What are the steps and materials needed to Mix own salt?

[Daddyrawg]

Ok so I bought my own rodi unit... I now only go to LFS for softy frags/fish and salt water for water changes.. hes @ 1.29/ gallon for red sea coral pro brand..
I have a 90 gallon.. I do 10% WC every 2 wks.. I want to up that to 10% every wk, But don't want to to go LFS every wk for water.

Is the mixing process very time consuming and if i store the water in a brute container what else should I leave in the brute container since I;d imagine the water would nee to be mixed around so that the salt doesnt settle?

Also Id imagine mixing my own salt would be less costly than 1.29 a gallon plus gas for the trips..

I'm gonna watch some videos on mixing salt now, but would love some guidance

 

[Tripod1404]

You put water in a bucket or brute, add a power head and than add required amount of salt until you reach your desired salinity level. Once all salt is dissolved (few hours for most brands), you can turn the power head off and use the water.

I dont store saltwater, but I am sure it can be done.

 

[nereefpat]

Also Id imagine mixing my own salt would be less costly than 1.29 a gallon plus gas for the trips..

Instant ocean 200 gallon boxes are about 0.25$ per gallon...even less if you get it on sale or in a group/bulk buy. The Red Sea pro stuff looks like about 40 cents per gallon.

 

[Daddyrawg]

You put water in a bucket or brute, add a power head and than add required amount of salt until you reach your desired salinity level. Once all salt is dissolved (few hours for most brands), you can turn the power head off and use the water.

I dont store saltwater, but I am sure it can be done.

So maybe its just better for me to only mix 10 gallons at a time (2 - 5 gallon water jugs) and once its done just use it for my water change instead of storing.

 

[Daddyrawg]

Instant ocean 200 gallon boxes are about 0.25$ per gallon...even less if you get it on sale or in a group/bulk buy. The Red Sea pro stuff looks like about 40 cents per gallon.

I would only use the red sea stuff

 

[homer1475]

You can certainly store it.



I mix 50G in a brute trash can at a time and only change 10G weekly. I simply keep it mixed with 2 cheap korralia nano powerheads I had left over.



If you already have the RO/DI, it's way cheaper to mix your own. All you need is a couple cheap powerheads, and a refractometer to be able to read how much salt is in the water. A heater, although not needed, is sometimes recommended in colder climates if your going to store it for future use. I do not use a heater when storing it, because even in winter(water stays at room temp of around 65) 10G out of 80 total system volume only changes temps by 1 degree.

 

[Bpb]

I just use instant ocean and mix 15 gallons at a time and use immediately. I mix mine for about 30 minutes and use. Pretty easy.


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[mynorrodas]

I think that you can store the water just with a powerhead, i´ve never done that before. Some brands like red sea recommends not to store water for more than 4 hours, IDK if the other brands are the same.

 

[Valentini89]

I'm going to come clean.. for over a year I mixed instant ocean in my bathtub into a five gallon bucket, no rodi just straight out of the faucet... mixed it by hand and guessed the temperature. No problems except the occasional algae bloom. Which I treated with chemiclean. It doesn't have to be that hard.

 

[sde1500]

32 gallon brute trash can, power head and heater. Fill to the top of the handles and 16 cups of salt mix gets me perfectly to 1.025. Use as needed.

 

[biecacka]

50 gallons of IO here at a time. Then it is used over the course of a month with an auto water change system.

Corey

 

[Uncle99]

I make just enough for my weekly 10% change + top off (for my ATO)
I make on RODI on Thursday, mix salt with powerhead Friday, use it all on Saturday.
Some people like to make lots and that's OK, but two things happen over time, TDS will increase (that I found to be problem for me) and precipitation of minerals in the salt mix.

In addition, you don't want your RO filter to dry out, so frequency extends its life.

So I make, mix and use each week.....It can't hurt....

Materials, For me, TDS meter, Refractometer, RODI brute bucket, Saltwater mix brute bucket, powerhead and salt, I only use RED SEA PRO because it mixes high in the NSW range and for me, eliminates dosing.

Once the RODI is ready, takes say 15 minutes to make 1.0255 saltwater.

 

[Tyler438]

I use two 5 gal buckets and fill with tap water. I fill them after each water change that way it sits for 6 days, more than enough time for the chlorine to dissipate. add salt the day before. Haven't had any issues so far.

 

[Uncle99]

I use two 5 gal buckets and fill with tap water. I fill them after each water change that way it sits for 6 days, more than enough time for the chlorine to dissipate. add salt the day before. Haven't had any issues so far.

Most City TAP water has a TDS in the 130-175 ppm range.
It will catch up quickly with you, big time algae growth....

 

[ryeguyy84]

Yeah not hard at all. Rodi water + salt = salt water. Get a refractometer to make sure you're at the right salinity. I use a brute can that I made a stand for so I can drain from the bottom. I got tired of using a pump to fill my buckets.

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[Tyler438]

Most City TAP water has a TDS in the 130-175 ppm range.
It will catch up quickly with you, big time algae growth....

That's what I keep hearing but I guess I've been lucky so far. I had one bloom in the beginning when I was 1st starting my tank and that's it. I scraped everything down and added a UV filter and its been fine ever since.

 

[uclamatthew]

I always mix it the night before a water change and let it dissolve overnight with a powerhead and heater to get the temperature as close as possible to the tank. Definitely use a RODI and not tap water.

 

[Daddyrawg]

Thank you ALL, my salt arrives in a couple days.. just in time for my 10% water change