Filling Sump/Tank

[cbruce24]

Hey everyone!
I need some help, new to all of this.
Im in the process of making my salt water, RO/DI water is in my 44 gallon Brute but i honestly dont know how much water is in there, i should of used 5 gallon buckets so i know exactly how much i have. So i suppose trail and error is what im going to have to do for getting the correct solinity.
Also i have noooooo idea how to fill up the tank/sump.
60 gallon Tank with overflow.
Please help me out! im excited to get this setup

 

[pyithar]

is the tank new? there is no salt water in the system (display tank and sump) yet?

 

[StartrTank]

What kind of salt are you using? The only one I use and feel comfortable talking about is Instant Ocean Sea Salt, with this mix you use 2.5 cups of salt for every 5 gallons of water to give you a salinity of 1.025. I would guess on the amount of water you have in your barrel, if it is close to full, start with estimating maybe 35 gallons...? For 35 gallons you would add 17.5 cups of salt. Mix it up and in 24 hours test the salinity. If it is a little low, add a little more and test again the next day. If it is high then add more RO/DI; obv the closer your est on how many gallons in your barrel, the closer your level will be to where you want it. As far as adding it to the tank.... I just fill up 5 gallon buckets and slowly pour it in. I'm sure some people have set-ups where they can use a pump to pump it into their tank, but I don't have that luxury where my DT is set up compared to where I make my water/saltwater. Hope this helped a little

 

[W1ngz]

Try math. Assuming your barrel is more or less cylindrical (though it probably has a bulge in the middle). You can estimate an average radius by taking the average of the top diamater and the middle (bulge) diameter.

The volume of water in cubic inches will be:
height of the water * π (pi) * the radius squared.

Volume in gallons will be cubic inches * 0.004329

So, if
Your barrel has a diameter of 20" at the top and 24" in the middle and the water height is 36"
Your average diameter will be (20+24)/2. Divide again by 2 for the average radius. 11 inches.
11 squared is 121.
121 * 30 * 3.14 = 11398.2 cubic inches.
11398.2 * 0.004329 = 49.3428078 gallons.

Substitute your own values for your volume of water in the barrel.

 

[pyithar]

that's why i asked if the tank is new. if it is new and empty, pump the water into the tank, measure the dimensions of water(not tank). well the length and width will be pretty close to the tank's dimensions. only the width of the glass will be the difference. height will be differnt. after measurments, multiply length*width*height*0.004329 = the amount of water in gallon.