- Today on BRStv Investigates,
all the time reefers debate whether stratification
and the consistency of a salt mix
from the top to the bottom of a salt bucket is a problem,
so we tested a 11 different salts
to find out if any of that's real.
(funk music)
Hi, I'm Randy with this Friday's BRStv Investigates
where we put popular reefing gear,
theories, and methods to the test
by experimenting on our own tanks
so you don't have to experiment on yours.
And in today's experiment,
we're mixing batches of saltwater
from the tops and bottoms of 11 different salt mixes
and testing them with ICP-OES laboratory tests
in order to further explore the idea
that dry ingredients in our salt mixes
will separate or stratify into different layers
inside the bucket or bag as it travels
from the manufacturer to your doorstep.
When all is said and done today,
we'll get some solid insight
into whether hand mixing the dry salt mix ingredients
or using larger buckets or bags of salt has any downsides.
And if they do, could there be alternative choices
out there that better fit our needs?
Let's find out when we answer two questions today
of will salt mix stratify or separate
before we get to the chance
to use it in our saltwater tanks,
and if it does, should we be concerned about it.
So, after being mixed in the manufacturer's warehouse
and then being shipped by boat,
plane, train, or truck to the distributor
and then being shipped again
from the distributor to your front door,
do you think that the different materials
that make up a dry salt mix,
components like salt itself, sodium,
calcium, magnesium, carbonate, or bicarbonate,
other minor and trace elements,
would separate into different layers
inside the salt bucket or bag
based on particle size or weight
and from the exposure to a variety
of vibration and shifting movement?
Meaning that by the time you open
your new bucket of salt mix
to mix up a batch for your water change,
have the salt mix materials separated in a way
that would cause different parameters
between that first batch of mixed saltwater
to the last batch and also in a way
that we should be concerned about?
Today, we plan to find out.
Here's how we approached this one.
We opened brand new, fresh-off-the-shelf buckets
of AquaForest Reef Salt, Brightwell NeoMarine,
ESV B-Ionic, HW Reefer,
Instant Ocean Standard and Reef Crystals.
Red Sea Coral Pro and Blue Bucket,
Two Little Fishies AccuraSea 1,
and Tropic Marin's Classic and Pro-Reef salt.
We weighed out each salt to the gram
to mix up four gallons of saltwater
from the top of each bag or bucket
and then four gallons from the bottom of the bucket
to a commonly targeted salinity of 1.026 specific gravity
then let them mix until fully homogeneous
and sent out TRITON ICP-OES tests for each one.
Since there is no direct test
for alkalinity in the ICP test results,
we also used a hand alkalinity checker
to take a dKH reading for each one
after they were fully mixed.
Okay, so I have to note here
that because there's a ton of data
with 37-element results for 22 different tests,
we won't put you to sleep
by going over each individual result.
Instead, we'll share any results
that we find that are different
from the top of the bucket to the bottom
where there's a difference
of five to 10%, 10 to 20%, and over 20%.
For those results that are 5% or less,
we'll consider them homogeneously mixed and not a concern.
So, with that, let's find out how the results played out
by first looking at three major foundational elements
that most reefers are concerned about
from a consistency standpoint throughout the salt mix bucket
with calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium.
After that, we'll circle back for a wider review
of all 37 elements that were tested.
Today, we're going in alphabetical order,
which means AquaForest Reef Salt is up first
with calcium testing coming in
at 467 for the top and 457 for the bottom,
which makes for a difference of 2.14%
Alkalinity tested at eight and 7.6 dKH
from the top to the bottom for a 5% difference,
and magnesium ended with a 0.19% difference
with 1575 parts per million on the top
and 1572 on the bottom.
I'd say that from a major element standpoint
and alkalinity being right on the cusp
of what I consider completely homogeneously mixed,
there doesn't look to be much of a difference
from the top to the bottom in this specific bucket.
