Adding Water With 54ppt?

[danenelsen]

Hello, my salinity has been a little low recently (32ppt) so I decided to mix 1/2 cup extra salt mix into 5 gallons of RO water. I measured the salinity this morning, and it's 54ppt! Is it a bad idea to add some of this to my system to bring the salinity back up to 35ppt? If it's okay, how much should I add? 1 gallon? 1/2 gallon?

 

[blaxsun]

Yes, you can do that - but I couldn't make an approximate guess without knowing your tank size. Start with less - you can always add more.

 

[danenelsen]

Yes, you can do that - but I couldn't make an approximate guess without knowing your tank size.

55 gallon main display, 10 gallon sump.

 

[blecki]

It depends entirely on how big the tank is. I've use water at about 50ppt (about a cup of reef crystals in a gallon for that, don't really measure, not even using a calibrated salinity checker...) to raise a 75 gallon qt from 28 to 35 to match the display over the course of 48 hours. Adding very little at a time.

To just raise your salinity all you need to do is top off with salt water until it's right.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Whether you can make and store hypersaline seawater may depend on the salt mix. I’d be less inclined to try it with high alk mixes like Red Sea Coral Pro that are already prone to precipitation.

 

[danenelsen]

Whether you can make and store hypersaline seawater may depend on the salt mix. I’d be less inclined to try it with high alk mixes like Red Sea Coral Pro that are already prone to precipitation.

Okay, I use Fritz Blue Box, so I don’t think it should be an issue, as it’s a low alk mix.