Mixing Salt directly in the Aquarium

[LocalPref]

Kind of a dumb question but I ended up doing my leak test with RO/DI water and now have over 200 gallons of water in the tank and sump and would like to go ahead and add in some salt mix and just use my power heads and return pump to mix it up. My worry is that I'll end up with residue coating everything inside the tank. Has anyone done this before and how much of a PIA is it to get rid of the residue on the glass and black plastic for the overflow?

[SteelGluer]

Kind of a dumb question but I ended up doing my leak test with RO/DI water and now have over 200 gallons of water in the tank and sump and would like to go ahead and add in some salt mix and just use my power heads and return pump to mix it up. My worry is that I'll end up with residue coating everything inside the tank. Has anyone done this before and how much of a PIA is it to get rid of the residue on the glass and black plastic for the overflow?


Take 5 to 10 gallons out in buckets mix the salt in there than through it back in after it all mixed up.

[D-Nak]

It depends on what brand of salt you use and the temperature of the water. For example, AquaVitro is notorious for clouding and leaving a nasty residue. Instant Ocean, on the other hand, typically mixes clear. Regardless, it should be fine. You'll just need to dust off the powerheads and whatnot and allow the water to clear on its own. Is it safe to assume that there's nothing in the tank? Just an empty tank with water running through the system?

[Jeff000]

I use Reefers best and it mixes without any residue.

Being that the tank is all RO water even if you did have live rock in there it's now done, so just go ahead. I'd probably add it slowly into the stream of a power head. But if you have nothing but time dumping 20kg in one big lump would mix in on it's own, might just take a day depending on flow.

[Reefahholic]

Take 5 to 10 gallons out in buckets mix the salt in there than through it back in after it all mixed up.

Good advice!

Probably the best way for no residue.

Or you can add to the sump in high flow area or DT, but really slow and you'll probably still get some residue.

[scottwhitson]

I have done this on every tank I setup. I use reef crystals and just add it really slowly.

[BigCountry74]

+1 add it slowly and its not a problem

[mpjones]

Did this on my 270. Not sure if it were the sand or salt. Sand was put in, then I added water without thinking about checking the salinity. I ended up adding more salt once it was in the tank and ended up with a residue on the glass. I'd highly recommend mixing it in a 5 gallon bucket and then dumping the bucket in the sump once mixed. I'd do this till I had the correct salinity in the tank!

[dwolson2]

I just added 3 or 4 cups at a time until my salinity was where it needed to be(every hour or two). That was on my 90. No sense in wasting water.

[SGT_York]

As there is nothing alive in the tank. Just add it all in the sump (away from pumps) do the math and figure out how many cups of salt and add it all in.

Any residue you can just siphon it out.

I use reef crystals and have never had a major residue issue.

[Menace2Sobriety]

You could make a vacuum for the tank. A pool pump (like the ones used for those inflatable rim pools) with a household vacuum attachment (that has a narrow brush on it commonly used for upholstery or drapes). Simply use the pump filter less and vacuum the tank with the return line going directly back into the tank.
Maybe a bit excessive I dunno. Tons of them pumps kicking around though as the pools themselves tend to pop regularly.

Menace

[MARINECRITTERS]

I've always mixed salt inside of a new tank, the residue eventually gets filtered out.