Salt - Reef Evolution

ReefDaddyz · Aug 12, 2023

I was able to get two boxes of ASF Reef Evolution salt. Just mixed up my first 5 gallon bucket for a water change tomorrow and it’s not mixing well. Used 757g for 5 gallons of RODI and it is exactly 1.026 salinity. Problem is it’s 11.9 dKH after 30min and after 2 hours it’s 11.4 dKH and looks like it is getting cloudier than it was when I first introduced the salt. Will let it mix 24hrs and check again but this isn’t good. I have the 200g box which has 4 individual 50g bags. I mixed the bag up before adding to the water.

I was looking to switch from RedSea Blue because my Magnesium was always really low 1200. RedSea Blue always mixed fast and was clear in about 1 hour.

Anyone else have experience with this salt or cloudy mix?

blaxsun · Aug 14, 2023

What are the stated parameters on the packaging, ie: does it indicate a higher alkalinity?

ReefDaddyz · Aug 14, 2023

blaxsun said:
What are the stated parameters on the packaging, ie: does it indicate a higher alkalinity?

It isn’t a high Alk salt like RedSea Pro or any other brand. After 3 hours of mixing it is cloudier than when I first add the salt. I emailed the company and the response I got was I used too much salt. I mixed 3 different batches all lower salinity than the one before and it was same results. The last batch was mixed at 1.023 and it never was that blue clear water that you get with other salts.

blaxsun · Aug 14, 2023

ReefDaddyz said:
It isn’t a high Alk salt like RedSea Pro or any other brand. After 3 hours of mixing it is cloudier than when I first add the salt. I emailed the company and the response I got was I used too much salt. I mixed 3 different batches all lower salinity than the one before and it was same results. The last batch was mixed at 1.023 and it never was that blue clear water that you get with other salts.

I wish I knew what to tell you. I've used Tropic Marin Pro Reef for 2 years and I love it. Mixes clean (no residue) and you can store it for months on end without issues.

ReefDaddyz · Aug 14, 2023

blaxsun said:
I wish I knew what to tell you. I've used Tropic Marin Pro Reef for 2 years and I love it. Mixes clean (no residue) and you can store it for months on end without issues.

I purchased 2 boxes and just returned the unopened box. My pumps that were in there are now white and need a citrus acid bath from the precipitation. I do not recommend Dr Tim’s salt at all since it doesn’t mix well, the bucket was brown after one mix and it took 24hrs to mix it. I have used TM and it is nice salt just hard to find at one time and I switched to RedSea Blue.

Chalk it up as a learning experience.

JaimeAdams · Sep 2, 2023

ReefDaddyz said:
It isn’t a high Alk salt like RedSea Pro or any other brand. After 3 hours of mixing it is cloudier than when I first add the salt. I emailed the company and the response I got was I used too much salt. I mixed 3 different batches all lower salinity than the one before and it was same results. The last batch was mixed at 1.023 and it never was that blue clear water that you get with other salts.

I had a customer come into the store today complaining about his salt still being cloudy after 3 hours of mixing. I went ahead and mixed a bag myself here at the store, after 3 hours it was cloudy, now after 5 it is more cloudy than after the 3 hour mark.

Who did you E-mail? Dr Tim or ASF?

Rhapsody in Blue Reef · Sep 14, 2023

Thanks for sharing, my LFS has boxes of this for sale and I'm starting to see it pop up in other stores. They seem to be selling a fair bit of it and would love to hear if anyone else is having good or bad experiences.

JaimeAdams · Sep 14, 2023

Rhapsody in Blue Reef said:
Thanks for sharing, my LFS has boxes of this for sale and I'm starting to see it pop up in other stores. They seem to be pushing it hard and would love to hear if anyone else is having bad (or good) experiences.

I have mixed up more since then and it has been fine. my initial batch was clear when I returned to work after the long holiday weekend, but I did have precipitate. The levels tested via Salifert were acceptable. I've mixed batched since then and have added the salt a little at time instead of most fairly quickly and that seems to work fine.

merkmerk73 · Sep 19, 2023

ReefDaddyz said:
I purchased 2 boxes and just returned the unopened box. My pumps that were in there are now white and need a citrus acid bath from the precipitation. I do not recommend Dr Tim’s salt at all since it doesn’t mix well, the bucket was brown after one mix and it took 24hrs to mix it. I have used TM and it is nice salt just hard to find at one time and I switched to RedSea Blue.

Chalk it up as a learning experience.

Dr Tim's products are just unimpressive in general.

I used their bacteria start and two bottles did nothing

It wasn't until dosing Fritz turbo start that I actually started seeing nitrites and nitrates as I expected.

merkmerk73 · Oct 8, 2023

merkmerk73 said:
Dr Tim's products are just unimpressive in general.

I used their bacteria start and two bottles did nothing

It wasn't until dosing Fritz turbo start that I actually started seeing nitrites and nitrates as I expected.

I should clarify that in this industry it seems like everyone does something well, and some things not so well.

I did not find Dr Tims nitrifying bacteria to be useful at all but they may have other good products.

Kinda like how the Hanna Magnesium/Calcium checkers are awful, but their dKH/Phosphate/Nitrate are all excellent.

jr60 · Sep 1, 2024

ReefDaddyz said:
I was able to get two boxes of ASF Reef Evolution salt. Just mixed up my first 5 gallon bucket for a water change tomorrow and it’s not mixing well. Used 757g for 5 gallons of RODI and it is exactly 1.026 salinity. Problem is it’s 11.9 dKH after 30min and after 2 hours it’s 11.4 dKH and looks like it is getting cloudier than it was when I first introduced the salt. Will let it mix 24hrs and check again but this isn’t good. I have the 200g box which has 4 individual 50g bags. I mixed the bag up before adding to the water.

I was looking to switch from RedSea Blue because my Magnesium was always really low 1200. RedSea Blue always mixed fast and was clear in about 1 hour.

Anyone else have experience with this salt or cloudy mix?

Same problem here with Reef Evolution, picked up 50 gallon mix and remains cloudy, salinity @ 1.024. I was using Fritz and instant ocean with no problems but I recently started with this mix it was on sale and was warned of cloudyness. It has been 2 days with the RO and some existing saltwater. I think this is either bad stuff or reacting with existing. I don't know what it is.