Salt mix question...
- Thread starter Dom
- Start date
- Tagged users None
K. Steven
Well-Known Member
Yes, but it is just sodium chloride with no additional supplementation (except calcium silicate to prevent caking). If you want an aquarium-specific salt, the best I think you could find is Instant Ocean, but it does have some additives to make it close to natural seawater concentrations.
Using pure NaCl with nothing else would likely be a bad idea for a reef tank, as the alkalinity and other additives stabilize artificial saltwater. Imagine how unstable your tank's pH would be with no alkalinity, not to mention all the effects of the remaining supplements added to commercially-produced salt mixes. Just food for thought.
Using pure NaCl with nothing else would likely be a bad idea for a reef tank, as the alkalinity and other additives stabilize artificial saltwater. Imagine how unstable your tank's pH would be with no alkalinity, not to mention all the effects of the remaining supplements added to commercially-produced salt mixes. Just food for thought.
Last edited:
Sort of - it's true whether it was or not. That represents pure NaCl (or as pure as you're likely to find on a store shelf, at least - there's likely products available for labs and such that may be more pure).
Question is; why do you want salt without supplements?
Question is; why do you want salt without supplements?
DesertReefT4r
Valuable Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2018
- Messages
- 2,457
- Reaction score
- 2,193
To make sea water you need those added trace elements. If you are looking for a more basic salt mix without boosted levels aka reef salt, then Instant Ocean, HW Marine Mix, Red Sea Marine, Tropic Marin, Oceanic are all good basic salt mixes.
OP
OP
Dom
Full Time Reef Keeper
Thank you.
I was thinking that perhaps purchasing a base salt and then mixing in your own supplements might be a good way to maintain levels specific to your reef tank needs.
Thought that might be it.
Not a bad goal at all, but I'm not sure it would be very practical. Still; it would be interesting to see if a company could make a system whereby people order custom-blended "salt" work...
chipmunkofdoom2
Always Making Something
What you're suggesting is possible, but seawater is way more than just NaCl, magnesium, calcium and carbonate alkalinity. I work part-time at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We make our own salt mix and have been doing so for several years. We're actually running the numbers on buying a commercial mix from a vendor because rolling-your-own salt mix is just not cost-effective anymore. I think it's going to be hard for an individual to buy ingredients in enough quantity to make it cost effective, but you're welcome to price it out if you'd like.
This is what's known informally as the Millero recipe, for Frank Millero, its creator:
23.98 g sodium chloride
5.029 g magnesium chloride
4.01 g sodium sulfate
1.14 g calcium chloride
0.699 g potassium chloride
0.172 g sodium bicarbonate
0.100 g potassium bromide
0.0254 g boric acid
0.0143 g strontium chloride
0.0029 g sodium fluoride
Water to 1 kg total weight
While this mix does include most of the major elements, it does not attempt to add the minor elements. Some will be included as impurities in the ingredients above, but there's not a good way to quantify that. Unfortunately, I don't think we've worked out what elements are essential to aquarium life, so this is going to be the most challenging part of making your own salt mix. This route is also not the cheapest, depending on how strict you are with purity. I priced out the ingredients above using food grade to reagent grade materials and the cost worked out to be around $75 per 150 gallons of saltwater.
This is what's known informally as the Millero recipe, for Frank Millero, its creator:
23.98 g sodium chloride
5.029 g magnesium chloride
4.01 g sodium sulfate
1.14 g calcium chloride
0.699 g potassium chloride
0.172 g sodium bicarbonate
0.100 g potassium bromide
0.0254 g boric acid
0.0143 g strontium chloride
0.0029 g sodium fluoride
Water to 1 kg total weight
While this mix does include most of the major elements, it does not attempt to add the minor elements. Some will be included as impurities in the ingredients above, but there's not a good way to quantify that. Unfortunately, I don't think we've worked out what elements are essential to aquarium life, so this is going to be the most challenging part of making your own salt mix. This route is also not the cheapest, depending on how strict you are with purity. I priced out the ingredients above using food grade to reagent grade materials and the cost worked out to be around $75 per 150 gallons of saltwater.
JOKER
2500 Club Member
I have recently switched to Fritz RPM salt, and will say it is my favorite so far. I have used many too/. The cleanest I have ever used as long as temp is between 70 75 when mixing. I use AWC and keep it for a month at a time. SPS dominant, and I like to keep my parameters low also.
Randy Holmes-Farley
Reef Chemist
Staff member
Super Moderator
Excellence Award
Expert Contributor
Article Contributor
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
Seawater is not just sodium chloride plus a few trace elements. You can make your own salt mix, but there are dozens of ingredients, and it likely will be quite expensive unless you buy huge amounts..
What “needs” are you talking about?
Randy Holmes-Farley
Reef Chemist
Staff member
Super Moderator
Excellence Award
Expert Contributor
Article Contributor
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
lol, OK.
The recipe posted above is good, except for trace elements. Many of those may already be present in the main ingredients as impurities, but the levels are important.
The recipe posted above is good, except for trace elements. Many of those may already be present in the main ingredients as impurities, but the levels are important.
