Tunze salt q

[OceanAV]

Wonder if anybody could answer the question regarding Tunze Reef Excel Lab Marine Salt. Posted this in a different thread but didn’t get many responses.
I mixed my first batch of 8 gallons using RO/DI to 1.025 (checked with calibrated refractometer). Let it mix for 24 hours with MJ1200 at 79F. Took measurements and got the following (both tests are Salifert):
CA: 470ppm â€"œ Good.
Alk: 5.5dKH â€"œ too low.
I understand that salt in a bag may not be uniform, so I mixed the salt inside the bag before adding it to the water.
Is it normal for alkalinity level to be so low? what numbers for Ca and Alk should I expect ?
Thanks.

 

[rvitko]

The calcium is too high and the alk is too low, you really should mix the entire bag at once, the entire bag will mix to 420 and 9 dKH. Mixing may help but with such a small sample it will not be a reliable way to prepare the salt. For example if you thoroughly mixed the salt and made 30gallons that would be half the bag, right now you have used about 1/6th of the bag so odds are that the seperation of the elements was not adequately made up by mixing the bag since so little was used.

 

[Jar*Head]

Another thing you can do is thoroughly mix the salt prior to put it in use. Remember the bag is air tight so make sure you puncture the bag first, shake the sh...t out of it then put it into mix...

 

[OceanAV]

Yeah.. that’s what I suspected. Unfortunately for me if I have to use the entire bag to get good numbers it’s not going to work in my situation â€"œ I do only 8 gallon water change once per week.
Jar*Head: Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to mix it in the empty bucket next time. May be then I'll get better result.

 

[rvitko]

What I find works very well is to get 35 gallon rubbermaid trash can, one of the heavy duty grey commercial ones and use that as a mixing tub, then you always have ready to go salt water in an emergency.

 

[OceanAV]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12998084#post12998084 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rvitko
What I find works very well is to get 35 gallon rubbermaid trash can, one of the heavy duty grey commercial ones and use that as a mixing tub, then you always have ready to go salt water in an emergency.

Assuming that mixing powerhead is on all the time for how long can I store salt water that way?
Do you close it tight with the lid or leave some for air?
Do you use entire mix before making new batch or water and salt can be added to existing mix?
Do you ever rinse/wash trash can or just add new water and salt when all is used?
Sorry for newB questions… Appreciate your help.

 

[rvitko]

You can store it pretty much indefinitely but some algae and bacteria may develop, my experience is it stores fine for a couple months but if it is in a lit area with no lid you will get some algae. I run the pump to mix it and for about 15 minutes again before I use it. I would rinse it periodically mainly because the floor underneath innevitably gets some mildew from the water that gets underneath, once every 6 months I would tear it down and clean it. It would be best to use almost all of it before mixing again.

 

[Jar*Head]

I always have my salt ready to use at all time. Make sure your salt mix container have the lid and not white or clear. I use a strong pump thoroughly mix the salt, then replace it with smaller pump i.e MJ 1200 in my case i use the tunze nano 6025 or 6045 which work great for me because it doesn't use much electricity as well as low heat transfer. You can store your water as long as you want as long as you have a lid on to prevent dusk. Make sure you check the salinity prior to use because the water do evap in the mixing container