixing salt.
For those of you who watch us every week,
Randy's actually been doing all kinds of salt mixing
experiments over the last few months.
This video is essentially the compilation of
many of those findings,
and there'll probably be more coming,
so keep an eye out as this story progresses.
- The first thing I'll share is,
we actually learned you should follow the instructions
on the bucket, they're there for a reason.
.all these salts come from different sources of mined,
evaporated, or purified synthetic salts.
Have different levels of major elements,
and some potentially have chelators and clarifiers.
All of which can and will change how the salts mix up.
While all of them will support marine life,
they're not all the same and all those potential variants
do matter, particularly when mixing.
Something we found to be absolutely true.
I will say that some are less dependent on exactly following
instructions on the bucket than others,
but if you're looking for the correct answer
to this question.
The manufacturer is the best place to start.
So, the advice we're giving here is general,
and not specific to each salt.
The first question of course is,
how long do you need to mix it?
We asked our reefing community over at
Reef2Reef how long they mix their salt,
and I have to say the answers were all over the place .
29%, or nearly 1/3 said an hour or less,
but another third says 12 hours or more.
So, which one is right?
When our experiment of unheated water with
two prop driven power heads in a 20 gallon tank,
that answer ranged from bout seven hours to
many of the salts not even fully dissolved in 24 hours.
There was a remarkable difference between some.
I think a lot of people might be surprised by the results
because the bin might look dissolved in minutes to an hour,
but there's a big difference between looking in a
Brute trash can in a basement or garage,
and judging clarity there,
and doing it in a well lit, controlled environment
with a reference solution.
Considering many of the salts we mixed were not fully
homogenized or dissolved in 24 hours,
I guess the best rule of thumb is probably
longer than that, and I'd suggest 48 hours as
one of the best standards to meet.
However, again, they're all different in materials,
source, levels, and potential additives,
and of the eight we tested, some did dissolve faster
than others.
So, if that's valuable to you, these were the options
which we felt did dissolve in less than 24 hours.
Red Sea blue bucket in hw looked pretty close to
fully dissolved in 23 hours.
Brightwall was faster and fully mixed in 21 hours.
However, by far the Tropic Marine Pro Reef Salt
dissolved the fastest, and was mostly clear in just
three hours but completely clear in eight hours.
Probably directly related to the pharmaceutical grade
salts they use to produce the mix.
The only note here is the two power heads do get the water
eventually up to 75 or 76 degrees on their own,
but this was not directly heated water,
and some do call for heating the water.
So, buying and powering a heater during mixing
may produce some benefits with some salts.
Particularly if they call for it in the instructions.
Though we may repeat this clarity experiment with
pre heating the water in the near future,
but I think most reefers would prefer to not
have to heat the water prior.
Not only does it add cost, maintenance,
and more failure points with potential exposed heaters
when the bin is drained,
but preheating the water prior to adding the salt
just adds more time and more work,
which is less than desirable for most reefers.
That brings up the next question,
do you need do heat or keep the water mixed with flow
during storage?
Again, there is no one size fits all answer to this one,
our experiments show that the best practice answer to
that question is, yes, but probably not forever,
and not with every salt.
In our first experiment with the eight salts we tested,
we only mixed the salt for an hour with the
power head, then turned it off and let it dissolve
on its own.
Then monitored for both measurable and visual signs of
precipitation or undissolved salt over the
course of weeks.
At the end of those weeks, almost all of them had a
fairly thick white crust at the bottom.
The only exception were Tropic Marin Pro Reef,
which is identical to the control of the RO/DI water
with no visual undissolved salt or precipitation.
The only other exception was Brightwell's NeoMarine
which had only the lightest of dusting on
the bottom of the tank.
However, we repeated that same experiment,
but this time with both continuous heat and flow
and all eight were virtually free of
any precipitate or undissolved salt in the bottom.
Even when we pulled the plug on the heat flow weeks later,
almost all the salts remained mixed without any
of the white crust.
So, it doesn't seem like they actually need to be
continuously heated or mixed.
So the obvious question is,
was it the heat or the flow in the beginning?
So we repeated the experiment again with no heat,
but for mixing it for 24 hours straight
and then pulling the plug on flow.
For most of the salts, 24 hours of flow and mixing
actually seemed to be enough for majority of the salts,
showing no signs of precipitation for weeks.
Again, pumps in small glass boxes
do add some heat of their own.
So, as concerns to heat and flow,
I'd say heat and flow is best practice for the
widest array of salts.
24 to 48 hours of heat, flow, and mixing for a
universal answer for any salt.
However, that can actually be scaled all the way down to
a single hour of mixing with no heat for a couple.
Most notably, Tropic Marine's Pro Reef,
and Brightwell's NeoMarine seemed to repeatably form well
in all the experiments, and probably requires the least
amount of time, equipment, and effort to mix.
Of all the experiments that Randy preformed, I think
maybe the most surprising to me was
how long it really took for some of these salts to
fully dissolve.
I personally raise my hand and say at different periods in
my reefing career I've certainly been guilty of mixing
it with a spoon for a few minutes until it looks
somewhat clear, and calling it a day.
In that spirit, I guess I'm not surprised I got a lot of
precipitant and crud building up in some of
the storage containers doing it that way.
I'm sure some of you can identify with that experience,
it's certainly worth checkin out that video if
you're interested.
See you next Wednesday with another batch of
BRS tv reef FAQs.