Water Changes and Tap water?
- Thread starter sultan1
- Start date
broomer5
Active Member
Briefly - ummmmmmmm - going to be hard to say but here goes.
This holds true for any freshwater ... be it tap, RO, RO/DI, homefiltered or store bought.
The freshwater should aerate for several hours in a bucket with a powerhead first.
This allows the CO2 carbon dioxide in the water and the air to reach what is called "equalibrium"
Water out of the tap, bottle, or home filter/purifcation is normally not even close to being at "gas" equalibrium.
Once it is though - and you get it up to room temperature 75-80F - now it's ready for saltmix.
Saltmix must dissolve.
Saltmix is designed to mix with freshwater of pH around 7.0
Saltmix and water should then be aerated for several more hours to allow the "buffers" or carbonates in the saltmix to react with the freshwater's CO2 concentration.
The total alkalinity or "buffering capacity" AND the pH will not be the same for saltwater that's only been stirred up and then dumped into the tank ...... COMPARED to new saltwater that's been allowed to AERATE overnight.
Stablalized SOLUBLE GASSES / TEMPERATURE / SALINITY / pH / BUFFERS in addition to insuring that all the ions in the saltmix have completely dissolved - is "briefly" why we age the water for several hours first - before adding it to the marine tank.
10 minute mixed saltwater is NOT THE SAME AS 24 hour mixed/aerate saltwater.
This holds true for any freshwater ... be it tap, RO, RO/DI, homefiltered or store bought.
The freshwater should aerate for several hours in a bucket with a powerhead first.
This allows the CO2 carbon dioxide in the water and the air to reach what is called "equalibrium"
Water out of the tap, bottle, or home filter/purifcation is normally not even close to being at "gas" equalibrium.
Once it is though - and you get it up to room temperature 75-80F - now it's ready for saltmix.
Saltmix must dissolve.
Saltmix is designed to mix with freshwater of pH around 7.0
Saltmix and water should then be aerated for several more hours to allow the "buffers" or carbonates in the saltmix to react with the freshwater's CO2 concentration.
The total alkalinity or "buffering capacity" AND the pH will not be the same for saltwater that's only been stirred up and then dumped into the tank ...... COMPARED to new saltwater that's been allowed to AERATE overnight.
Stablalized SOLUBLE GASSES / TEMPERATURE / SALINITY / pH / BUFFERS in addition to insuring that all the ions in the saltmix have completely dissolved - is "briefly" why we age the water for several hours first - before adding it to the marine tank.
10 minute mixed saltwater is NOT THE SAME AS 24 hour mixed/aerate saltwater.
jrb384
Member
hey broomer,
since your on the subject of mixing salt, water changes ect,
i have a 20 gallon doser, basically its on a float switch and it tops off the tank when the water level in the sump gets low. What do you think about mixing 20 gallons of saltwater, adding it to the storage, and just letting it add to the tank slowly over a week or two? do you think that gives it time to aerate and mix up good? should I put a small powerhead in the storage water to keep it circulated and mixing? thanks for any suggestions.
since your on the subject of mixing salt, water changes ect,
i have a 20 gallon doser, basically its on a float switch and it tops off the tank when the water level in the sump gets low. What do you think about mixing 20 gallons of saltwater, adding it to the storage, and just letting it add to the tank slowly over a week or two? do you think that gives it time to aerate and mix up good? should I put a small powerhead in the storage water to keep it circulated and mixing? thanks for any suggestions.
broomer5
Active Member
jrb384
As long as you are removing old saltwater from the tank at the same rate you would be "dosing" this new saltwater - you'd be okay.
But if you're saying to dose saltwater over the course of a week or two - without removing any old saltwater from the tank - your salinity in your tank would slowly increase - not good.
As long as you are removing old saltwater from the tank at the same rate you would be "dosing" this new saltwater - you'd be okay.
But if you're saying to dose saltwater over the course of a week or two - without removing any old saltwater from the tank - your salinity in your tank would slowly increase - not good.