rtague
Active Member
A question on component A and B in the esv salt mix,is component A the calcium and component B the alkalinity?,my alk is very high and was wondering if omitting component B from a few water chages will bring it down.
Esv salt mix
- Thread starter rtague
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Hey rtague! If I remember correctly, yes, component A contains calcium and component B contains alkalinity, but they don't have only calcium and alkalinity in each bottle.
Each bottle also contains an undisclosed mixture of all other minor and trace elements. If you decrease the volume of either liquid component, you'd be decreasing all of the other minor/trace elements from that bottle proportionally as well. I do not even know what minor elements are in each bottle (even the MSDS doesn't say) so you would have no idea what effect it would have and could even be worse than having higher than desired alkalinity. For that reason, I would not recommend adjusting alkalinity that way.
If you want to lower the alkalinity, you have a few other options.
-If you're dosing, stop dosing alk and let the levels fall naturally
-Change to a different salt with a lower alkalinity
-Decrease water changes and let the alkalinity fall naturally
Each bottle also contains an undisclosed mixture of all other minor and trace elements. If you decrease the volume of either liquid component, you'd be decreasing all of the other minor/trace elements from that bottle proportionally as well. I do not even know what minor elements are in each bottle (even the MSDS doesn't say) so you would have no idea what effect it would have and could even be worse than having higher than desired alkalinity. For that reason, I would not recommend adjusting alkalinity that way.
If you want to lower the alkalinity, you have a few other options.
-If you're dosing, stop dosing alk and let the levels fall naturally
-Change to a different salt with a lower alkalinity
-Decrease water changes and let the alkalinity fall naturally
malacoda
Valuable Member
COreef8 is correct: they are NOT meant to be used separately or in out-of-ratio amounts. Doing so will throw off both the ionic balance and trace element replenishment.
This was Bob Stark's response to a similar question on another forum:
"When you mix up your first batch be sure to hold out 10% of the RO/DI water as stated on our instruction sheet. It's always easier to add RO/DI to cut back on salinity rather than to figure out how much of each component to add to increase salinity. Due to the proprietary nature of some of the formulation, I can't divulge where certain ions are located with regards to the liquid components, but can tell you the Comp A supplies all the calcium and the portion of magnesium not supplied by the dry magnesium sulfate, and the Comp B liquid provides the alkalinity plus some other ions. If one alters the amount of these liquid components then yes, these other ions will also deviate. My guess is a 10% lowering of either component will still result in an acceptable mix because these other ions will only drop by 10%. I can not make any guarantee's the mix will be suitable for all uses if altered however and leave that decision to the individual aquarist. If you're testing for calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, potassium, and using individual additives to tweak any of those deficiencies, you'll probably be fine if you don't reduce the liquid components by more than 10%. I hope this info helps and thanks again for using our products!"
If you ever have a question about an ESV product, don't hesitate to email them directly. I have a few times and Bob usually responds within a day or two.
BTW - what do you mean by "very high"? What is your alk measuring at?
I used ESV salt mix for over 3 years. I weighed out the dry components and used the enclosed measuring cup for the wet components. Alk of newly mixed water always measured 9.3 dKH +/- 0.2.
If your newly mixed water measures the same, and the alk in your DT is higher than that, over time normal water changes with ESV should bring it down to the newly-mixed readings ... unless you're also dosing. In that case cut back your dosing rather than messing with the newly mixed water values.
This was Bob Stark's response to a similar question on another forum:
"When you mix up your first batch be sure to hold out 10% of the RO/DI water as stated on our instruction sheet. It's always easier to add RO/DI to cut back on salinity rather than to figure out how much of each component to add to increase salinity. Due to the proprietary nature of some of the formulation, I can't divulge where certain ions are located with regards to the liquid components, but can tell you the Comp A supplies all the calcium and the portion of magnesium not supplied by the dry magnesium sulfate, and the Comp B liquid provides the alkalinity plus some other ions. If one alters the amount of these liquid components then yes, these other ions will also deviate. My guess is a 10% lowering of either component will still result in an acceptable mix because these other ions will only drop by 10%. I can not make any guarantee's the mix will be suitable for all uses if altered however and leave that decision to the individual aquarist. If you're testing for calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, potassium, and using individual additives to tweak any of those deficiencies, you'll probably be fine if you don't reduce the liquid components by more than 10%. I hope this info helps and thanks again for using our products!"
If you ever have a question about an ESV product, don't hesitate to email them directly. I have a few times and Bob usually responds within a day or two.
BTW - what do you mean by "very high"? What is your alk measuring at?
I used ESV salt mix for over 3 years. I weighed out the dry components and used the enclosed measuring cup for the wet components. Alk of newly mixed water always measured 9.3 dKH +/- 0.2.
If your newly mixed water measures the same, and the alk in your DT is higher than that, over time normal water changes with ESV should bring it down to the newly-mixed readings ... unless you're also dosing. In that case cut back your dosing rather than messing with the newly mixed water values.
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I'm getting my first batch of ESV this week, thinking of changing salts. 8.5 would be a perfect baseline Alk for me.
One thing I will do is mix a batch and ICP test it, then know if I want to add anything on each fresh mix.
This could also be done for any changes you want to make to your fresh batch that differs from the baseline.
One thing I will do is mix a batch and ICP test it, then know if I want to add anything on each fresh mix.
This could also be done for any changes you want to make to your fresh batch that differs from the baseline.
rtague
Active Member
Thanks very much,that's the info I needed,my alk was at 9.5 which was fine but last week I added another 20lbs of real reef rock to the 50lbs I already had,did a water change, tested,aND alk was 14.3 !!!,the extra rock was the only thing that was different,only thing I can think of that might have altered the alk,don't know.
