mixing saltwater for less than 24hrs

[mitsu_matt]

Well I am FINALLY through my cycle, and I am going to start my water changes. I am wondering why many people say to mix your salt for 24 hours? If I mix and heat my ro/di water and my salinity stays stable at say 10 hours what is the issue with dumping it in?

[Lynnmw1208]

hmm I'd like to hear the answer to this one as well.

When I worked at Petco, it was very rare that we had prepared salt water since I was the only one who touched the stuff and I got really busy all the time explaining to customers why you can't put a goldfish with a guppy... so I would mix it in our big brute container and let it sit for as long as it took me to siphon out the gravel then put it right back in. of course those systems were so big that it would take more than one brute container. they used Petco brand salt and it didn't really give much of a diff reading as long as it was stirred well. That's just my experience since I'm still filling my new tank with RO/DI and it's taking FOREVER!

[RenoR1]

10 hrs is fine. As long as it is thoroughly mixed and at the proper temp your fine. Like this morning before I left for work I threw some salt in with my rodi water so I can do a change when I get home later. In my eyes there is no need to wait 24 hrs.

[kctango]

Its just me ,I always premix mine 24-48 hours prior to my water changes. I usally mix on thursday night after work check it on friday morning prior to work and friday night. Then I usally change the water saturday.Total effort: 30 minutes mixing, 5-10 minutes checking 15 if I need an adjustment. 30 minute water change. Total investment over 2 days 1.25 hours. not to bad IMO

[Allmost]

the reason for the famous line "mix the SW for 24 hours" is to neutralize the PH (O2 and CO2) in the water. you can speed this up by placing a power head inside the buckt, or better yet, push an airline into the intake of a power head and put that in bucket, so it would inject air bubbles into mix, you should get a smell of new salt when you do this and salt is ready to use as soon as tht smell is gone.

another reason for this is to get the ammonia out ...not good topic for beginner forums, but bacially ammonia is used to make Salt (MG++) and aeratating it will remove that much faster.

good luck I mix my water in 20 mins, I have a huge pump connected to a air pump, so the mixing bucket looks like a skimmer when I turn it on.

[Palting]

I don't do this 24 hour business anymore. I mix mine for about 3 hours, 18-20 gallons at a time, in a large tote bin, and use all of it for a once a week water change. I use an aerating powerhead that runs 750 gph. I use Reef Crystals, but don't believe that makes a difference on mixing technique. After one hour, pH and alk are the same whether I check 3, 4, 6, or 24 hours later.

[jdyer88]

Originally Posted by Palting

I don't do this 24 hour business anymore. I mix mine for about 3 hours, 18-20 gallons at a time, in a large tote bin, and use all of it for a once a week water change. I use an aerating powerhead that runs 750 gph. I use Reef Crystals, but don't believe that makes a difference on mixing technique. After one hour, pH and alk are the same whether I check 3, 4, 6, or 24 hours later.

i agree...I usually mix the day before, but I fine tune my sg just an hour or two before I use it...ph is usually stable within the hour for me , but i do use a big sump pump tomix mine, which aids this

[RiOnRoxXx]

Yup another one here that mixes salt over 24hrs +. I take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it 3/4 of the way full and throw a heater and k2 in. Let both run for a few hours then dump my salt into the bucket once the water has warmed up some. Then I just add the rest of the water to fill the bucket and let run like this for about a day.

I use AquaVitro Salinity salt and found that heating the RODI water up first helps the salt dissolve better in comparison to just dumping the salt in the bucket in cold RODI water.

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[Allmost]

Originally Posted by RiOnRoxXx

Yup another one here that mixes salt over 24hrs +. I take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it 3/4 of the way full and throw a heater and k2 in. Let both run for a few hours then dump my salt into the bucket once the water has warmed up some. Then I just add the rest of the water to fill the bucket and let run like this for about a day.

I use AquaVitro Salinity salt and found that heating the RODI water up first helps the salt dissolve better in comparison to just dumping the salt in the bucket in cold RODI water.

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always add salt to water, never water to salt !!! you cause precipitation that way ..

[RiOnRoxXx]

I'm confused? That's what i do...water then salt...


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[patsfan1130]

I used to let it sit overnight but never do now. Once the water is up to temp, I perform the W/C. Somestimes only after an hour or two. My tanks and critters do not mind one bit.

