Making salt water for the first time

[SchmittyG]

Ive had a tank for years, and finally am getting off my perverbial *** and making my own salt water. For the entirety of my 29g Nano reef tank Ive always just bought pre made saltwater from my LFS, but after hearing over and over how I could really benefit from making my own, WELL... HERE I GO!

Anyways, my question is this: I bought a bucket of Salinity salt and am wondering, until I get a RO DI situation, can I just buy 5 galllons of Arrowhead spring water and mix 5g at a time with the Salinity? Also, what's a good amount of time to wait to make sure the salt is fully desolved and do I need to add anything else (purifiers, nutrients etc...) Any info would be greatly appreciated. I love this forum and need to use it more frequently. Jealous of all your epic tanks and want to push mine to the next level.

Heres a link to my tank (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2057567)

[Almondsaz]

You could use the Arrowhead, but the same store you purchased your pre-made salt water would also have RO/DI or any local water store. I get my RO/DI from the local Water and Ice after testing and now use it all the time.

As for mixing, you need to follow the directions on your salt for how much to mix with the RO/DI and then make sure you have a powerhead to keep it mixing for 24 hours before you use it. Hope that helps - just a quick summary.

[keithhays]

When you are mixing your own salt which contains all the elements needed, you should use distilled water if you don't have RODI. But, yes you just measure the right amount of salt mix in the water in a large container and put in a pump and let it mix for about 8 hours. I don't know the Salinity brand, so I am not much help there. Assuming you have something to measure the salinity with, you will want to make sure that measurement matches your tank water. If you don't have an Automatic Temperature Adjusted refractometer, make sure your new water and your tank water are the same temperature when you compare them.

[SchmittyG]

Thanks. Do you think I can get away with not using a power head? I'm thinking two to three days with me shaking the container a few times and it'll all be dissolved?

[keithhays]

Thanks. Do you think I can get away with not using a power head? I'm thinking two to three days with me shaking the container a few times and it'll all be dissolved?

Sure, we only use pumps because we want the mixture to equalize with the ambient co2. So shake, but leave the container open and shake again in a few hours and you should be good to go.

[scubaprashant]

You'll be happier with a constant circulation of the mixing water. Throw a maxi-jet in there and walk away. I found that when I started using a pump to mix my water, the results were so much better when it came time to adding it to the tank. I used to stir with pvc pipes...It was a good workout but got old very quickly. Now I mix water with a magdrive 9.5 :) Overkill? Probably. But it gets the job done quite nicely.

[SchmittyG]

I cant fit maxi jet or pumps into my containers. There the water bottle that Alhambra and them use... But yea the salts been in there for two to three days and still isn't fully disolved

[socal_48]

I use a small rio pump for me, I found trying to mix the salt with the water I buy from the glacier water machine doesn't mix right if I only mix it by hand every so often.

[tallball158]

I put my water in a five gallon bucket with a power head and a small heater that is set to my tank temp. Shaking it will work, but having some sort of pump will be better. You should let it mix for 24 hours so the water will stabilize and thoroughly mix, but always follow the manufacturer instructions.

[SchmittyG]

I put a pump in there, let it go for two days and the ph is up to 8.8 — always something. Why is the ph so high, the RODI water Im buying is only 7.5 but when the salts added something magically happens. UGH

[planedoc]

I would use distilled water if ro/di was not available. Mixing is easy, but you do need some kind of pump to do it correctly. Most salts only take an hour or two to mix and any longer will allow ingredients to participate. (Google too find more on this). I never check any parameters on my mixed water except salinity. If you don't trust your salt switch brands. PH will quickly adjust when water is mixed with DT water. If I was doing more than a 50% water change I might consider testing it more.
Do a couple small ones until you start to feel comfortable. If your not going to buy an ro/di unit I would just buy premixed water.

[BlindZide]

I mix my salt in a 5g bucket from PetCo (What a rip off for a 5g bucket BTW) and then empty that bucket into a extra 30g tank. In that tank I have a MJ400. When its time for a water change, I readily have 30g of saltwater to use. I just use my vac and suck out what I need into that 5g bucket and put it in my DT. Then I mix some new salt water and put it into the 30g again for holding.

Water change down time is minimal which is a plus to me!

[SchmittyG]

That sounds epic BLINDZIDE, I have a small apartment though and there's not really room for another tank, much less my little 29g Nano. The question still remains, why does the PH escalate so high? I did notice that I bought RODI water from Whole FOods yesterday and it was already high before adding the salt(8.5 or 8.6) Im gonna go to the Cala Foods RODI water today and test their PH before adding the salt... Meanwhile my tank is decreasing, the Duncans are HATING it, Dammit