Saltmix Parameters bring on the test results

jason2459 · Oct 21, 2016

sever10 said:
Tests are in Aquaforest Lab. Results will be ready next week I saw some results and they are strange ... But I didn't have time to look closer. Results will be send to Jason soon.

Awesome! Thanks for the update.

jason2459 · Oct 26, 2016

OK, I got results back from AquaForest this morning. Wow, I've got a lot of compiling to do.

Thanks big time to AquaForest for running all those tests for me and really for all of us to help this thread become more complete.

jason2459 · Oct 28, 2016

I have all the numbers entered into the spreadsheets. Now just to figure out how to capture and post the triton/aquaforest sheet as it's gotten quite wide.

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

Here's the big 3 breakdown at least to start with.

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

Here you go. All the ICP test results...

Working on it

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

Ok, couple different views and hope one of them works out ok. Lots of screen shots

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

I want to write some things up and will probably do it mainly in my big 3 shootout thread as its more related to it and looks into the reliability of ICP testing and RedSea Mg test kit or potential lack thereof of both.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 29, 2016

Anything in particular we should look at in all that data? lol

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Anything in particular we should look at in all that data? lol

No, not necessarily. Aquaforest was still extremely low in S and it's most definitely not testing error. Both their Reef and Sea branded salts were low. Only salts I would not use at this point besides those with organics would be the Aquaforest Reef and Sea salts due to that.

There are many other oddities but I have a much better understanding now between getting all these back, my testing, and talking with Carl from ENC Labs. When I have a chance I will recap this.

But overall I feel the list is showing a good average of what one can expect to see in a salt brand and useful to compare.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 29, 2016

jason2459 said:
No, not necessarily. Aquaforest was still extremely low in S and it's most definitely not testing error. Both their Reef and Sea branded salts were low. Only salts I would not use at this point besides those with organics would be the Aquaforest Reef and Sea salts due to that.

There are many other oddities but I have a much better understanding now between getting all these back, my testing, and talking with Carl from ENC Labs. When I have a chance I will recap this.

But overall I feel the list is showing a good average of what one can expect to see in a salt brand and useful to compare.

Thanks for the summary, and the testing!

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

Welcome! It's been a lot of work but a great learning experience for me. And mostly I hope it helps others as I'll never use all these different mixes

jason2459 · Oct 29, 2016

Oh, and I just edited the first post with the latest updates.

Sean Warden · Oct 30, 2016

jason2459 said:
Welcome! It's been a lot of work but a great learning experience for me. And mostly I hope it helps others as I'll never use all these different mixes

Thanks for your efforts in getting this information out there. A tremendous undertaking to say the least.

I think you accomplished exactly what you intended, creating a reference that can provide guidance with regards to the expectations of what is in the salt mixes that are available to the reeking community.

Great job!

Sean Warden · Oct 30, 2016

Geez..... reeking? reefing oops, should of had more coffee prior to writing that.

clownsrcool · Oct 30, 2016

Why do aqua forest and triton read much lower salinity than you did?

jason2459 · Oct 30, 2016

clownsrcool said:
Why do aqua forest and triton read much lower salinity than you did?

That is a great question. Some of it comes down to accuracy of testing, theres and mine, and some of it is variations of the major, minor, and trace elements combined all working together at a certain refraction index.

Keep in mind the salinity listed for Triton and AquaForest are estimates based on the results of the Macro Element group calculated together with an assumption on temp, alkalinity, and amount of fluoride which contributes very little.

So, between being an estimate and testing variance there is bound to be some difference. And you'll notice some are lower and some are higher. My experience is the calculated salinity is lower. Aquaforest was much lower in some cases.

After seeing results of the exact same sample and in talking with ENC labs I wouldn't put a lot of weight towards the ICP-OES results. They are a good indicator and good for trends. But ICP-OES has a difficult time with seawater especially if not pain stakingly done right. We don't know what their testing methods are.

I was very careful myself in calibrating, at least checking for calibration, before each use with a 35ppt PSU standard based on a formula by Randy Holmes-Farley.

http://reef2reef.com/threads/does-your-calibration-solution-need-calibrated.250133/