Up next is a bucket of Brightwell NeoMarine,
where we see a three part per million difference
calcium level between 388 and 391
for only a 0.77% difference,
yet, alkalinity at 8.8 and 8.0 dKH,
and magnesium at 1627 and 1480,
both close to a 9% difference
from top to bottom and not completely homogeneous.
It's ESVB-Ionic turn next,
which is the only salt mix today
that doesn't combine all the ingredients together
into a homogeneous dry mixture
but instead comes with four different components
that are mixed together individually,
which inherently defends against possible stratification
since you're adding pure sodium chloride,
then magnesium sulfate, then premixed liquid components
for alkalinity and calcium,
both with minor and trace elements.
As the data from this mixing approach shows
where we scooped the top and bottom of both dry components
then added in the respective liquids
of calcium and alkalinity,
all three levels ended up with less than
a percent difference from each other
with 0.68 for calcium, zero difference for alkalinity,
and 0.30% difference for magnesium.
This one will definitely be interesting later
to see if all 37 elements wind up with similar results.
Going to a box of HW Reefer for our next test,
we find a zero difference in calcium from top to bottom,
alkalinity had a 1.1 dKH swing for a 9.89% difference,
and magnesium was pretty darn close at a 0.59% gap
between 1508 at the top and 1517 on the bottom.
Again, this looks to be another salt
that falls below our threshold for a major concern
of fluctuating levels throughout the mix.
For Instant Ocean standard,
we see a 2.05% calcium difference from 430 to 440
and a 0.2 dKH or 1.94% difference in alkalinity.
However, magnesium is the outlier in this bucket of salt
with the top at 1580 and the bottom at 1411.
There's a total difference of 10.70%,
which for me rides on that edge
of whether or not there would be some benefit
to further mixing at home or at the manufacturer.
As for Instant Ocean Reef Crystals,
we find a top calcium level of 572 and a bottom at 468,
which winds up being 18.18% dissimilar from each other.
Alkalinity shows similar results at almost two dKH
between the top and the bottom with 9.4 to 11.1 or 15.32%.
Magnesium also winds up
with over a 10% gap coming in at 12.48%.
This is the first bucket of salt we see today
where we'd likely expect to see
a significant benefit of mixing
the dry salt at home before use
or probably more mixing from the factory
for a more even blend of the components.
It's difficult to know for sure
if the stratification happened
during transport or from the manufacturer.
We have a bucket of Red Sea Coral Pro next
that shows a one part per million calcium difference
between 450 on top and 449 on the bottom
for a total of 0.22% separation.
Alkalinity ends with with a 4.00% difference
from 9.6 to 10.0 dKH
and magnesium within three parts per million
from 1442 to 1445 for a 0.21% variance.
Being under our 5% threshold on all fronts,
it looks like this bucket we chose is good to go.
Red Sea Blue Bucket is next, and again,
these are very consistent numbers from the top to the bottom
with 1.34%, 1.9%, and 1.62%
for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium respectively,
in this example, just an even blend all around.
Moving on to Two Little Fishies AccuraSea 1,
this salt mix is unique in that they separated the box
into small, individual bags to make them easier
to make small batches while preserving
the remaining salt in the entire box,
which means we mixed a bag from the top of the package
and a bag from the bottom of the box for our test.
The calcium for the top bag came in at 449 parts per million
while the bottom bag was 424 for a 5.57% difference.
The alkalinity between the two batches was closer together
with 8.7 and 8.9 dKH or just 2.25% apart.
The magnesium was 6.98% different
with 1504 on top and 1399 on the bottom.
All in all, this one turned out
seemingly close to the edge of being fully homogeneous.
Because we used 100% of the pouch,
these inconsistencies imply that further mixing
at the factory could be of some benefit.
Tropic Marin Classic is up next
with a calcium level on top testing at 418
and on the bottom at 374,
which landed it at a 10.53% variance.
The alkalinity was 1.7 dKH apart
from 9.7 to 8.0 or 17.53%
with the magnesium being
somewhat equally dissimilar at 12.36%.
With the numbers from this batch,
it would seem that it could use
a bit more mixing before use.
