Hey guys I just switched from tropic marin to neo-marine. Since the brightwell products have worked so well such as the amino acids, bio-fuel, microvore, cal, mag, code A&B, etc, I decided to try it out. All awsome products!

So my last water change I read an 8.7 on my ph!!! The cal tested at 420, mag around 1250, alk around 9. I thought maybe it was th test kit so I bought a new one and used a buddies test kit as well. Still 8.7 after mixed. This has really blown me out of the water since you can see my corals a bit stressed out. Maybe the salt elements and buffers etc have settled to the bottom and creating a higher volume of certain chemicals in different parts of the bucket. Inverts and fish don't seemed affected except for the nass snails which seem as if they are drunk. One has tipped itself over a few times but still remains out and just sitting there. Anther keeps climbing a rock and falls over backwards, then gets back up and does it again and again and again. Like a circus act.

All I know is that I'm goning to have to switch back. As for the rest of their products I have great success but the salt is throwing me for a loop. Perhaps a bad batch? I know other companies have had bad batches before.

Bad batch is always possible. I use Neomarine with no problems. Did you roll the bucket on the floor before you made a batch of salt water? How long did you let it mix and aerate?

How long did you mix it for?

I rolled the bucket a few times when purchased and then once during the last weekley water change. Water mixed with RO water of course, mixed for 5 hours temp at 77, crystal clear when placed into tank. I heard from a few suppliers I know said that their may have been a bad batch floating around but I haven't heard to much from reefers yet. So jury still out on that one.

Also a little tid bit I heard from a store today but yet to confirm is that tropic marin mixes their salt wet at first to help the salt and other elements glue together. Thus reducing the chances of any elements seperating in the buckets. Maybe I've become spoiled with tropic marin since never had a problem and barely ever rolled those buckets.

Just one remark slightly off topic but jacob, its so hard to concentrate on reefing and taking it serisouly when your avitar is moving like that. I can't help but fall out of my chair laughing it hurts!! Is that from when they saw a leprechaun in the ghetto?

Most people dont roll buckets, just figured i would ask since you mentioned separation.
This is a very odd issue, and i would email brightwell about it. The lead guy should email you back personally, and if something is wrong with the bucket they will most likely replace it for you.

Ya, probably gonna email them in the morning to see what happened or atleast get some insight. I'm not a big bucket roller exept back in the day (1998 ish). But I guess its habit that once in a while I roll one due to the old school days of salt seperation.

Any other people have anything to add? Comments? Thoughts?

That stinks

Never tried it myself so didn't want to interject anything when I first saw this thread, but just what I have heard from locals that have tried it, it is not worth the cost for what you get.
This is just what I have heard though.
I first saw it locally before anyone I knew had tried it in a shop and it was $27 for a bag so I didn't want to spend that for a new salt that all I knew anything about was what I had read on the Brightwell site.
We all know that every manufacturer claims to be the best.
I like and use several Brightwell products and am very glad that he was able to branch out on his own and make a prosperous business for himself.
That said, as stated before, from what I have heard locally, basically inconsistencies in the salt parameters than what is stated on the label, I decided to not to try it.
It will be nice when a comparison test is done on it along side the many salt brands already tested.

i just switched to neo-marine because of good reviews... but one thing i did read is that neo-marine seems to take longer to mix than other salts. i let mine mix for about a day and a half, just did a water change about 6 hours ago and everything has been dandy since. usually during water changes, all of my corals will close and the fish will hide for a while, but during this water change, everything stayed out and didnt skip a beat. i was completely surprised. I'll let you know tomorrow how everything looks.. i'm going to test my ph on monday and give you my results.

another thing i noticed is that the bucket says 1/2cup per gallon => 1.025sg. i quickly found out that this is very wrong. i mixed exactly 1/3cup to one gallon and got 1.024sg. so maybe this has something to do with it?

Yeah the instructions are complete bs, I had the same experience. I use this salt as well and you end up with a 1.030 mix at 1/2 cup per gallon and have read the same from people on other boards.

I'm almost all the way through a bucket, bout 1/4 left. I wont be buying a new bucket.

Bird: There are plenty of side by side reviews on it and other salts. The only thing is those tests are all OVER the place like you said, very inconsistent. I've seen calcium posted as anywhere between 370-440, mines 390 on a fresh mix up.

Also i get precipitation of something in the bottom of the bucket every time i mix it. I've never had that happen with any other salt. Maybe i just got a bad bucket im not sure. But reef crystals just seems to test better for me (450 calcium on the dot last batch). I'm now using the neomarine up in my nanocube and reef crystals on my 40breeder.

If anyone is going to try it, get a bag first and test it with your kits before you splurge on a bucket. Dont get sucked in by the cool bucket and logo :-P

Callmesaul8889: The opposite applies here, the mixing directions were way off. I followed their instructions and got 1.030!?!? The salt does go farther than reef crystals. I use small bathroom cups for dumping salt into 5 gallons of water, it takes 5 for neo and 7 for reef crystals.

I also read that people were getting 1.030 with 1/2 cup per gallon, but I actually got 1.050 with my estimated 1/2cup per gallon. i didn't have time to test my recent batch, but I will next water change to see where i'm at.

the reason i got this salt is because i was recommended to raise my ph up to about 8.6 to fight off my dyno problem... i guess with results like 8.7ph i should see some results lol

I use tropic marin pro, and I've never had a problem... I don't test my water I mix anymore, just the salt level. It's really nice. It's worth the extra 20 bucks IMO. I thought about switching, but TMP is so reliable.

I test once per bag or bucket and make a note of it. Then i dose accordingly for the rest of that batch. I dont test every water change bucket except for temp and specific gravity.

I was almost the same way nemo niblets. Barely ever tested my tropic Marin mix and always had perfect water. Well it seems I'm not the only one who has odd results. I'm gonna switch back to tropic Marin. It worked perfectly and I shouldn't have messed with what was working so well.

Thanks Callmesaul8889 post the water results I'm curious to see what they are.