Aged Saltwater?

[BlueDolphin]

Do I need to have aged saltwater on hand? And if so, how exactly do I age it, and why does it need to be? I read that when setting up my qt, I could put some of the water from the main tank into the qt and then add some aged saltwater back to my main tank. Is this correct?

 

[reefrunner69]

Aged simply means that it has been aerated and mixed for a minimum of 12 hours preferrably 24 hours. Lot's of chemical reactions take place while salt is mixing, these reactions are hard on the lifeforms in our tank, they also use up quite a bit of O2 and give off alot of CO2, this means the water needs to be aerated well for o2 saturation. I personally like to have SW on hand in case of emergencies, you never know when you'll have to do a large waterchange due to problems and having the water ready to go is a good thing

 

[wahoo_drew]

How do you store your water reefrunner? How long can you store it for?

 

[reefrunner69]

Well, I have a small stank, so I do not need to store a huge amount of water. I store 5g of saltwater in a 5 gallon bucket with a sealed lid.

 

[jackdp]

Well, I have a small stank

I have heard that about you...

Seriously, I never have saltwater on hand, but I always wish I did. Its especially nice when you decide to do some impulse livestock purchase and need to replace acclimation water or for emergency water changes. You can mix it up in a 5 gallon bucket or a rubbermaid tub and just keep it sealed. If you want to keep it from getting to stale, you could drop in a small powerhead with an aerating attachment to keep it oxygenated. HTH

 

[srgetz]

I store 5g of saltwater in a 5 gallon bucket with a sealed lid.

I have been doing this too with sw & ro... how long is it safe to store sealed? I mean before it goes bad?

 

[reefrunner69]

Should be indefinite, although the SW may need RO water added to adjust salinity.

 

[WarOrks15]

i bought a big garbage can i think it is like 55 gal or some thing like that. and i fill it with 30 gal of water and let sit with 2 ph and one big pump in the bottom. i keep the lid on so i do not have to add water to keep the sg up. it is nice to have a large amount of water on hand then you do not have to mix it all the time.

 

[BlueDolphin]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I'll have to mix some up for storage!

 

[BlueDolphin]

You can mix it up in a 5 gallon bucket or a rubbermaid tub and just keep it sealed. If you want to keep it from getting to stale, you could drop in a small powerhead with an aerating attachment to keep it oxygenated. HTH

Is it totally necessary to put a powerhead in the water that I will be storing?

 

[reefrunner69]

No, once the SW is mixed you can use an aerstone or other method to aerate.

 

[BlueDolphin]

Thanks!

 

[MarkW19]

I've got a 15 gallon glass tank that I'm going to store mixed saltwater in for emergencies. I have a plastic lid for it - would you recommend securing the lid down with sticky tape while it's being stored?

And, I shouldn't aerate the water while it's being stored should I? How long can my water be kept if it's not aerated, and should it be kept in a cool, dry place, or a place at room temperature?

On a similar note, for hospital/quarantine tank etc., if I fill my OTHER 15 gallon glass tank (my QT tank) with water from my main tank, and put some filter media from my main filter in the QT tank filter and mix it with the new filter media, do I still need to cycle the QT/hospital tank before I put any fish in it, or is it just a case of letting things settle down for a few hours and then being able to put a fish in?