Mixing Own Water

[Frogfan183]

Question:

I have traditionally bought my RO/DI water from my LFS. I want to begin making my own water to cut down on costs; however I don't want to go through the effort of setting up my own RO/DI system. I am debating on continuing to buy freshwater from the LFS and then mixing in a higher grade salt mix. I've always had nitrates that looked a tad high, and I'm hoping I can handle the freshwater/mix on my own and cut down the nitrates...any recommendations on how to go about doing this? (i.e. additional purification on my end to remove nitrates and a high grade salt to aid in coral growth)

 

[bang guy]

The nitrates are probably not coming from your water & salt mix unless the LFS is selling you tap water. Nitrates come from fish food: food -> fish -> poop -> ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate.

To cut down in Nitrate you either need to reduce the amount of food that enters the tank or find a way to export the nitrate: algae skimmer, chemical reactor, upgraded skimmer, etc.


Mixing salt water is quite easy: purified cold water, slowly add 1/2 cup salt mix to cold water while stirring vigerously, sit for 24 hours in an open or aerated container, warm to tank temp, change water.

 

[lmforbis]

I think Bang means Half cup of salt per gallon of water.
You still need to test the salinity with a refractometer.

 

[bang guy]

Thanks!! I meant to write "per gallon". Glad you got my back.

 

[beth]

I used to buy Distilled water from local grocery store and then mix my own. Always test source water first to make sure it is what its supposed to be. I also used a TDS meter to measure any dissolved solids in water. Then you can mix your own. Eventually, I went with the RODI system and set it up so that it could service my refrigerator/icemaker and give me tank water. Long run, I did save $ by setting up my own system.