Review of Brighwell Salt

[Mike]

I have gone through three buckets of this salt and I am pleased with the results thus far. It mixes up nicely (though there is a bit of a smell when you first add it) and leaves 0 residue in the bottom of the container. Alk measures 9.6 in the batches I have used and CA 430 for me. I have not noted any ill effects from changing to this from reef crystals. The fact that it is not out sourced is something that is also a big deal to me. I like the idea of tighter quality control especially with threads that report bad salt batches or inconsistencies from bucket to bucket in other brands. So far this salt gets an A from me.

[Sir Patrick]

You getting your salt from fish doctors??

[Acro76]

I have used about 5 cases worth of Brightwell (1000 gallons). Here are my observations (just to add to your review Mike!)

• Great numbers for Calcium, Alk, and Mag the few times I tested everything was spot on, faster mixing and better numbers than reef crystals
• One of the most industrial, smelly salts I've ever used. It seriously stinks like a chemical factory!
• For water changes it clears nicely, with not too much cloudiness after the change in the tank. Very little to no undissolved material in the bottom of the bucket. Corals seemed to respond well.
• I used it to setup a new 250 gallon, and it was cloudy for over 3 months - no rock or sand mind you, just water. It also made a very scary crackling noise with cold R/O water which freaked me out!

[Mike]

I agree about the smell. They use all lab grade chemicles to make it and not evaporated sea salt so that would explain the smell. That sound you here is from components like potassium effervescing I think to make mixing easier (would be my guess).

I have never experience the cloudy water thing thankfully My Acropora would not be happy with that.

[Mike]

I got my initial batch from aquarium specialty but future salt will be coming from FD Ypsilanti.

[Fishgeek88]

I havent really looked at pricing how does it compare with other mainstream salts?

[Mike]

It is more expensive. I paid like 280.00 for 5 buckets shipped freight from Penn (aquarium Specialty had it shipped form there to save money based on my location). I have not checked in a while on pricing. It is no more expensive that D&D salt or some of the other higher end salts. It is more expensive that I/O but I believe it is on par with Tropic Marin Pro formula.

[Acro76]

Originally Posted by Mike

I agree about the smell. They use all lab grade chemicles to make it and not evaporated sea salt so that would explain the smell. That sound you here is from components like potassium effervescing I think to make mixing easier (would be my guess).

I have never experience the cloudy water thing thankfully My Acropora would not be happy with that.

The cloudy water was odd, I have not experienced that in 10 to 30 gallon batches I usually make. It could have been due to some other factor.

I have since been using ESV salt, so I'll have to test it and do a review...

[Fishgeek88]

Thats not too bad...is it 160 or 200 gallon mixes?

[Mike]

It is a 150 gallon mix. For 35 gallon I use 7 cups to get to 35ppt on my refractometer.

You should review the ESV and let us all know what you think.