Dilution ratio for salt

[midiman]

Is there a formula for how to dilute or strengthen salt water? For example, to raise salinity by .1, is there an approx amount of salt to add per unit of water? (And vice versa for lowering salinity.)

I'm preparing my salt water as I type this.

 

[tmcpeek]

No it varies with salt. I use Oceanic and it is 6 little cups of for 32 gallon can. If i use iO it is more like 7 or 8 to get it to 1.023.

I experimented and got it right after trial and error. Now that I am reading about bad things of oceanic salt I may have to reformulate my mixture.

 

[fasted64]

As tmcpeek said, it varies with the type of salt.

I use Oceanic as tmcpeek did and you will be very very close to 1.021 if you use 2 1/2 cups per every 5 gallons. That should get you in the ballpark.

I do have one small tip as well. Lower salt content is better for disease control if you ever have that problem and if your animals can handle it. You can in some cases go down to 1.017, but never do it overnight. If ever a change is required, you need to do it slowley over a week or two week period. I run typically at 1.020 and never had any problems.

 

[Phyl]

Slightly lower levels might be ok for FO, but for inverts and corals, you're going to want to keep it a bit higher and do hyposalinity in QT to preserve the life on your rocks and such. Prolonged low salt is also not good for the long term survival of your fish.

With Reef Crystals I put in 1/2 cup per g of water. That gets me right around 1.023/24. As far as how much salt is required to increase the salt content by .01, I'm not sure. When I need to raise the salinity in my main I top off with SW instead of fresh until I get to where I'm going. You can go down faster than you can go up and better safe than sorry. If I needed to lower it a little I'd do my next few water changes with 1.021/22 water. I'd just put 2 cups less salt in my 20g bucket of water and see where that took me to. Adjust accordingly afterwards.

 

[sango]

Just curious what have you heard bad about Oceanic?

 

[tmcpeek]

I have heard that it has low ph. I have not experienced this. I mix it to 1.023 and it is always at 8.2. I am on my 4th 200 gallon bucket and have not had any issues. I do not add any trace elements and my shrimp molt just fine. Maybe I am lucky but I do still check my water for changes before it goes in the tank.