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Salt Analysis Study Results
- Thread starter vinny
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vinny
Non-member
Check out Coralife.
randoma
Non-member
I really wonder how consistent the distribution of the salt in the buckets is - they used 7 gram samples, which seem *really* small to me. Maybe they would have gotten more consistent results by mixing up 5 gallon samples and then taking 200ml from that.
Also, as far as I can tell the results are not weighted by salinity. Generally when I use salt, I mix to a particular salinity, not by weight. That said, the range of salinity is actually pretty small, so the differences due to specific gravity should also be pretty small.
Also, as far as I can tell the results are not weighted by salinity. Generally when I use salt, I mix to a particular salinity, not by weight. That said, the range of salinity is actually pretty small, so the differences due to specific gravity should also be pretty small.
chew*
Murphy's Law
I think the purpose of that was to determine which mixes had the best bang for buck randoma, example salt A has a higher salinity than salt B when measured at the same concentration. Therefore salt B is going to require more salt to be used to acchieve the desired salinity.......That said A 200lb mix of say red sea coral pro is going to make more water than lets say a 200LB mix of IO.
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vinny
Non-member
Randoma its funny you say that b/c it's brought up in this.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1317416
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1317416
Liam
letting it grow
at a quick glance it looks to me like that study has no validity whatsover.
they used a 200ml sample for every test yet they established the salinity shortfalls in the first test.
Saltwater mixes are mixed by salinity not volume.
Therefore every other test they carried out will not be a fair representation of the make up of the mix.
As stated in this thread,all this test proves which salt produces more per bucket,they wasted their time with the rest of it IMO.
As CS stated,the sample is way too small to mean anything anyway,so now i think of it you may has well disregard the first test too.
makes me really wonder about the credibility of AWT
they used a 200ml sample for every test yet they established the salinity shortfalls in the first test.
Saltwater mixes are mixed by salinity not volume.
Therefore every other test they carried out will not be a fair representation of the make up of the mix.
As stated in this thread,all this test proves which salt produces more per bucket,they wasted their time with the rest of it IMO.
As CS stated,the sample is way too small to mean anything anyway,so now i think of it you may has well disregard the first test too.
makes me really wonder about the credibility of AWT
chew*
Murphy's Law
I think that besides which one will get the most out of a bucket it also shows how inconsitent the batches really are liam, wouldn't you agree? Other that that i tend to agree.
Btw If you guys would like I can make an equasion that will covert everything to NSW levels.......its really not that hard.
Btw If you guys would like I can make an equasion that will covert everything to NSW levels.......its really not that hard.
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chew*
Murphy's Law
I might add that this study is in no way going to make me run out and buy a diff salt brand, Me personally I'm not a big fan of changing salts, I think it causes more issues than not, what it does do is reinforce the fact that I should test KH, MG and CA and correct the levels before adding to my tank which is a normal practice for me.
The only thing I got from this study is that even the high $$ salt mixes are inconsistent.
The only thing I got from this study is that even the high $$ salt mixes are inconsistent.
randoma
Non-member
On page 3 or 4 of that thread, they say that the actual testing was done on 53ns salt mix (so all the samples were normalized to the same specific gravity).
(Just repeating what Liam said
)Does anyone know if salt is packaged by weight or by volume? I always assumed it was done by volume.
IMHO.. this is just ANOTHER worthless test of salt. 
It seems to be a marketing ploy, more than anything even remotely coming close to a study.
They are testing less that a cup of mixed salt water because of the lack of room to mix the salt??? Are they working in a closet??? They could have at least mixed a gallon and then taken a sample from that.
Come on... they are getting a lot of eyeballs from this "study." They even admit "The results of this examination are intended to offer some data to enrich the discussions and debates that surround the process for selecting a salt mix." Certainly will get that, and everyone will link to the Aquarium Water Testing. com "study." They have a good marketing department. I know it says it's not supposed to be scientific, but I think we could do a better study at a BRS meeting.
It seems to be a marketing ploy, more than anything even remotely coming close to a study.
They are testing less that a cup of mixed salt water because of the lack of room to mix the salt??? Are they working in a closet??? They could have at least mixed a gallon and then taken a sample from that.
