Salt mixing tips?

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rubix973

Guest
Just wondering if any of you guys have any tips to mixing/ adding saltwater to your tanks easier? The way I do it is mix water and salt in a 5 gallon bucket and keep measuring it with my refractometer until the levels are where they have to be. This just seems like to much work, granted I dont really mind it but if theres an easier way or a simple formula to do beforehand (I imagine there is) that would be great. Thanks in advance! ~ Gary
 

dmjordan

Active Member
Once you figure out how much salt it takes to get the new batch of water match the salinty of your tank its easy. Get a 20 to 30 gallon tote from walmart, a small powerhead, floating thermometer and a heater. Put the new water into the tote (RO water hopefully), add salt, plug in powerhead and heater and drop in the thermometer. The next day do a quick check of the temp and salinity to make sure it matches and if so your done.
 

brendap

New Member
Originally Posted by dmjordan
Get a 20 to 30 gallon tote from walmart,.
:notsure:
What are you referring to as a "tote"
 

anonome

Active Member
A large clean unused trash can with lid will do the same. Cut a hole about 1-2 inches in top of lid for any evaporation. This way you can hang the powerhead, heater cord through it. Works great.
 

sethw

Member
Mis it gallon by gallon, i have 20 milk jugs filled with R.O water ready to go. and i know to ad exactly 1/2 cup of sald for each gallon.
 
R

rubix973

Guest
Originally Posted by sethw
Mis it gallon by gallon, i have 20 milk jugs filled with R.O water ready to go. and i know to ad exactly 1/2 cup of sald for each gallon.
I like your method! I'll have to take you up on this.
 

sethw

Member
...lol...buit yeah, then you dont have to guess all the time about how much water is in there, and a tip, the gallon jugs actually is about a gallon and little extra, so if you want to be really accurate, dont "fill it all the way to the top" leave like 1" from the very top and then squirt some aqua-safe in in(if you use tap water) the best thing is to use the water you get in the machines at like publix and walmat... :-0
 

ryanhayes9

Active Member
Originally Posted by sethw
...lol...buit yeah, then you dont have to guess all the time about how much water is in there, and a tip, the gallon jugs actually is about a gallon and little extra, so if you want to be really accurate, dont "fill it all the way to the top" leave like 1" from the very top and then squirt some aqua-safe in in(if you use tap water) the best thing is to use the water you get in the machines at like publix and walmat... :-0

that water is called reverse osmosis water or rodi as my dad calls it lol
 

sethw

Member
And what are all of the chemicals used in the process of the reverse osmosis system? c'mon dan hehehe lol
 

ryanhayes9

Active Member
Reverse osmosis (RO) is used to reduce dissolved solids from feed waters with salinities up to 45,000 ppm TDS (total dissolved solids). Municipalities and industrial facilities are able to use RO permeate as a consistently pure drinking water supply and to transform drinking water to high purity water for industrial use at microelectronics, food and beverage, power, and pharmaceutical facilities. The technology is also very effective at removing bacteria, pyrogens, and organic contaminants.
Reverse osmosis separation technology is used to remove dissolved impurities from water through the use of a semi-permeable membrane. RO involves the reversal of flow through a membrane from a high salinity, or concentrated, solution to the high purity, or "permeate", stream on the opposite side of the membrane. Pressure is used as the driving force for the separation. The applied pressure (P) must be in excess of the osmotic pressure of the dissolved contaminants to allow flow across the membrane.
GE Water & Process Technologies uses spiral wound membranes - tightly packed filter material sandwiched between mesh spacers and wrapped in a small-diameter tube - to desalt and demineralize process water. The membrane's operating conditions are fine-tuned to balance the flux, or the amount of water which passes through the membrane, with the specific rejection rates of contaminants to achieve up to 99.8% salt rejection at low pressures and high flux rates.
A one-stop source for platforms that serve your water purification needs
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thanks
http://www.gewater.com/library/tp/833_What_Is.jsp
 

nygel

Active Member
Oceanic makes these packets made for exactly 5 gallons... so u just get 5 gallons of water and mix in the salt, no measuring really required.
 

maxalmon

Active Member
Once you've done this for a while you simply kinda "Know" how much salt to put in a 5g bucket. I normally make up 40g at a time (8x5g buckets) and I know that it takes 4 half cup scoops that are just slightly rounded to make 1.025.
 

mrdc

Active Member
I use a 18 gallon bucket bought from Big Lots and I have several markings indicating the 5 gallon mark, 10 gallon mark and 15 gallon mark. For water changes, I know now about how much salt to add for each mark so I drop the salt in, add the powerhead and leave it for about an hour and then check the salinity with a refractometer. If I need to add any salt, I add a little salt and check the level again later. If I have too much salt, I simple add some more RODI water. Once the level is right, I let it aerate for 24 hours. I think the most important thing in getting the salinity right is using a refractometer and let the mixture aerate for awhile to make sure your reading is right. IMO, if you test the salinity too fast, the salinity my be off.
 

dmjordan

Active Member
Originally Posted by BrendaP
:notsure:
What are you referring to as a "tote"
Plastic storage container... I have 2 20 gallon containers. I fill one with RO water, salt, powerhead and heater for water changes and the other is for the water I am removing from my tank. I marked the height of 6 gallons of water in each container so that I can be sure I only take out the 6 gallons that I will be replacing.
 
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