http://glassbox-design.com/2009/b-ionic-se...ystem-salt-mix/

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/01/14/b-ionic...arge-tanks-too/

DaveFason tipped me off to this new product from B-Ionic. Looks really promising! Anyone had any experiences with it? I'm going to be needing more salt in about a month and I thought about giving it a go.

"at 34ppt it boasts some attractive parameters:

450ppm Calcium
9 dkh Alkalinity
1400 ppm Magnesium"

Marine Depot carries it - looks competitively priced and great for Nano tanks.

http://www.marinedepot.com/E.S.V._B_Ionic_...11-FISM-vi.html


I've been using DD H2O but have been disappointed by the amount of precipitate and how long it takes to dissolve. And this new salt boasts higher Mg levels than I'm getting out of my salt.

Also coming out is the new Tropic Marin Bio Actif:
http://glassbox-design.com/2008/tropic-mar...actif-salt-mix/


Thoughts? Experiences? Someone buy this and test it!

Another review with spec sheet:

http://reefbuilders.com/2009/09/30/bionic-...v-cooking-salt/

Tagging along as I'm also interested in this salt mix....

I'm thinking I will give this a shot. I get paid in a week or so and will most likely try it out. I would love to hear about others results though.

-Dave

Seems a little labor intensive.

I thought the same thing, but if the levels are better and it reaches equilibrium faster (10 min. fully dissolved in one of those articles - I'd love to not have to mix it 24 hours) then it would be worth the little extra work.

...I also think it satisfies the "mad scientist" in all of us.

The elevated magnesium is attractive, but I still wonder if it really is that simple. I wonder if it is easy to measure all 4 parts out - say if I make up 9 gallons, will I have an awkward measurement for one of the powders or liquids?

True - hoping someone buys some of this soon to try.

Looks very interesting. I may have to give this a shot when I run out of salt.

Guess we'll see. Price is a bit much.

Looks about the same as other premium salts.

Or you could spend $100 and get the new TM bio reef salt.

Just heard about that one too - any experiences with it as well?

Not seeing a lot on the new TM salt:
http://glassbox-design.com/2008/tropic-mar...actif-salt-mix/

Is it even available in the States yet? I think I'm going to change the title of the thread and add this one in.

Yea PA sells it. I just saw and dont know anything about it.

I think I'm going to give the new Bio Actif salt a shot.

People say tropic marin pro is too expensive.. but I love mine. I haven't tried other brands, but tropic marin is reliable and rock solid... great parameters. Before I did SPS, I never dosed.

the new Bio Actif is supposed to be the Pro plus some of their actif additives.

bump - any new experiences?

I just heard about this salt and it looks like it might be something worth looking into. As you probably already know, I'm a big fan of Oceanic but the LFS where I normally get my water from closed down and I'm way too lazy to make my own. But if I can make saltwater in 15 minutes, that would be awesome. I'll place an order later this week and let you know how it goes.

Not personally but the last bucket of coralife that I tested was 1300mg, 10dkh, and 430 cal. Coralife is the cheapest salt that I know of locally as well.
IMO it is not worth the extra $$ to buy a salt simply because of it's calcification levels. It's very cheap to alter the levels with a little dosing and the end product is the same.

update on this guys?

ESV 4-part update:

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/03/22/bionic-...ean-immaculate/

I'm leaning towards this for my next salt. I'm really torn between it and the bio-actif though.

That ESV salt is looking kinda good.

I've been looking into that ESV 4 part mix too. Debating whether I should order another bucket of DD H2O or getting that.

New Bio Actif review - since I'm going skimmerless right now, I might stay away from this one.

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/03/23/tropic-...-salt-reviewed/

Is the new Seachem salt new enough to consider here? Aquavitro Salinity.

One of it's nice features is that they test every batch for chemistry, and the label on the outside of your bucket is the actual test results from your actual bucket. It also has very nice numbers from what I can tell...

http://www.aquavitro.com/

I haven't used it myself yet, but bought some last week and will be mixing it up today. I'm a total newbie though, so I won't really have anything to compare it to!

yeah, i've seen that one as well - have heard less about it though.

Researching more into the Tropic Marin Bio Actif and its looking pretty good. This salt doesn't need to be used with a calcium reactor like the Tropic Marin Pro salt right? I may try this one out.

supplementing calc/alk is determined by how fast your tank uses those two nutrients. most premium salt mixes have good levels of those two chemicals. however, if you have a ton of SPS/LPS/clams using the chems up, you might have to dose to maintain high enough levels.

I'm quite interested in these two salts now. ESV sounds really good, as well as the Bio Actif. I'm using TM Pro right now and I am quite happy with it. Still, if any of these two are better, I would switch. I am always scared to switch because all other brands I've tried has always never dissolved completely. All the TM products always dissolves clean and fast. My only concern is that I'm using Biopellets. I wonder if using Bio Actif and Biopellets together will cause any problems or help each other. I had increased my dose of Biopellets and have already seen most of my cyano disappearing. I probably need more but maybe the Bio Actif will help. I wish there was more info out there. Even getting info on Biopellets is so hard. Maybe going with ESV might be the way to go. I don't want the organic compounds to conflict with each other and crash my system.

The only thing that worries me about organics is it seems that once you start using them it's hard to stop. If anything ever caused me to have to switch salts, my bacteria population would start the population pendulum swinging again.

I've been using the neo-marin from brightwell and love it. I recently switched to LED's and noticed my colors were fading. Everything is starting to pop again, and the params are all great. I'm also dosing vodka, but i noticed the colors coming back before that just from the salt. It mixes very quickly, water is crystal clear in about 15 min. I was using coralife, wich had trace amounts of ammonia and phosphates right out of the bag.