How to make salt water

[Anonymous]

Ive heard its better to make your own salt water. Im going to purchase the R/O water from the store then add my own salt. How do I do it thought. Ive heard you have to add the salt a little lower level, then let it sit in a bucket with a pump overnite and as the pump circulates the salt level will rise a little as it circulates and dissolves. Is this right? Please help

 

[melev]

Fill the bucket or container with water, then add the salt. The general rule is 1/2 cup per gallon, but after it has mixed for an hour or so, you can measure it to see if you need to add a little more salt to match your target salinity level. More specifics about making water and doing water changes here:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-11/nftt/index.php

 

[bimmerzs]

Hi,

It's better to make your own for several reasons, one is that you know the quality/SG of the water that's going in your tank.... this only applies if you also have your own ro/di unit. The biggest reason to me is the ability to have water/salt on hand in case something happens in the middle of the night and you need to do an emergency water change. It is very advisable to have a refractometer as hydrometers are not known for their accuracy. HTH

Cheers,

 

[kwl1763]

The biggest reason to make your own is money! All the fringe benefits like actually being able to have levels you want, etc are just icing on the cake.

It will indeed after the water clears be slightly higher then an intial reading. You'll want a minimum of a few hours to test again. Gett he temp right then test ph. Those are critical. If you are keeping SPS you'll want to make sure other things like alk and calcium also are within reasonable levels.