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Nyos Salt Sale (1 Viewer)

spsick said:
So after all this talk I mix up a batch today (just cracked into my second bag) and it doesn’t want to dissolve. I think it’s because I used a full tank of fresh cold RO water that was 55° but I’ve never had this issue in winters past. I’m gonna try warm the batch up slowly and see if it’s dissolved by the morning.

This is of course mixing properly - adding salt slowly to the drum until salinity is reached, not pouring all the salt in then filling with water or anything weird.
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Well I guess I do it wrong :) I always fill up the container and then throw my 16 or so cups of salt in all at once and let it mix
 
I couldn't find the article I was looking for, but thought this may be of some interest (copied from Holmes-Farley response to salt mixing in R2R):

It's a complicated question.

IMO, the best method is to fill the container with water, get it stirring, slowly add the salt, then (and only then) heat it.

Reasons:

1. Calcium carbonate (the main precipitation problem from poor mixing) is more soluble at lower temps (unlike many chemicals).

2. A pile of salt at the bottom locally pushes alk and calcium very high, risking precipitation.

Is faster dissolution at higher temps desirable? I doubt it, but cannot prove it wrong without seeing an experiment. There's less time in a pile at the bottom, but less solubility of calcium carbonate.

Red Sea specifically recommends against heating (even from stirring for too long) for their very precipitation-prone Red Sea Coral Pro (due to the high alk).

Would an aerator increase precipitation? Depends on the mix and the CO2 level in your air. If the aeration is blowing off CO2 and raising pH, it will increase precipitation potential. if the mix is sucking in CO2 and lowering the pH then it will reduce the precipitation potential.

Note that salt mixes are much more prone to precipitation than a reef tank at the same alk/cal/mag parameters due to missing organics and phosphate which tend to get onto growing calcium carbonate surfaces and stop precipitation.
 
bigmax said:
Red Sea specifically recommends against heating (even from stirring for too long)
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Saw this as well yesterday, from https://g1.redseafish.com/how-to-mix-salt/

What is the right temperature for mixing with R/O water?
The R/O water you use to mix Red Sea Salt or Coral Pro Salt should be no more than 20 degrees Celsius – or 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you get a clear mix, use a water heater to bring it up to to your tank’s temperature and avoid unwanted heat fluctuations.

Mixing the salt – which goes first, the salt or the water?
Always add the salt to the water, never the other way around. And be careful not to overshoot the salinity!

How long to mix the mix?
Use a submerged pump, and mix only for as long as it takes for the salt to completely dissolve. Do not mix for more than 2 hours and do not bubble air into the water, as both of these actions will cause unnecessary precipitation.
I violate all of these!
Have a heater in the barrel while making RO water (78 degrees).
I get the barrel full of water then add my 16 cups of salt. It certainly piles on the bottom until it is dissolved.
I leave two power heads at different levels in the barrel. Sometimes I am making saltwater for two days because I forget to check on it. I measure every batch so it may take me that long to dial it in. Typically, I do not overshoot my salinity but if I do, I just add some more RO water.

This one was interesting though:

Storing the mix
If you wish to make your RED SEA SALT mix ahead of time, store it in a sealed container to avoid natural evaporation, and place it somewhere dark, with a surrounding temperature of up to 25 degrees Celsius – or 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Under these conditions, the mixed water should be good for about 7 days. We do not recommend storing Coral Pro Salt for more than 12 hours, as it will precipitate and reduce the elevated levels of Calcium and Alkalinity, so it is highly recommended to make it just before use.

Mix at 68 but store at 77. Basically, advises to not do AWC with more than 1 week supply. My water change habit was terrible which is why I do AWC.
 
I always followed those instructions to the tee and still got precipitation haha
 
Yeah like we talked about before, the precipatation doesn’t bother me much. Plus, the brs test done a few years back seemed to show that most salts need much longer to mix than two hours. Since I have a 60gallon container, I fill it, throw in the salt and let it mix for 14-20 hours.
 
So fun fact about the Nyos salt. It does not want to mix into solution at winter basement temps (55-60). It also does not want to mix up if you bring the temp up after adding the salt so I am playing with bare minimum I can warm water for it mix properly.

Nyos gave a fairly dismissive response that it n’t do that but also 15c is too cold and should be closer to 20c (68f) which to me may negate the positives of the product if I have to heat it for an hour first. Red Sea never gave me this issue.
 
Interesting. I've been dumping my Nyos salt in like I have with other brands where I turn on the pump and start adding the salt immediately. Water starts around 63-66 sitting temp and then the pump gradually heats it over time. I haven't seen any issues yet but will keep an eye out.
 
I find it very slow to mix to clear well over 24hrs, anyone else see this?
 
Jonty said:
I find it very slow to mix to clear well over 24hrs, anyone else see this?
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Strangely I mixed a smaller 10g batch out of a new bucket to see if the issue was limited to the chunky bags and it mixed up fast and clear.

Now the next batch I mixed (larger 25g) did what you describe.
 
Ive been using this salt for a year now and my saltwater mixing container is still as clean as it was a year ago. Im down to a 1/2 a bucket so hopefully it will be on sale again but will order it again regardless. Very happy with the results. So thanks again for another reefing tip @spsick
 
Agreed, I've been using this for the past year as well and it's a night and day difference in my mixing container from when I used to use Red sea blue bucket and with this. I will 100% pay more for salt if that means I don't have to clean my mixing/storage tanks. There are two cons with it however in my opinion:

1. Frequently out of stock
2. A bag of salt only makes 135 gallons, and ime it's been even less than that. If you go off price/gallon of saltwater made it's neat identical to tropic marin pro reef (which also never dirties up the mixing containers). Because of this I alternate between the two whenever one is on sale

fwiw I loved red sea blue bucket. I just hated how dirty it made my containers.
 
Right on guys!

I ended up going back to Red Sea simply because the Nyos would not mix for me unless I heated it. That time and effort every week outweighed the quarterly or biannual cleaning of the mixing tank and dosing line.
 
Yup. Always a give and take. Nyos was out of stock the last time I needed salt so I got the TM PR on sale.
 
spsick said:
Right on guys!

I ended up going back to Red Sea simply because the Nyos would not mix for me unless I heated it. That time and effort every week outweighed the quarterly or biannual cleaning of the mixing tank and dosing line.
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It is certainly tried and true.
I have been using Accura 1 salt for 6 months now and absolutely love it. I even love the anhydrous smell 😅 Grown to love it

Red Sea blue bucket is tried and true
 
FYI Nyos is 25% off again today. Jumped ship on RC and going with this again.

Red Sea raised their price for the second time in a year.
 
For anyone else using nyos can’t beat this deal right now

Ups guy is going to hate me
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