LiveAquaria Salt - Any Numbers Yet?

[HolisticBear]

Bruce,
It's been a long time and I hope your doing well.

The Fritz specs don't make since, 1.025 is not .35 So I figure that must be a typo.
To me until proven others wise Fritz is making the LiveAquaria salt mix.

If it looks like a duck / quacks like a duck / then it's a duck.

I hope LiveAquaria holds Fritz to the fire, because Fritz has been releasing bad batches and Dr Foster and Smith will not put up with it, one bit.

It used to spec. out at between 430 - 44o cal when I used it and now it has a tolerance from 400 to 450 ppm.

That's going from perfection or maybe dosing up cal while mixing

I've been on the Red Sea "Blue Bucket" since spring and it's been the most consistent salt mix, that I've ever used.

Freddie

+1

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Personally i've always noticed the Red Sea Blue bucket to be the most consistent and true to advertised parameters of any salt i've tried.

+1, I'm hooked on that koolaid

 

[DSC reef]

So if you keep your alk at 8.5 and RC is so high (12dkh sometimes higher) what do you do to manage those swings with a water change? Or are you just doing smaller water changes more regularly?

I 've used RSCP since I started a reef tank years ago. It has high alk too but I keep, grow and color up plenty of SPS. I keep my alk at 9 with no problem and I do 15 gallon water changes weekly on 75 gallon tank. So if people can't keep SPS tanks on RC then RSCP should be the same right? Kind of a blanket statement you made there as some of the nicest tanks I've ever seen ran reef crystals.

 

[yellojello]

Tested first batch of DFS salt, same issue as Fritz. 35 ppt, 8.9 alk, 445 Ca, 1450 Mag. ---> 3 days later, Alk drop to 8.2. Although it stayed clear without any precipitation. Will test Alk again in a few days. Note, this is stored water with powerhead shut off, but only turned on for a bit before testing.

 

[GoVols]

Tested first batch of DFS salt, same issue as Fritz. 35 ppt, 8.9 alk, 445 Ca, 1450 Mag. ---> 3 days later, Alk drop to 8.2. Although it stayed clear without any precipitation. Will test Alk again in a few days. Note, this is stored water with powerhead shut off, but only turned on for a bit before testing.

Tagging

 

[silvernblackr35]

Tested first batch of DFS salt, same issue as Fritz. 35 ppt, 8.9 alk, 445 Ca, 1450 Mag. ---> 3 days later, Alk drop to 8.2. Although it stayed clear without any precipitation. Will test Alk again in a few days. Note, this is stored water with powerhead shut off, but only turned on for a bit before testing.

@Randy Holmes-Farley any idea why this could be?

 

[Larry L]

Tested first batch of DFS salt, same issue as Fritz. 35 ppt, 8.9 alk, 445 Ca, 1450 Mag. ---> 3 days later, Alk drop to 8.2.

I'm not sure why that is a surprise, or a problem - they state the alk will be 8.0 to 9.5, right? Have you tested other salts that keep the same alk three days after mixing?

 

[GoVols]

I'm not sure why that is a surprise, or a problem - they state the alk will be 8.0 to 9.5, right? Have you tested other salts that keep the same alk three days after mixing?

IO stays the same.

 

[lactose]

Tested first batch of DFS salt, same issue as Fritz. 35 ppt, 8.9 alk, 445 Ca, 1450 Mag. ---> 3 days later, Alk drop to 8.2. Although it stayed clear without any precipitation. Will test Alk again in a few days. Note, this is stored water with powerhead shut off, but only turned on for a bit before testing.

I have a bag I will test tomorrow hopefully but those numbers are in their stated range so that is good at least. Thx for reporting

 

[yellojello]

I'm not sure why that is a surprise, or a problem - they state the alk will be 8.0 to 9.5, right? Have you tested other salts that keep the same alk three days after mixing?

It’s not the parameters right after you mix that is a surprise, it’s the dropping alkanity over time if you store the mixed saltwater, such as for those that much large batches at a time and use at a later date or as auto water change. With Fritz, the Alk would go from 8ish to the low 7’s or 6’s within days or a few weeks. Sure, it’s fine if you use the water right after you mix, but for the other scenarios, it could be a disaster for the SPS keepers.

Yes, cheap Instant Ocean holds its parameters over time. I’m sure most other salts do but I haven’t tried them yet, however not Fritz or DFS. I really really want to like them because the parameters are great, but so far no good.

 

[NickK]

I bought a box of this since LiveAquaria is running a special.

I don't terribly mind the Alk dropping from 8.9 to 8.2 after 3 days, but does it continue to drop over the next month?


I'll post my findings.

 

[Danny Venditti]

I was going back to the RPM too.
But... As of late, looks like bad batches have been getting out

I switched back from RPM to RSCP because the levels were all over the place with 3 straight batches. The first 2 were great. I think the popularity caught up the production quality

 

[GoVols]

I think the popularity caught up the production quality

I begged Shaun at Fritz:
To please not lose site of his quality, while he was growing the RPM brand

I've moved on the the Red Sea "Blue Bucket" and it's been solid as a rock

 

[Danny Venditti]

I begged Shaun at Fritz:
To please not lose site of his quality, while he was growing the RPM brand

I've moved on the the Red Sea "Blue Bucket" and it's been solid as a rock

I am still thinking of going to ESV 4 part because you can dial in the levels a bit more on a granular level. I have heard great things from a trusted source that I get a lot of my frags from and he has about 1000 gals worth of systems.

 

[yellojello]

Tested first batch of DFS salt, same issue as Fritz. 35 ppt, 8.9 alk, 445 Ca, 1450 Mag. ---> 3 days later, Alk drop to 8.2. Although it stayed clear without any precipitation. Will test Alk again in a few days. Note, this is stored water with powerhead shut off, but only turned on for a bit before testing.

Update: Alk dropped to 7.1 dkh stored with powerhead on and lid. So 8.9 dkh to 8.2 in three days with powerhead off and down to 7.1 nine days after that with powerhead on. Still is clear though. My assumption in the past with Fritz was that heat from constant running powerhead caused precipitation and cloudiness, but no issue with cloudiness with DFS.

 

[Snuggs]

Ok, was about to order ..had been using RSCP, but was considering the blue bucket . Live aququaria chose me for a free 58 gallon supply of salt....shall I be the guinea pig?

 

[Elennon19]

LiveAquaria® 205-Gallon Mix Professional Reef Salt on sale for $38.99 for Cyber Monday! Should I get it? I have been using Reef Crystals for years with no problems.

 

[NickK]

I just switched to LiveAquaria Reef Salt from Reef Crystals. No negative effects so far. The parameters are very similar, except the Alk is lower.

I switch because of the lower Alk. Reef Crystals is around 13. LiveAquaria is around 8. I keep my tank at 8.3, and I was tired of seeing a jump in Alk when I did a big water change.

People have questioned the stability of the Alkalinity as it sits over time, so I'm going to track it over the next month. I keep my mixed salt water in a 55 gal can for a few months, depending on how fast I go through it.

Here's my results so far:

9.0 after 24 hours
8.3 after 7 days​

 

[NickK]

7.6 after 14 days.


Still acceptable to me, but I don't like this trend. I wonder if the other mixes do this?

 

[DracoKat]

I am using LA's salt on my 9gal tank. started with LA salt. The tank will soon be SPS dominated, so I'll be sure to test often for changes. I don't want to switch salt on my 75g tank without fact yet

I have a thread about LA salt somewhere here, but i noticed terrible sulphur odor when I mixed it. LA was kind enough to give me a refund for it.