Salt mix and other things...

[Lemonsong]

Hello everyone I have a couple questions that I hope you guyes can
awnser. Well I have a 100 gallon FOWLR tank with a Rena XP3 filter, 2 Aquaclear 70 powerheads, Seaclone protein skimmer, 2 submerisable heaters (marineland). And here are my questions:

Whats the best way to mix up the salt mix. Like I am clueless how to put it in without tons of cloudyness. I added salt to my 30 gallon quarenteen tank first couple cups at a time and mixed and then mesured it but it is cloudy. I has been cloudy for a week and a half so I dont think "wait for it, it will go away will work out very well. So I need your best way of mixing salt into aquarium.

Another question that I have is this...I can't exactically explain it but im going to try my best. I mixed my salt up and added the water and I had a perfect Specific Gravity of 1.0240. I drew a line of where the water is for that perfect mix. And people always told me just to top it up to that line every day that it is down and that reading should come up about the same everytime. Well it is usually off to some degree and I was wondering whats the right way to keep your SG and Salinity levels constent in your tank. The tank always stays at a temp of 75 F with no flucuations and the salt is completly disolved.

So at this point im clueless so I hope you guys (or girls) can help me out with these questions before I cycle my tank. It would really help me out so thanks a mill in advance. And happy fish keeping.

 

[Brenden]

All new SW should be mixed in a separate container for at least 24 hours prior to use. This will ensure proper mixing and oxygenation. It will also eliminate cloudiness.

people always told me just to top it up to that line every day that it is down and that reading should come up about the same everytime

This is correct. If your readings are off it probably has to do with what you use to measure it. Hydrometers are notorious for inaccuracy. I would suggest investing in a refractometer. This is more than likely your problem.

 

[Lemonsong]

Thanks for the info it helps. I have a hard time getting refractometers, even online because I live in canada and dont have a credit card, my LFS hardly gets them in so I went with Hydrometer instead. And im gonna mix it in a seperate container but I sort of needed it ASAP lol so I guess starting agian is the way to go.

 

[Lemonsong]

I mixed the salt to the right salinity and Spefic Gravity in a 50 gallon plastic rubbermaid container with a heater, a big aristone, and 2 powerheads. It has been circulating for about 24 hours. I am just wondering when the water will be good to put into the aquarium? Preferably without any cloudyness. Anyone? Well happy fish keeping

 

[Brenden]

24 hours should be good.

 

[pkremer]

My hydrometer (Deep 6) is way way off. It was very frustrating, but then I had a brainstorm. I took my wacked out hydrometer to my LFS, and had them test it in their (very healthy) tanks. It read at 1.018, even though they keep their tanks at 1.021.

So my hydrometer is wrong, but until I perhaps get a refractometer, I have been keeping my specific gravity at 1.018 on MY hydrometer, which means it should be 1.021 in reality....too confusing, but my Coral Beauty seems happy!

Paul

 

[Lemonsong]

I dont trust my LFS -_- and thats a sad sad thing. But I think im doing ok, I am just woried about the cloudyness lol...its the little things that kill me lol And I thought that more people would have responded the salt question :S

 

[pkremer]

Ha! As far as the cloudiness, I'm not sure about that...salt should not cloud water unless you are stirring it inside the tank and kicking up dust and dirt from your substrate?

I would not add salt directly to my aquarium water. I would always mix in a bucket and add it that way. How I mix my salt is I pour 5 gallons of water into a bucket. I then use a spoon and start stirring the water. I really get the water spinning and I then take a measuring cup and begin dumping the salt in. The fact that the water is already spinning in the bucket makes it so it doesn't sink to the bottom. I stir it up good and slow it down until it is not moving and make sure there is no undissolved salt on the bottom, then use my hydrometer to test the specific gravity. If it is too low, I start the water spinning again. Repeat as needed. Eventually you should be able to have a good measurement of how many cups to add to a 5 gallon bucket to reduce the number of steps, but that's how I do it.

Once the specific gravity is right, I let it sit for a while...test the specific gravity again as a double check, then pour it in.

Paul

 

[Lemonsong]

Well im now mixing my salt in a 50 glalon rubbermaid container with 2 powerheads,a elite air pump (with a big stone) and a heater. I am actually just about to add it to the aquarium. So I might do it this way from now on but your idea seems much more conveient thank you so much.

 

[tecwzrd]

I used a 12” Hagen Hydrometer before buying a refractometer and found the 12” in particular to be very accurate. I still have two of them and they both are within .0002 of tolerance with my portable refractometer.

I have heard of them being off as much as .005 but if you do know someone personally or a lfs that uses a refractometer then you could figure out how much yours is off by and compensate accordingly.

I’ve also found the floating hydrometers to be more accurate then the swing-arm like the Deep 6 model you have since the slightest drop can knock the arm out of alignment.(I dropped my swing-arm accidentally and it went from 1.024 to 1.020) If you do get the floating kind make sure not to keep it in the water all the time so deposits don’t build up and cause your sg reading to be off over time.

Maintaining the same sg/ph is more important then being off slightly in a fo or fowlr tank since the fish/lr will easily adjust to a sg of anywhere from 1.018-1.025. If you plan on making your tank a reef tank then I’d still get a refractometer because maintaining a higher accurate sg level is more important.

Follow the directions closely when making SW and know that initially you will usually get a higher sg reading then you would after 3+ hours of mixing. I wouldn’t make any radical adjustments to sg until the water has mixed for at least 3 hours.

I also make SW in a clean trashcan and use the same ph I use to mix to pump the water into the tank by attaching vinyl tubing. I’ve got my weekly pwc down to less then 10 minutes now. The easier it is to perform the more likely you are to do it