New coral and Salt/LEDs

[RedCoralEdmonton]

Few pictures of what came in today!














Also some new zoas, but they all havent opened up yet!

Steve

[Brightwhite]

God I love Xmas on Fridays

[Blue Ram]

Haven't seen that brand of salt before? Any feedback on it?

[Earthgirl]

Bought a bucket tonight
Switching from "crap" lol Steve
It's nice stuff to mix, and believe it or not, it mixes hot!
Bastard to open though, my fingers are still sore
Looking forward to seeing what a diff it makes!

[Nano]

yeah about that salt, I have just been using instant ocean reef crystals, since I bought enough for 50gallons, I have thought of switching once I run out though, how is it?

[ScubaSteve]

I've used NeoMarine for a few buckets now. It seems to be pretty good but one thing to note is that it does not have trace elements. Brightwell's take on this is that trace elements are, well, trace and have no proven effect in aquaria and those who are concerned with trace elements will dose them anyways. I've just switched to Instant Ocean for the next bucket so I'll see if there are any changes (in my experience, I don't really notice anything when I switch salt).

The bucket is a bastard to open and it does mix up hot (if you add just a little bit of water to the salt it will steam). Avoid getting the salt on your skin because it can sting like a bugger. When you mix it up it has a sulphur-y/egg smell to it. This is normal. Over all I was happy with it and can't really say anything negative.

[RedCoralEdmonton]

Where does it state that there are no trace elements?

I'm not at the store right now to check a bucket but I think that is false....

http://brightwellaquatics.com/products/neomarine.php

Steve

[Madreefer]

Do you guys not want to sell to out of towners. I sent a pm and a post looking for a certain fish and no response?

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by RedCoralEdmonton

Where does it state that there are no trace elements?

I'm not at the store right now to check a bucket but I think that is false....

http://brightwellaquatics.com/products/neomarine.php

Steve

Hey Steve,

Sorry, I'm not trying to slag on the product at all. In fact, I endorse it, so please don't get me wrong. Brightwell's may have changed there formulation as of late but the quote below is straight from them (I keep track of this stuff because I'm a chemist and a nerd. I like knowing what is going into the tank).

"First, all major elements are present in NeoMarine, however only minor and trace elements known to undergo biological and/or chemical interactions (e.g. depletion) in natural seawater are included. What this means is that there is a specific change (decrease) in the concentration profile of the element measured in the surface waters where life is concentrated; such elements are believed to interact with marine life and/or with other substances present in the water, and these elements are considered to exhibit “non-conservative” behavior.

Elements that do not exhibit these characteristics do not apparently interact with marine life or these other substances (at least as far as current analytical methods can discern); they are not likely necessary for the continued health or existence of marine organisms. It follows that these elements are not required for success with a marine aquarium; in fact, if added they would gradually accumulate with time. Because of this, they may be omitted from the salt mix and the savings in raw materials and production procedures passed on to the aquarist."

So, since Neomarine is a synthetic salt, they choose to omit many of the trace minerals that would otherwise be found in some of the other salts like H2Ocean. I actually agree with this: If you don't know what it does (if anything), why add it? I was more stating that for the people who pay particular concern to the whole trace element argument, this salt doesn't contain them and you have to dose them.

Personally, I'd put this salt right up there with H2Ocean and Reefer's Best, but without the price tag. I've been happy with it and have only switched because I like to change things up every 6 to 12 months.

Since using Neomarine I've found certain colonies not doing as well. Once I switched to IO, these colonies have started bouncing back; all else has been equal. I can't say that this is because of the salt or other factors but looking into discussion on these species and why I was seeing what I was seeing, a deficiency in a certain trace element (not found in Neomarine) kept popping up. Now, I haven't been able to find any journal publications or empirical evidence to corroborate this so I'm not jumping on that bandwagon but it may or may not be the cause of what I was seeing.

Sorry, wasn't trying to stir the pot, just wanted to give an honest review of it.

[tgrover]

Wow, great looking stuff Steve!