Salt mixing advice/warning: don't make my mistake

[jaiden]

I have been making the same mistake over and over, thinking I was being clever.

I was mixing my SW overly salty and then adding RODI just before adding to the tank to get the sg right.

This lets me make a 6g water change in a 5g bucket. also my rodi pressure tank is 2.5g which means I don't have 5g rodi on tap at any one time. So I'd add 2.5g with 5-6g worth of salt, and then add more rodi the next day

the mistake is that if you don't have enough RODI, the additives to the salt (like calcium) will precipitate out. I have a lot of it stuck to the bucket/powerhead/heater. This drops the PH a LOT!

Don't do this!

 

[tecwzrd]

Good advice jaiden That extra gal isn’t going to affect much anyways

 

[jaiden]

mostly it was saving me time because I could fill the bucket halfway and then dump in the salt, and then add the other 2.5g the next day when the water was ready. I tested SG when I was done, but didn't notice my error until I tested PH.

now I have to wait an extra day between WC's. I really need a bigger reservoir and a pump, but I don't have the space, and I don't want to drill my floor.

 

[ryguy]

Why not just put a float valve on your bucket and put a small gate valve on the RO line. Then when you want to do your WC, you just open the valve a day before and let the tub fill up to the desired amount, mix your salt in, warm and wait.

 

[BillyZ]

if you're having trouble keeping enough waterchange water on hand you can also use a large rubbermaid storage container or even _new_ garbage can. keep that full of new SW in the basement/garage and keep it mixed to the right SG. and when you need to do a water change just siphon out however much you need and do the change. Keeping a large volume always mixed might be easier and save you even more time. just drop a small PH in the bottom of the container to keep it moving and keep it covered to keep anything from getting in it.

 

[tecwzrd]

just drop a small PH in the bottom of the container to keep it moving and keep it covered to keep anything from getting in it.

I use a 30 gal trashcan on wheels and just keep adding ro/do and salt as I use it so it’s ready to go.

I keep a Mag 5 pump and heater in it but I don’t keep it covered though since that can crash your ph due to carbon dioxide build up.

It came in handy last year when I had a slight nh3 spike due to 4 snails dieing on me at one time. Plus since you are dealing with a larger quantity of water you have less possible fluctuations when doing your pwc.