why mix salt water a day before u do a water change

[Lawnmower Blenn]

why do members make up saltwater the day before i all ways add it the day i mix it is this bad? i do use a power head to make shure its is mixed well

[J.russell]

Ive always heard to mix it a day to make sure its all disolved otherwise the salt can cause burns to fish and coral if it isnt mixed 100%

[reefnetworth]

ALL salt mixes have trace amounts fo ammonia, the time limit allows the NH3/NH4 to escape and it ensures the salinity to be accurate and evenly mixed.
refract fresh made, then refract the same water 24 hrs. later, it will have a different reading.

[crvz]

I do it to make sure the temp, salinity, and pH have a chance to stabilize before sticking it in the tank.

[Chihuahua6]

Just to add to the conversation I oxygenate the ro water vigorously with powerheads for 24 hours first. Then I buffer it and mix for 6-20 more hours, then I SLOWLY add salt and mix for another 24 hours.

Adding salt to low oxygen ro water uses up the buffer in the salt mix which is why I oxygenate it first, then add buffer, then add salt.

[manofcoral]

Wow Amanda, that's intense. There must be some middle ground here. I would think if we just follow the direction for the specific salt mix it should come out fine. I agree to doing a little extra mixing and letting set for a a couple of hours could not hurt. IMO

[Sk8r]

Using a maxijet 1200 as a mixing pump will hasten a mix along: depends on the delicacy of your species. Overnight is certainly best.

BUT: EMERGENCY-ONLY FACTOIDS---if you are ever faced with an absolute emergency, like an imminent tank crash and a need to set up immediate qt for your fish and corals, use a powerful pump and go ahead and use the salt water as soon as the water clarifies and you see no undissolved solids. In a screaming emergency, tap water and a water conditioner like Prime and an emergency highspeed mixing job, even using a paint stirrer (not previously used)---can be called into service. Just run carbon to get rid of ammonia, run filter, test often and don't let any of that water get back to your tank.

[BigJay]

I pour/measure the RO water into the mixing container using buckets, so it gets plenty of oxygen. I add the salt with measuring cups, and let it stir all day and overnight with a couple of powerheads.

It's good to use the next day. Usually the salinity is spot on, or I might have to add a few cups of RO water. I use a high alk/calcium salt mix to begin with, so I don't need to dink with it any more than that.

I usually change out 27 gallons, or about 15% every week.

[abulgin]

There are a number of reasons for pre-mixing water and allowing it to mix/aerate. Many of the reasons posted above. If you're using RO/DI water, which has a high concentration of dissolved CO2, it's very important to allow the mix to aerate so that all the CO2 will come out of solution/off-gas and the water will become oxygenated. Salt takes a while to dissolve, and I think if you play around with a hydrometer/refractometer, you'll find that your specific gravity will gradually increase over a period of time until all the salt dissolves. Allowing time for all the salt to dissolve also brings the pH, alk, calcium, etc. up to stable.

[tkeracer619]

Originally posted by BigJay
I pour/measure the RO water into the mixing container using buckets, so it gets plenty of oxygen. I add the salt with measuring cups, and let it stir all day and overnight with a couple of powerheads.

It's good to use the next day. Usually the salinity is spot on, or I might have to add a few cups of RO water. I use a high alk/calcium salt mix to begin with, so I don't need to dink with it any more than that.

I usually change out 27 gallons, or about 15% every week.

Are you seriously mixing 27 gallons in buckets D= ...... save yourself some trouble and get a storage container =D


I mix a batch of 130 gallon each time. I have a dual parastaltic pump pulling water from the display to the drain and from the storage tank to the display. I change about 3-5 gallons daily depending on situation. I currently have it juiced up to 10 gallons a day. I mix the water with a hi-flow maximod. RO water is stored via 2 55g drums. When my 130 runs out, I just open a valve and in comes 110 more, mix salt, comeback the next day and turn the changer back on.

[BigJay]

Originally posted by tkeracer619
Are you seriously mixing 27 gallons in buckets D= ...... save yourself some trouble and get a storage container =D

No, I fill the mixing container using buckets. Eventually I need to pickup a pump and 40' of tubing and fill it the easy way.

I love the idea of automatic water changes. That's really neat.

[tkeracer619]

Ah missed that part =] I wouldn't want to carry that water all the time.

The auto water changer is nice. I keep the refractometer handy and have a water alarm set up by the pump in case one of the tubes happens to break. Eventually I will set up seleniods to shut it down in case water levels are incorrect or a leak is detected but so far I have had zero issues.

[will16]

Originally posted by tkeracer619

I mix a batch of 130 gallon each time. I have a dual parastaltic pump pulling water from the display to the drain and from the storage tank to the display. I change about 3-5 gallons daily depending on situation. I currently have it juiced up to 10 gallons a day. I mix the water with a hi-flow maximod. RO water is stored via 2 55g drums. When my 130 runs out, I just open a valve and in comes 110 more, mix salt, comeback the next day and turn the changer back on.

That is sweet! I've been thinking of setting up something similar. Few questions if you don't mind:

- Do you drain the same time you fill?
- Is there a reason you use peristaltic pumps? What kind of flow rate do you get out of those?
- How long does it take to change 10 gal? Do you have it on a timer or do it manually or just leave it running?
- How do you account for evaporation? Do you just test salinity manually and add RO as needed?

Sorry... hope I didn't hijack too much

[tkeracer619]

-It drains the same time it fills.

-Peristaltic pumps can deal with different head pressures and produce a metered amount of water. The pump has one motor and two heads, if something bad happens electronically both heads stop pumping.

-I use a Cole-Parmer digital pump. They are medical grade and retail for $3600 but fortunatly an old medical grade pump works great for fish tanks. I spent $350 on it off ebay surplus. It reads in ml/Min and runs 24/7.

-I manually top off daily. I like to spend time with my tank so I don't mind. Any auto top off would work fine. The pump pulls the same amount out as it feeds it. It doesnt effect water levels.

Here is a pic of the control boxes. The top is for the water changing and the bottom one is for my calcium reactor. The bottom one isn't as nice but was only about $150 on ebay. Want more water.... just press a button

[Puterguru]

I throw RO into a trash can add the required salt, test with hydrometer and dump it right in. Granted I have a FOWLR but I don't see a need to aerate it at all.

[quack]

i dump 125 gallons, then periodically add salt to my large sump as the RO catches back up over the nest 3 or so days