Does anyone see a problem with mixing and storing instant ocean salt at 39PPT?

[BrettDS]

I have a 45G brute trash can that I use to store salt water for my auto water change system. There is a float valve in the bottom that shuts off the AWC and turns on my RODI filter to refill the reservoir when it gets low. Once it's full I'll add salt and turn the AWC back on.

This system has been working great for two years now, but I get annoyed every time I need to add salt because it takes about 90% of a 50 gallon bag of IO salt to get the water to 35PPT. This means that instead of just opening a bag and dumping it in I need to measure out the right amount of salt and then store an open and partially used bag until the next time I need to make salt water. I also worry about it mixing inconsistently if things have settled during shipping and I may get different amounts of trace elements in different batches. I keep wishing that my reservoir was slightly larger so I could just dump in a whole bag of salt and be done with it.

So today when it was time to add salt I decided to just dump in the whole bag and see what happened and where it wound up. It seemed to mix well and cleared up reasonably quickly without any noticeable precipitants, and as I said above it wound up at 39PPT.

So what I'm thinking is that I'll just adjust the DOS that I use for my auto water change so that it puts in slightly less water than it pulls out. My ATO system will make up the rest with RODI, so I won't raise the salinity level in the tank.

Does anyone see any problems with mixing and storing the water at 39PPT instead of 35PPT? IO doesn't have super high levels of anything, so I don't think I'm really in danger of precipitation. Additionally I already boost the magnesium level in my NSW as it is. Instead of dosing magnesium I simply add 600ML of the BRS magnesium mix to every 45 gallons of NSW and let the magnesium slowly get added in with my NSW during the auto water change. This keeps the magnesium level in my tank at 1350ppm. I'm thinking that the high magnesium levels should also provide some extra insurance against precipitation. Is there anything else that I'm missing that might cause a problem here?

Thanks

 

[Optionman]

Does anyone see a problem with mixing and storing instant ocean salt at 39PPT?

Another option if you are committed to using the entire bag is to let it mix to 39 and then remove some of the over-salinity water and fill with RODI until it measures 35. Once you know how much to remove you can do same every time. (I'm guessing 10%}.


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[timnem70]

Another option if you are committed to using the entire bag is to let it mix to 39 and then remove some of the over-salinity water and fill with RODI until it measures 35. Once you know how much to remove you can do same every time. (I'm guessing 10%}.


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This is what I do too.

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[BrettDS]

Another option if you are committed to using the entire bag is to let it mix to 39 and then remove some of the over-salinity water and fill with RODI until it measures 35. Once you know how much to remove you can do same every time. (I'm guessing 10%}.

I could, but that's not really any less work than measuring out the salt, plus I'd need to store an extra 5 gallons of water somewhere. The easiest thing is just dumping in the whole bag of salt and letting the AWC and ATO take care of it.

 

[Optionman]

I've never used IO but I'm amazed it takes 90% of a 50lb bag to make approximately 40+ gal of 35PPT. I use Red Sea Pro and approximately 8lbs makes 30gal of 35-36PPT. Good luck with whatever solution you choose.


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[BrettDS]

I've never used IO but I'm amazed it takes 90% of a 50lb bag to make approximately 40+ gal of 35PPT. I use Red Sea Pro and approximately 8lbs makes 30gal of 35-36PPT. Good luck with whatever solution you choose.

Lol, not a 50lb bag. The IO salt comes in a box labeled as enough salt for 200 gallons of water. In that box are 4 separate bags that can make 50 gallons of water each. I said a 50 gallon bag, meaning that it takes most of one of the bags intended to make 50 gallons of salt water.

 

[Dsekula]

I've never used IO but I'm amazed it takes 90% of a 50lb bag to make approximately 40+ gal of 35PPT. I use Red Sea Pro and approximately 8lbs makes 30gal of 35-36PPT. Good luck with whatever solution you choose.


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I think your understanding this a bit different than op ment the measurements. An Io 200gal box (mixes 200gals of saltwater) this comes in 4 50gal bags. Not 50lbs of salt to make 40gals. The weight would be closer to your 8lbs.

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[outssider]

the only concern I would have is higher than normal precipitation. Another way to combat precipitation (other than higher mag) would be to mix it and keep it at a colder temperature than normal.

 

[Optionman]

Ooops.


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[ramseynb]

Why don't you use a scale to weigh how much salt it takes? Just a thought.

 

[BrettDS]

Why don't you use a scale to weigh how much salt it takes? Just a thought.

I could, but measuring the amount of salt isn't really the problem. It's just that it's easier to open a bag and dump the whole thing in... no measuring required. And then I can let the AWC meter out the slightly stronger salt water so I don't need to worry about the salinity in the tank going up.

I was just concerned that there might be a problem letting the water sit at the slightly higher concentration, but it seems like that's not the case.

 

[mrsixstrings12]

I recently "overdid" it on the salt (reef crystals) when I was mixing for a water change. I mixed up my salt, and then got stuck at work 2 days in a row. When I went to do my water change, there was a bunch of white "junk" floating on the top and covering EVERY surface in the brute (the can itself, the pump, the heater, etc). When I tested the water, I saw that I was around 1.036. Not sure if the excess salt cause the junk or not. I ended up using the water anyways and there was no ill effects on the few frags that are in my tank.

 

[bertoni]

The white precipitate probably was mostly calcium carbonate, so as long as the water was diluted down to a normal SG before using, it was good enough, most likely. I wouldn't worry all that much. The calcium and alkalinity levels might have been fairly depleted. 1.036 SG might be high enough to see some precipitation. That's hard to predict, though. pH and organics can have an effect, for example.