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Coralife® Salt Scientific Grade Marine Salt. Highly soluble. Phosphate free. Calcium enriched. Vitamin fortified. Rich in trace elements.
Because salt is the major ingredient of synthetic sea water, most aquarists are aware that the ultimate water quality of marine tanks is primarily influenced by the purity and quality of the salt mixture (1) …. the developers of CORALIFE® … have scientifically formulated this marine salt mixture to contain ingredients of the highest quality with broad spectrum biological activity(2) … It contains all essential major and trace elements (3) … the formula is fortified with selected vitamins and minerals to enhance its effectiveness (4) … Approximately 0.03 lb. of CORALIFE SCIENTIFIC GRADE MARINE SALT (5) dissolved in 1 gallon of distilled water at 78°F (6) , will yield a solution with the following properties: SG of 1.022-1.023 (7) … pH 8.2-8.3 (8) … Calcium 390-410 ppm. (9) …. (The package shows a colorful version of the periodic table of the elements (10).
The above advertisement, though appealing is devoid of facts. As shown below Coralife® salt lacks certain critical elements, has dangerous amounts of other elements and is chronically mislabeled. COMMENTS: Coralife® salt was promoted as the best in early to mid 1992 in FAMA magazine. However the product was not available until late 1992 to early 1993. (1) Salt. Emphasis is given to the amount of “salt”, (sodium chloride) in this product as evidenced by the higher amounts of common salts in the assay. (2) Meaningless statements, e.g. “broad spectrum biological activity” and other “say nothing” statements abound on this product. (3) Bromide. The package indicates it contains all essential major and trace elements. However, there is no indication that bromide — a costly and important minor element — has been omitted. Importance of Bromide (4) Vitamins. No vitamins were detected in the S-15™ Report™. (5) Scientific Grade. This simply is a meaningless sales slogan. (6) Package weight. The product is sold underweight. The 50 US gallon size will actually make 47 gallons at SG of 1.022. (7) Or it will hydrate 50 US gallons at the wrong SG of 1.019 at 78°F/25°C. (8) The pH of both samples tested was inconsistent with what was offered on the package. (9) Calcium. Both samples contained potentially dangerous amounts of calcium. Calcium levels of 460+ ppm. can precipitate essential trace elements. In the case of Calcium, more may not be better. (10) Periodic Table of the Elements. There is a colorful version of this basic chemistry chart on the package. The appearance of this chart suggests some type of scientific connection, but the chart has no relation to the actual composition of this product. Value #6. With: varying composition from batch to batch, coupled with chronically low amounts of essential magnesium, questionable amounts of calcium, the deficiency of bromide, coupled with confusing, false or misleading packaging and advertising, this product should viewed skeptically. Coralife® salt scored 23 out of 100 with information from the S-15™ Report™.
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