CaCl and Salinity

[bdare]

Can adding CaCl cause salinty to go up? I'm wondering because I rarely check the salinity of my tank. I have an ATO and things stay very level. When I just checked it I was at 38ppt!!

The only things I dose are Randy's 2 part.

Thanks,
Ben

[bertoni]

Yes, the two-part will cause salinity to rise over time. I check SG every couple of weeks or so.

[rbursek]

If I remember my high school chemistry anything that ends in a chloride is a salt.

[spamin76]

Pretty much anything that ends in ide, ite, or ate can be a salt.

What most people call salinity is a generic term really measuring a variety of dissolved ions. Since most of the stuff happens to be NaCl and CaCL2 those salts are what people usually generically mean, but there are a lot of others.

Most things you can disolve in water though will increase the specific gravity.

[bdare]

That's what I figured... just wanted to double check. Thanks for the reassurance fellas.

[Boomer]

If I remember my high school chemistry anything that ends in a chloride is a salt.

Well then Bob you must have had a bad chemistry teacher then :D Magnesium Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Nitrate, etc., are also salts. But yes most that end in chloride are also salts. A salt is a compound produced by the reaction of a acid and a base

H2SO4 ( acid) + Mg(OH)2 (base)---> MgSO4 salt

H2CO3(acid) + Ca(OH)2(base) ---> CaCO3 salt

2HCL(acid) + Ca(OH)2(base) ---------> Ca(Cl)2 salt

[rbursek]

Boomer, I hated chem, but was I right what I posted? Just did not include the stuff you did!LOL But still learning.

[jansenwrasse]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12512358#post12512358 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Boomer
[b] A salt is a compound produced by the reaction of a acid and a base


A salt is a compound containing positive ions (not Hydrogen) and negative ions (not Hydroxides). Salts are formed in many ways besides the Acid Base reaction.

Mg(solid) + H2SO4 (aqueous) -> MgSO4 (aq) + H2 (gas)
There is no base in the equation.
Also 2Na (solid) + Cl2 (gas) -> 2NaCl

[MCsaxmaster]

But to be fair, the definition of a salt does not suggest that such compounds can ONLY be produced through acid-base reactions, but rather simply classifies all compounds that CAN be produced by acid-base reactions as salts. Since MgSO4 can be produced through an acid-base reaction it is a salt, even if it can be produced through other means as well.

[Boomer]

:thumbsup: