RealOcean salt?

Stewart

Stewart

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Hi All

Does anyone use RealOcean salt?

After mixing some tap water to the correct SG I did some tests to use as a starting point in cycling a new tank. I noticed that Ammonia was 1.5, Nitrite was 0,1 and Nitrate was 50 (all ppm or mg/l).

Doubting the accuracy on my Salifert test kits I did a test on plain RO, distilled and tap. It turns out that distilled gives zero readings so I must be getting the readings from the RealOcean salt that I have added. I have not used anything else such as Kent Detox for removing chlorine etc as I know it produces false readings with test kits based on Nesslers Reagent. Normal tap water showed readings of Ammonia and Nitrate. I live in the Kempton Park/Edenvale boarder in Joburg.

Has anyone else done some tests with RealOcean salt? If so I would be interested to hear what the results are. The packet claims “nitrate free” and “phosphate free”. Perhaps it is my test kits? But then would I not get a reading on the distilled water if my test kits were dud?

Stewart
 
So, you mixed the salt with tapwater, and then tested it? I think it must be the tapwater. What is your readings on a salt/RO mix? AFAIK some tapwater contains Chloramine, which gets converted into ammonia when dechlorinated.
 
If you mixing with Tap water then you can not blame the salt....I have never even thought of testing my fresh salt/ro mix for Nitrate or Phosphate. When I get some decent kits I'll give it a try..
 
In order to test the water parameters correctly.
1.Use RO water with a TDS of 0.
2.Sg of 1.025 using a calibrated Refractrometer.
3.Accurate test kit eg. Tropic Marine.
4.To test for phosphates, make sure you have a decent kit like La Moette or perhaps a photometer.
 
Just did the test with salt with RO (0.5 Ammonia, Nitrite was 0, Nitrate was 25). So it does seem its the tap water rather than the salt. Didn’t realise that tap was so "unpure". The RO I got was a small bottle from a friend to use as a test. Where is the cheapest/best place to get RO water from in you don’t have your own unit. Any area from Edenvale to Boksburg (in JHB) will do? Typically how expensive is it?

Another point, does the quality of RO water vary? Has anyone tested their RO water? What readings were recorded? I assume they should all be zero right?. But I just got a bottle of distilled water from the chemist to test and it gave me a reading of 5ppm Nitrate. I was always under the impression that distilled is the purest from of water you can get. Am I misinformed?
 
Stewart said:
Just did the test with salt with RO (0.5 Ammonia, Nitrite was 0, Nitrate was 25). So it does seem its the tap water rather than the salt. Didn’t realise that tap was so "unpure". The RO I got was a small bottle from a friend to use as a test. Where is the cheapest/best place to get RO water from in you don’t have your own unit. Any area from Edenvale to Boksburg (in JHB) will do? Typically how expensive is it?

Another point, does the quality of RO water vary? Has anyone tested their RO water? What readings were recorded? I assume they should all be zero right?. But I just got a bottle of distilled water from the chemist to test and it gave me a reading of 5ppm Nitrate. I was always under the impression that distilled is the purest from of water you can get. Am I misinformed?
Click to expand...

get the RO from your LFS i'm sure exotic supplies RO for a small fee....
here in vereeniging i get my RO from the DIXON BATTERRIES FACTORY here....
 
I've had a very bad experience with this salt... one batch mixed slightly milky... after changing water I nearly lost a lot of corals with them oozing slime and detaching from rocks... quickly changed to another brand and they are happy again... I have generally had good experiences with this salt but the last batch that I had must have been faulty..
 
hotdog83 said:
So, you mixed the salt with tapwater, and then tested it? I think it must be the tapwater. What is your readings on a salt/RO mix? AFAIK some tapwater contains Chloramine, which gets converted into ammonia when dechlorinated.
Click to expand...

disagree with ur last sentence, can u explan more?
 
i have been using real ocean for 3 years now, and never had any shit, but i got cyano from the beginning of the year, i have done everything incl changing LR so i think this time it is the salt to blame...i'll get myself tropic marine reef pro and then see what happens( o ja mantis tank is alsogetting it now)

i'll keep you uys posted on what happens
 
from what i hear from my LFS he stocks both tropic marine and real ocean....he says he knows the importer of real ocean uses only tropic marine on his personal tanks!!!now that says alot.....
 
gaz19 said:
disagree with ur last sentence, can u explan more?
Click to expand...

Most dechlorinators use sodium thiosulfate as an active ingredient.

Na2S2O3 + 4NH2Cl + 5H2O ↔ Na2SO4 + 2H+ + 4HCl + 4NH3

Sodium thiosulfate being Na2S2O3 and Chloramine NH2Cl, and ammonia being NH3.

"The addition of sodium thiosulfate will neutralize both chlorine and chloramine. However, ammonia is released when the sodium thiosulfate combines with the chloramines, and this could be a problem to fish where there is little or no biological filtration." (in Aquariology: Fish Diseases and Water Chemistry, Tetra Press 1992)


 
lanzo said:
well imo tropic marine is the best salt one can buy in S.A
Click to expand...
Excellent salt! Contains vital trace elements but the cons are, high phosphae levels and cost. IMO,Seachem would be a better option,as it is around the same price range and lower in phosphates.
 
Just for interests sake, what does Seachem salt more or less retail at, for say 200l worth?
 
Ok, thanks, was just wondering how much more it is than Real Ocean. Like about 1.5 times, double or triple the amount?
 
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