water change question

[saxerphoner]

What's the purpose of letting the mixed salt water sit over night before doing the water change? I use gallon jugs of distilled water and mix it in the jugs and let then let them sit in the jugs for about 24 hours before i do the water change... is this okay?

Also, I have a SG of about 1.022 and have been told to raise it to 1.024 for the soft corals I want to get in the future... to raise this, what do you guys think my new water should be to raise the tank to 1.024. I'm only doing a 10% change so I'm changing two gallons...

Any suggestions would be great!!!

Thanks

 

[reeferman06]

B/c if the salt is not disolved all the way when you pour it in your aquarium you will burn the corals! Its kinda like when you put salt water on an open wound on your body, it hurts.... So since the corals are basically raw flesh, the non disloved SW will burn them, It may or may not kill them, but it definatly will send them into shock! 6 hours is the proper mixing period. Good luck

 

[jasob]

There's also been a debate going on that I'm just finding out about that you should mix all the salt from the bag/bucket the first time you open it. It's said to be easier to store seawater w/out sucking up anything bad from the air, or contaminates getting mixed in.

In the past I've been somewhat of a lazy reefkeeper it seems and just mix it and put it in the tank when the temp is close. Starting to think I might change my plans a bit in the future.

 

[saxerphoner]

thanks... that definitely helps!!!

any ideas about raising the Salt levels?

 

[nmprisons]

You want to keep the salt airating and mixing during that time as well, saxerphoner. As for raising the salinity, just start doing your top-offs with salt water as opposed to RO/DI water (distilled water is probably not much better than your tap water) and do your water changes with salt water that is at your target salinity level.

 

[besl]

Besides sitting in the bucket for at least 24 hours, mixing with a power head to get all the salt into solution and airating to get trapped gas out and oxygen in, you should also be sure to heat the water to match the temperature of the tank.

 

[atty]

its some much work. i found using sea water is so much easier