Making Saltwater

[maxx]

ok getting ready to start my tank here in a few days, I was wondering though how do I make the saltwater. How much salt per gallon of water do I mix up??
Second, I was going to mix up my water in my tanks first (Mix it IN the tank), then add the aragonite, then when everything settles down, add my LR. Is this ok? Thanks for the help
Maxx

 

[amphiprion]

Take my word for this:
Put the substrate in first! Then put a large bowl in the bottom of the tank and add the water into the bowl. Do not put the water in first.
How much salt to use depends on the type of salt you are using. I use Instant Ocean - you mix that 1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon of water for 1.024 salinity. You need a hydrometer of course to measure the salinity.
You know of course, that once you have livestock in the tank you can't mix the salt directly into the tank.
Good luck

 

[webnstuff]

by all means, i would add the substrate first. What I have seen done is to place base rock in, then add the substrate. add mixed salt water to a little above that. begin adding lr and water a little at a time.
If you add the water all in first, you will need to account for the displacement of the water by the amount of rock (the rock takes up more space)
good luck and have fun!!
hope this helps

 

[ej]

Instant Ocean salt states to use a 1/2 cup per galon and using a hydrometer get the gravity betwen 1.020 to 1.023. I have never use a specific mesure in cups, just use your hydrometer to the level that you want. I keep my reef @ 1.024 and my fish only @ 1.023. I also like to mix my salt outside the tank even on the first time I fill it up. For sure i would do it for any partial changes there after. I mix my water at least 24 hours prior to use and just use a small power head for mixing the water really good for the time prior to adding it to the tank.

 

[pufferlover]

The way I do it (considering I do 10 tanks a week now a days) is to mix the salt in water in a 5 gallon bucket (I use Instant Ocean and find 2 cups gets you .1020 (which is where I am at except in my reef). I just pour it back and forth into another bucket 4 times test it for salinity and go to work. Yes that means I lift a heck of a lot of buckets every Tuesday but heck I actually enjoy the maintenance end of the hobby. I do not wait on the salt nor use powerheads (never have always done it this way for 8 years) heck they call it Instant Ocean don't they. I buy the 200 gallon buckets of it and have more empty buckets then Ace hdw. (I am always giving them away-use at least one bucket a month).
I guess you could say I love making water lol.
[ July 24, 2001: Message edited by: Pufferlover ]

 

[maxx]

Alright then, thank you guys very much. And Amphiprion, yes I do know not to add the salt directly, thanks for throwing that in there. In fact I was at a friends house last week, and he was cleaniong his tank. In the process of doing so he scraped the salt creep back into the tank. Which resulted in a big chunk of salt landing on his beautiful Elegance Coral. That was a asty sight.
Thanks again
Maxx

 

[@knight]

pufferlover, thats the way i do mine as well. but it seems as if you have a LOT mkore to do than me. I'm just lazy.

 

[tortuga]

i mix my water the same way as puffer never any problems