Saltwater

[Social_d87]

Whats better mixing your own salt or buying ocean water from your Local fish store?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Personally, I think mixing your own is the best. At least you know exactly what's in your water. Even if you buy RO/DI water from the LFS, you still really don't know what you're starting with unless you test every bucket of water you get from them.

 

[Sadielynn]

Personally, I think mixing your own is the best. At least you know exactly what's in your water. Even if you buy RO/DI water from the LFS, you still really don't know what you're starting with unless you test every bucket of water you get from them.

Which should be standard practice any ways . You are investing time and money into this hobby what is 10 more minutes ? I use bottled water and I really should test mine I have used catalina water and mixed my own depending on where you get it from(here on the east coast it is quite expensive) You can pay quite a bit . I can mix 10 for 1/2 the cost of a 5 gallon jug/bag of catalina water

 

[Ziggy953]

The best thing to do is have an RO/DI unit (with a TDS meter) buy a good salt brand and mix it yourself. You can't control what is in the salt mix you buy but for the most part if you select a good brand you will do well with your tank.

Remember when you mix your SW let it mix and areate for at least 24 hours before putting it in your tank. (PWCs that is)

 

[fijiwigi]

What size tank is it that you have again? (My info button would help "hint hint admin") With a smaller tank and if you do less than a 5gallon week PWC you could get away with buying the water. Anything more than that and not only will the cost be brutal but a huge headache to deal with. I started with buying RO/DI from the lfs and the small jugs of salt I quickly realized that buying the big buckets of salt and spending the $200.00 on the RO/DI unit saves me much more money and hassle in the long run.

 

[Social_d87]

The size of my tank is a 29gal. Ok thanks you guys also so when mixing the salt let it sit before toping off my tank? Is that why when i first filled my tank up it was cloudy and never got clear because thats what happened so i drained it.

 

[austinsdad]

I'd let it sit for 24hrs.

 

[Sadielynn]

The size of my tank is a 29gal. Ok thanks you guys also so when mixing the salt let it sit before toping off my tank? Is that why when i first filled my tank up it was cloudy and never got clear because thats what happened so i drained it.

When dooing a water change you should airate it for 12-24 hours preferably 24 hours . You should never top off with salt water as it is only the water that evaps out , this will cause your spg to rise to dangerous levels or even leathal levels .
As to the cloudiness how long was it that it was cloudy ? What was in your tank LR, LS or sand if so it is a very real possibility that if you ran 2 filters with floss that it would have cleared up and was probably just particals that had not settled down .. it can also be a bacterial bloom which can and does occur in new tanks or even it tanks with uncured LR

 

[Social_d87]

It was the first time filling up the new tank i dont have anything in there yet.

 

[Ziggy953]

The size of my tank is a 29gal. Ok thanks you guys also so when mixing the salt let it sit before toping off my tank? Is that why when i first filled my tank up it was cloudy and never got clear because thats what happened so i drained it.

Just so you are clear on something, not sure if you mean this or not, when you "top-off" your tank you us fresh water not saltwater. Water evaporates but the salt stays in the tank. Never top off your tank with salt water.

When doing your PWC let your saltwater mix for 24 hours (usually with a small powerhead in the bucket or container you mix in) before doing your water change.

 

[Social_d87]

This is what i did when i set up my tank the first time as of right now its empty because im starting over with the advice from this site. I added tapwater to the tank that was treated with amquel water conditioners. I then mixed the salt in a 5 gallon bucket and added it to the tank (whick i know now was a mistake because it left my tank really cloudy) The water didnt clear up so i drained it now the tank is empty. If someone could give me directions to set it up that would be great

 

[fvalbr2l]

I'm new to this. what kind of pump are you using to mix the salt and areate.

 

[Social_d87]

I mix the salt by hand but now im going to mix it by hand but but a power head in there mix it for 24 hours. Will that work?

 

[fijiwigi]

I dispense my RO/DI water into a 32gallon trash can, I keep RO/DI water without salt in this can for top-offs when needed. When I am ready to make saltwater I use about 15gallons of RO/DI for mixing in a 20gallon trash can with a powerhead and a heater, I then add about 17scoops of salt mix up with my hand and test the SG with a refractometer and adjust if necessary by adding more salt or more RO/DI water to get the right SG. I let it sit for at least 12hours for the powerhead to aerate the water before I use it and I test it again with a refractometer to be sure the SG is right. Hope this helps

 

[melosu58]

I personally think that mixing your SW is better. They really have these marine salts very close to the real thing. I love being able to make mine at home and not having to lug it from the LFS or wherever. JMO

 

[Social_d87]

So i have all my equipment ready the tank is set up can anyone give me step by step instructions on adding the fresh and salt water to my tank for the first time. Ive looked it up but the websites are very non detailed and i already messed up once. I hope that made sense lol

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

If you don't have any rock or sand in your tank to start with, it's OK to mix the salt in your tank THIS ONE TIME! The key to doing this though is to fill the tank maybe 3/4 full with RO/DI water first, THEN add the salt. (3/4 full gives you room to "stir" the salt mix up to dissolve, and to allow for water displacement as you add rock and sand.) This is true whenever mixing salt... add the salt to the water, not the other way around. If you add water to salt, you may end up with such unbalanced water parameters for a brief time that you'll have a hard time getting the salt to dissolve.

If you have rock and sand in the tank already, then it's best to mix the salt and water in a separate tub... a big Rubbermaid storage tub or brand new plastic trash can work great. Drop a powerhead in it and let it dissolve/aerate for a day then transfer it to your main tank.

The whole reason for normally letting new salt water "age" before water changes is to allow the pH and salinity to stabilize before adding it to the tank with critters in it. That's also why people keep heaters in their water change water - so it's the same temp as their main tank water. But if you're starting up a tank with nothing in it, then those things aren't really important.

 

[Social_d87]

No there is only sand in there as of now. Thanks that helped out a lot

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Then I wouldn't mix the salt in the tank. The salt mix may get into the sand and have a hard time dissolving. Or be super slow to dissolve. You want to mix the salt in something you can really stir the heck out of.

 

[cmor1701d]

You are going to have a 'sand storn' after adding your sw to the tank. That is normal and will clear up while the tank cycles.

So, mix the salt into a water containter until it reads around 1.028 at 75-80 degrees.
Add this sw mix to the tank.
Continue until the tank is 3/4 full.
Add your rock and aquascape
Add enough RODI water to get the SG down to 1.024-1.025
If you need more water to fill the tank, mix some RODI with enough salt mix to get the batch to 1.025 and add that to the tank.
Continue until the tank is full

You should be using a refarctometer to test the SG of the water.

How are you going to cylce the tank?
Are you getting uncured LR?
Do you plan on using the cocktail shrimp method?