Boiling water to reuse salt

[Gatorbait101]

I have kept freshwater tanks in the past and I am planning on turning my 20 gallon tank into a saltwater tank. With that, I have been curious about water changes and adding salt. I spoke to my LFS and he gave me the idea of boiling the water I take out of the tank to retrieve the salt to use again to refill the tank. He said that may be an issue if I wanted to do corals and what not since they will need some minerals, but said he didn't see an issue with it for a fish only tank. I wanted to get some more opinions.

 

[Sniperhank]

This isn't something that I would ever want to attempt. Used saltwater can contain all kinds of toxins in it. If the rock you put in your system had palys on it in the past, there could be palytoxin in the water column...maybe not much but I wouldn't screw around with anything in terms of boiling and making the toxins in saltwater airborne.

 

[54seaweed]

May I ask why you would you want to reuse salt ?
is it because you can't afford to buy a tub of salt ?

you do know you can buy salt in smaller amounts if you need too ,

if your having a hard time with buying salt now's the time to think about everything else you will need , all the power equipment , rock , sub-straight , test kit , hydrometer , heater and all the other supplies needed , all this isn't cheap either ,

saltwater is not a cheap hobby start up alone can cost anywhere from 400/600 dollars for a tank of your size. This don't include the cost of a RO/DI unit .

than consider livestock , coral ect it all adds up ,

don't be discouraged when there's a will there's a way , you can do it in steps get a little bit at a time , this way it helps cushion that initial blow, but you also need to figure out if you can support the upkeep and maintenance anything you need in the future will cost $$ , good example salt , food , be sure you can handle it

if I looked back at all I spent over the years on my tanks I probably could have bought a new truck , yes it's a hobby that keeps taking all the money out of your piggy bank .

 

[Mebbid]

So there are a number of things water changes are good for:

1 - Replenishing minerals
2 - Decreasing Nitrate / Phosphate
3 - Removing impurities in the tank

Salt mix is much more than just salt, there's a whole host of minerals in the mix as well. When you boil the water to recover the salt there's more than just salt that will be left behind, the nitrate, phosphate, and any other undesirable things in the water will be left behind as well. If you reuse that salt for a water change then you are just adding those undesirable nutrients back into the tank and not replenishing any of the desirable ones; and if you're doing that then there's really no point in doing water changes.

Salt mix also does funky things when the concentrations get super high in water and the calcium and alkalinity will most likely precipitate out creating a heavy crust and depleting those elements from your water.

 

[Gatorbait101]

Oh no, I am not really worried about the money too much. I just wanted to see if other people had boiled to get the salt back like this guy. He said he had no issue, so I wanted to see if anyone else had any issues.

 

[Mebbid]

Oh no, I am not really worried about the money too much. I just wanted to see if other people had boiled to get the salt back like this guy. He said he had no issue, so I wanted to see if anyone else had any issues.

Its definitely possible, but you would have to have a well maintained tank with appropriate nutrient export and then you would have to dose many different additives to replenish the water.

 

[Autumnsky]

Seems the amount in cost of time and energy to boil it would negate the benefit, mindful too of the missing micro nutrients/minerals missing due to being used up previously, especially if you have to spend money on a supplement.

A system would usually use up the same kinds of nutrients routinely, so they would always be the ones needed, you did not have present after boiling.

 

[coralbandit]

. He said he had no issue, so I wanted to see if anyone else had any issues.

Sounds like BS to me and I would be very careful what info I received from that LFS...Think of boiling urine ...
You get more then salt if you boil down used tank water..
A smarter LFS guy may have mentioned" carbon dosing "[vodka/vinegar/ vitamin C] and NEVER needing to make water changes as those sources grow a bacteria that remove nitrAtes...Just saying there are legitimate ways to control your tanks parameters and then there is just foolishness...
Change water like rest if carbon dosing is too complicated...

 

[Gatorbait101]

Using vodka or vinegar instead of water changes? How does that work.

 

[Brookster123]

How much water would you have to boil to get enough salt??Seems like a fool's errand? Than you have to scrape the salt out of the pot you just ruined.. I don't get it?? They sell it in buckets, I just dump it in my mixing barrel and let the power head work on it for a while.