[REEEFMAN]

Some good points here. When starting my new system I added the water, dumped the salt then let it circulate for days.

Mike

[Allmost]

Originally Posted by RiOnRoxXx

I'm confused? That's what i do...water then salt...


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My bad Ryan, I misread I thought u said you add 3/4 salt and then water your method seems good

[cjdevito]

One of the nice things about ESVs new salt mix is that you can use it literally almost immediately after mixing. Great stuff.

[Allmost]

Originally Posted by cjdevito

One of the nice things about ESVs new salt mix is that you can use it literally almost immediately after mixing. Great stuff.

how is it any different than other salts ?
this doesnt make sense to me ....

[patsfan1130]

Originally Posted by cjdevito

One of the nice things about ESVs new salt mix is that you can use it literally almost immediately after mixing. Great stuff.

This can be done with nearly all of them

[jeff@zina.com]

Used to be it took 24 hours for salt to dissolve.

Using either Reef Crystals or Instant Ocean I can mix for an hour or less and have no issues. Mine usually mixes longer than that because I start the mix and get on to something else. I've left it mixing for a week before when something came up and I don't notice any issues one way or the other.

Jeff

[awestruck]

My house is very small so I mix water in the kitchen--no other place except the bathroom. I mix 8 gallons, put in a spare heater and aerate with a pump for at least several hours. I rarely do 24 hours anymore cuz' the container is in the way of reaching my coffee maker

[cjdevito]

Originally Posted by Allmost

how is it any different than other salts ?
this doesnt make sense to me ....

Most of the slower dissolving salts are already dissolved; they make up parts of the two liquid elements of ESVs salt mix. It mixes up clear and with zero precipitate within minutes.

See http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/5/review for a more in-depth discussion, complete with pics.

[jbax]

i use ESV and love it.

[Vinny Kreyling]

Add Salt to water & mix.
When I worked in Maint. we mixed & used when it was clear enough to see the bottom of the container.
Worked for years.

[lordofthereef]

I have to be honest I have never let it sit for 24 hours. EVER. Most I have ever waited was about five hours, but generally just let with a powerhead until it warms up to my tanks temperature. If I am thinking ahead I will have the RO water heating before I dump the salt in to speed up the process.

[jbax]

Problem:
All dry blends may not be homogenous resulting in
considerable chemical variations not only from batch to batch but also from within the same container.
Aggravating this further, humidity contamination during storage can result in localized precipitation reactions.
Solution:
B-Ionic® Seawater System avoids these problems by providing the two dominant salts in our formulation in separate
containers. All other major, minor, and trace elements are pre-dissolved in a highly concentrated two component
liquid system. These dry and liquid components can easily be measured for any size batch of synthetic seawater.
Problem:
It is now recognized that most reagent grade salts can contain contaminants (trace metals, etc.) at levels which
may inhibit the growth of some algae species from low nutrient environments (oligotrophic) such as coral reefs.
Solution:
B-Ionic® Seawater System addresses this issue by providing ultra-low heavy metal Sodium Chloride (max. allowable
less than half max. allowable for reagent grade sodium chloride) and USP grade Magnesium Sulfate as the dry
components of the system. In addition, all other chemicals pre-dissolved in our liquid components are subject to our
three phase purification process resulting in significant lowering of contaminants, including phosphate.
Problem:
Many all dry blends take excessive time to completely dissolve. Addition of newly mixed batches to the aquarium
can cause irritation to inhabitants upon exposure to non-dissolved salt micro-particles.
Solution:
B-Ionic® Seawater System avoids this problem by providing all of the slower dissolving ingredients in a pre-dissolved
solution form. Batches can be used within 10 minutes of preparation with no adverse effects providing initial RO and/or
DI water contains sufficient dissolved oxygen.

[seapug]

24 hours is just a good general rule to follow, but there's nothing "magical" about 24 hours. It's not like you'll have a complete disaster if you use it at 23h 59 mins. Most new salt mixes are fine within an hour or so after mixing so the RO water blows off the excess CO2 it contains an the pH stabilizes.

But I typically make it a part of my daily routine to add a few gallons of RO to the mixing container each evening so I have a full 20 gallons ready and mixed for the weekend maintenance chores on the tanks.

[keekthesneek]

I just dump salt into my 5 gallon culligan jug add warm water 1/3 full then shake vigorously then finsh adding water then wait a bit then add to tank never had a problem lol