Salt mixing and measuring shortcuts: FYI

[Sk8r]

Granted your salt mix calls for 1/2 cup salt mix per gallon of ro/di to reach 1.024---
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Get an appropriate sized plastic or glass container for salt, and mark the typical level you will use EXACTLY in permanent marker which will not fade.
Do the same for your matching water container: mark the top line of the gallons you will mix. And do it very, very accurately. Set each gallon container on a table and look at it to be sure it is exactly one gallon on the level. [Hint: keep score on a piece of paper---losing count in a 32 gallon tub is a pita. Once you have marked that level, you will never have to re-do that measure. Ever.]
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1 gallon takes 1/2 cup salt. [Again, level that salt: bang it on the table or scrape it with a knife.]
16 gallons of water takes a half gallon of salt mix. [Hint: to mix 15---make your half-gallon measure, then remove one carefully measured half cup of salt. Does that make sense? Reducing the gross measure of a half gallon by one .5 cup is a lot easier than counting out fifteen individual .5 cups.]
32 gallons of water takes 1 gallon of salt mix. [Brute trashcans come in larger sizes than your typical can. Get the 40-something gallon can (Home Depot stocks them) and you will have enough room for 32 gallons of water plus mixing pump. The actual 32-gallon Brute is too small and fills to the top, immoveable and slosh-prone.]
From here on, you can do the math. Remember, a measure must be exactly on the line and exactly level. Don't 'make it up with the next one'. In chemistry, you want to be right.
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Hope that makes life easier.
Two additional points:
Brute Trashcans have an available roller (one size fits all) that will help you move it easily when full. This may be worth the price to you.
A small Eheim pump in your trashcan will mix things nicely in about 24 hours. Don't let it stand too many days: evaporation changes the salinity, and bacterial slime can start to grow.

[Elricsfate]

My solution to making this easier was to buy a 50 gallon container, and using the IO RC that comes in the box (4 bags, 50g each). I just let the RODI fill the container, dump in the whole bag, and turn on the pump.

For water changes anyway, this is easy peesy.

[biecacka]

that is how i do it too. super simple.
but for those that do them in smaller increments Sk8r's method is a huge help


corey

[A sea K]

No longer needing to mix that much salt I now weigh my portions but have my container marked for the correct 4 gals of water. As said, easy peesy and mixes to the exact salinity I want with great accuracy and repeatability.

[homer1475]

I mix up 50G at a time and buy the 200G boxes(4 50G bags). Simply dump in one bag and I'm at 1.025. Couldn't be any simpler for me.

[kmbyrnes]

I've found that the lower ledge of the 32 gallon brute is a good fill line. 13 half cup measures gets me close enough to 1.025 that I almost never have to make any adjustments. But I check every batch anyway.
I've marked my tanks to that same amount of water, so WC are very easy for me.

[kmbyrnes]

Edit - Make that 1 cup measures