Next, we have a bucket of Tropic Marin Pro
which showed some of the best numbers so far
for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium
where we see no difference at all
from the top to bottom in calcium nor in alkalinity
and just a 0.28% gap for magnesium
from the 1418 top to the 1414 bottom.
From the looks of it, this example of a Tropic Marin Pro
shows to be a very homogeneous mixture
even after many weeks of international travel
from Europe to the U.S. and across the distribution chains.
Okay, so after what we saw here
from the ICP results for calcium and magnesium
coupled with a hand checker for alkalinity
is that two out of the 11 salts tested in a way
where I would strongly consider
mixing the dry salt mix prior to use
and a few that were borderline.
However, at face value, it looks as though stratification
is likely less of a concern
that I would have previously thought.
But let's see if the data presented
across all 37 elements tested tells the same tale
because trace elements come
in smaller quantities in the bucket,
which theoretically could make them
easier to settle or stratify out
into higher or lower concentration pockets.
Looking at all 37 elements tested,
across the board we see that AquaForest Reef Salt
shows only four elements at or over the 5% line
with a difference in manganese
being slightly higher than the rest at 18.18%.
Still, I would consider this particular bucket of salt
to be nearly fully homogeneous
from the top to the bottom with results like these.
Moving on to Brightwell's NeoMarine,
we see 10 out of 37 elements showing above a 5% difference
between top and bottom of the bucket.
All but three of those 10 are between five to 10%
with manganese being right on the verge of 10.42%
and nickel and aluminum as outliers
of over a 30% difference.
To me, this particular batch is still not fully homogeneous.
Much as we would have expected from ESV B-Ionic's approach
to mixing four individual components to create saltwater,
the results we saw for the major three elements
were pretty solid from top to bottom.
When we take a step back and look at all 37 elements,
we see somewhat of a similar tale
with only three out of the 37 elements
being more than 5% apart.
Although two are above 10% and one is above 30%,
I'd consider this one to be one of the more
homogeneously mixed salts from today's testing.
For our box of HW Reefer,
we find that nine out of the 37 elements to be over 5%
with five cresting over 10% and three over 20%.
When we looked at the major elements
for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium,
this sample of HW was just under our threshold
for likely needing a bit more mixing.
However, now that we've added
a few more elements to the mix,
I'd go ahead and say that there's probably
some added benefit to mixing the dry salt mix before use.
Instant Ocean Standard is next
with eight elements coming in at above 5%.
Only four of those tested above 10%,
and one, which was above 20,
which lines up with our previous assessment
of this particular example,
riding right on the edge of slight concern
for further mixing and likely benefiting
from a bit more mixing.
As for the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
which we determined from the major elements
could likely use some more mixing,
we find that 16 out of 37 elements tested
fell above the 5% difference from top to bottom.
Of those 16, 14 of them were above 10% disparity
and five were over a 30%.
There's no doubt that in this instance,
the bucket we used here
could be more homogeneously mixed prior to use.
Red Sea Coral Pro tested pretty well in the first round
where we determined that this sample
was close to fully homogenized
by all three major elements testing lower
than 5% variance from the top to the bottom,
and it looks pretty similar in the full panel of 37 elements
with a total of four coming in at above 5%
and two being above 20%.
As for the Red Sea Blue Bucket,
there were six elements over 5%
with three of them landing above 20% dissimilar
from the top to the bottom.
I'd place this salt bucket in the same category
of riding the edge for being
a little bit of a concern to possibly needing
some more mixing before use.
Two Little Fishies AccuraSea showed some promising results
in the major elements with calcium and magnesium
just slightly above a 5% difference
from the top five-gallon bag to the bottom five-gallon bag.
However, when we look at al 37 elements as a whole,
we see a different picture where 12 of the 37
come back as more than 5% dissimilar.
Six of those 12, or half, tested greater than 10% apart,
and three were over 20.