Come on... they are getting a lot of eyeballs from this "study." They even admit "The results of this examination are intended to offer some data to enrich the discussions and debates that surround the process for selecting a salt mix." Certainly will get that, and everyone will link to the Aquarium Water Testing. com "study." They have a good marketing department. I know it says it's not supposed to be scientific, but I think we could do a better study at a BRS meeting.
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vinny
Non-member
I'm going to throw this out there but, what if we did our own study using your salt at home in a clean bucket using only DI water and testing will only one brand name of test kit trying to keep this as clean and honest as possible just an idea, something we can do as a club.
IMHO.. this is just ANOTHER worthless test of salt.
It seems to be a marketing ploy, more than anything even remotely coming close to a study.
They are testing less that a cup of mixed salt water because of the lack of room to mix the salt??? Are they working in a closet??? They could have at least mixed a gallon and then taken a sample from that.
Come on... they are getting a lot of eyeballs from this "study." They even admit "The results of this examination are intended to offer some data to enrich the discussions and debates that surround the process for selecting a salt mix." Certainly will get that, and everyone will link to the Aquarium Water Testing. com "study." They have a good marketing department. I know it says it's not supposed to be scientific, but I think we could do a better study at a BRS meeting.
I wouldn't necessarily go that far... that is a bit harsh. The group who carried out the test does not sell any salt themselves, so there is actually no motivation in terms of being a marketing ploy. The company took their own time to help out hobbiests and run these tests, under very controlled conditions.
Granted, they failed at both mixing a large batch of water and they failed at having a large sample size (N=2 is not significant for us statistical folk). Those two factors though do not make the entire study unimportant. Nearly all of the results compared to the tests ran on RC by Billybeau1:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1287118
IMO there are a few very good things about this validating the work by Billybeau1. If you prefer to keep your calc / alk / mag elevated above natural sea water (NSW), this can show you which salt mixes are more suited for that. Same thing if you would prefer your levels to be at NSW levels. Also, the phosphate readings are good to know.
Most of all though, it made me mix up the rest of my salt bucket well, and when I made up my 5% water change, I tested the water to see what I needed to add to get the make up water the levels I wanted my tank at. So for nothing else, learn from this study that every bucket of salt you buy needs to be not only thoroughly mixed prior to mixing it with water, but you also need to test each bucket of salt for how much calc / alk / mag you need to add.
great idea in theory, but even same brand test kits can yield different results, especially ones that are color based. Look at the study I linked to above on RC by Billybeau1. He basically did the above himself, using all the same kits.
I was actually referring to marketing their company and testing services... not the sale of salt.
I understand Billybeau1 on RC is not a testing lab. I found his testing interesting, but most of his numbers can be gained from wading through the numerous salt threads on RC. His numbers give a certain validity to those threads.
I was more disappointed that a company whose apparant sole business is testing aquarium water turned out this type of "study." As I said, it seems to be a way to gain some name recognition for their company and testing services. What reefer is not going to look at a "salt study" done by a lab.
I have no idea what their motives were for this study, but I just would have expected more from a testing company.
I think that besides which one will get the most out of a bucket it also shows how inconsitent the batches really are liam, wouldn't you agree?
I don't see it quite that way. How do you distinguish poor sampling technique from true batch to batch variations? My understanding is that some of those variations came from tiny samples taken from within the same bucket. Unless you desire to make up 200 mL of salt water at a time, I don't see the relevance of slight settling within a bucket. If you make up a trash can full at a whack, using a large portion of a bag or bucket, such sampling issues are much less important. Real users of IO do not report those sorts of variations in calcium, for example.
I don't see it quite that way. How do you distinguish poor sampling technique from true batch to batch variations? My understanding is that some of those variations came from tiny samples taken from within the same bucket. Unless you desire to make up 200 mL of salt water at a time, I don't see the relevance of slight settling within a bucket. If you make up a trash can full at a whack, using a large portion of a bag or bucket, such sampling issues are much less important. Real users of IO do not report those sorts of variations in calcium, for example.
chew*
Murphy's Law
Well I'll put it to the test for those curious.........I have just enough salt left to make up 5g with IO i purchased during the summer, I just bought another 200Lb box today.......I will test the basics KH, CA and MG from both........Real world test tested with the exact same kits and brand of salt........
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