This is a unique situation
where because the bags of salt are individual
and most reefers will make
an entire five-gallon batch like we did,
there's really not an opportunity
for us to blend this box of salt better at home
without defeating the purpose of a single-use packaging.
In the first test for Tropic Marin Classic,
we determined that it could use
some further blending before use,
and as we look at the data for all 37 elements side by side,
the story looks to be about the same
where 18 of 37 elements are more than 5% apart
from the top to the bottom of the bucket.
Of those, 16 of them are above 10%,
and four elements rise above a 30% variance
between the two batches we mixed
and certainly could have performed better.
Tropic Marine Pro is up next,
and from the nearly perfect results
from having zero difference between the top and the bottom
of the bucket for calcium and alkalinity
and a 0.28% difference for magnesium,
we find that out of 37 elements,
five of them showed dissimilar results
from the top batch to the bottom
where three of those tested above 10% and two above 20%.
For a salt with performance like this,
I don't think it's worth the time and effort
of considering further mixing.
Okay, so we asked two questions
at the beginning of the experiment,
and let's see if we came up with any answers
after the results we saw here.
First, will salt mix stratify or separate
before we get a chance to use it in our tanks?
Well, out of the 11 salts we tested here today
from the major three elements
that most reefers are concerned about,
we said that two of them could benefit from further mixing
and three were riding the fence.
From the full 37-element panel,
we determined that three salts could be mixed a bit more
while four were somewhat of a wobbler.
So, with that, I'd have to rate this one
a four out of 10 on the reef fantasy scale.
While I know reefers are always in pursuit of perfection,
for a majority of the salts represented here,
it just looks as though they meet
a reasonable standard for a homogeneous salt-mix blend
while others seemed that they could benefit
from additional mixing at the factory
or before use in our home.
Again, I wouldn't necessarily assign
today's results to a specific brand
because it likely varies from bucket to bucket.
But more so, across the majority
of the 11 salt mix examples,
stratification just wasn't an issue.
As for the question of if this is
a major concern for the average reefer,
I'd say that in almost every case,
we'll eventually use the entire bucket from top to bottom,
and over time, these differences
will simply balance themselves out.
Even if one of the elements
were 30% different from top to bottom,
if you calculated that out using a 10% water change
that really only results
in a 3% marginal change in the tank,
which is both meaningless
and nearly impossible to test for accurately.
A couple of instances where I see these differences
having slightly more significance
is for those who do larger water changes
of 25 to 50% or more where the impact is greater
or those with small tanks where pockets of inconsistencies
may create spikes in the tank.
In these cases, I think best practice would be
to take the time and effort to either mix
the dry bucket or bag of salt thoroughly before use
or better yet, find a manufacturer
that offers smaller sizes of salt mixes,
like Tropic Marin, Red Sea, or AquaForest.
Either that or use an approach
that will inherently reduce the chances
of a spike or pocket, like ESV B-Ionic
where the components are separated,
and you rely on your consistency in making
the same batch of saltwater time after time.
Again, the results we saw here today
are not a specific indication
that one brand is doing this better than the other,
and we might find slightly different results
if we ran this test on other buckets
of the same salt brands.
If you're interested in seeing
the complete 22 ICP-OES test results
for all of the data we covered here today,
you can find them in the link in the description
or the article link pinned in the comments below.
For those that do want to review them
and take notice of the results
against TRITON's recommended set points,
just note that those set points are simply a guiding tool
specifically for the TRITON method
and not necessarily an absolute
that these are the perfect levels.
And for those results that you may find
with large variances between the top and the bottom
of their respective buckets,
will likely be balanced out
if the entire bag or bucket was mixed as a whole,
so just be mindful of how you review and utilize the data.
We've been asked numerous times
to test and share the ICP-OES testing data
throughout all of our various salt testing experiments,
so clicking on those links to this video's article
will finally get you an inside look
and is definitely worth checking out.
We've done a bunch of videos on salt and salt mixes
that you can find on this link to them over on the site.
One in particular you should keep your eye out for
are the answers to the question:
How much do these salt mixes actually cost us per month?