Filling up my tank.

Zaxh · Nov 2, 2023

Tomorrow is blue day and I will be purchasing my marine x 60.2 from waterbox. For the past week and a half I have been trying to figure out how I am going to fill up my tank. It is a total of 55 or so gallons and I already reached out to my LFS to see if they would be willing to transport saltwater to me and they politely declined (I don’t blame them).

They recommended I use tap water for the initial fill up.

I am going to be honest, and say that I never mixed salt water before so how do I actually do this? If I go down the route of filling my tank with tap water, should I just gradually mix the salt into the tank as it’s running ? (I’ve watched videos of salt water mixing, so I know the mechanics of water temperature)

Or should I use put water into 5 gallon buckets and mix the salt from a smaller quantity and dump them in? 5 gallon by 5 gallon?

Contemplating an RODI kit, but also just contemplating of buying a load of buckets of premixed salt water and just transporting from my LFS to my house.

What do you think?

robotrash · Nov 2, 2023

You should buy an RODI and mix at home, especially for anything that isn't a nano tank. Your wallet will thank you and you'll have better control over what's entering your system.

Do not use tap. It's not a good way to go, especially if you want corals. Even FOWLR I wouldn't recommend it.

Zaxh · Nov 2, 2023

robotrash said:
You should buy an RODI and mix at home, especially for anything that isn't a nano tank. Your wallet will thank you and you'll have better control over what's entering your system.

Do not use tap. It's not a good way to go, especially if you want corals. Even FOWLR I wouldn't recommend it.

Okay going from a 10 gallon nano to 55 gallons so it’s exciting ! Do you recommend filling the tank up directly ? Or filling the water into buckets and heating them up and then mixing?

mrpontiac80 · Nov 2, 2023

Zaxh said:
Tomorrow is blue day and I will be purchasing my marine x 60.2 from waterbox. For the past week and a half I have been trying to figure out how I am going to fill up my tank. It is a total of 55 or so gallons and I already reached out to my LFS to see if they would be willing to transport saltwater to me and they politely declined (I don’t blame them).

They recommended I use tap water for the initial fill up.

I am going to be honest, and say that I never mixed salt water before so how do I actually do this? If I go down the route of filling my tank with tap water, should I just gradually mix the salt into the tank as it’s running ? (I’ve watched videos of salt water mixing, so I know the mechanics of water temperature)

Or should I use put water into 5 gallon buckets and mix the salt from a smaller quantity and dump them in? 5 gallon by 5 gallon?

Contemplating an RODI kit, but also just contemplating of buying a load of buckets of premixed salt water and just transporting from my LFS to my house.

What do you think?

I would 100% recommend an RODI unit. You will be using it for top off evaporation and I personally use it to rinse all my test, kit vials and etc.

If you purchase now, Bulk Reef Supply has them for 35% off I believe.

Mixing salt is not that hard either. And it will be much easier in the long run than transporting water. I use Fritz RPM blue box and it is basically half a cup per gallon. All you need is a food grade container a powerhead to mix it with and a heater. The powerhead can be something cheap from a local pet store. The fritz RPM is ready to use within 30 minutes as long as it is the correct temperature to add to the tank.

Zaxh · Nov 2, 2023

mrpontiac80 said:
I would 100% recommend an RODI unit. You will be using it for top off evaporation and I personally use it to rinse all my test, kit vials and etc.

If you purchase now, Bulk Reef Supply has them for 35% off I believe.

Mixing salt is not that hard either. And it will be much easier in the long run than transporting water. I use Fritz RPM blue box and it is basically half a cup per gallon. All you need is a food grade container a powerhead to mix it with and a heater. The powerhead can be something cheap from a local pet store. The fritz RPM is ready to use within 30 minutes as long as it is the correct temperature to add to the tank.

So rather than mixing it into the tank you mixed it first in buckets? What if I do small increments of salt mixes directly into the tank?

Cichlid Dad · Nov 2, 2023

Zaxh said:
So rather than mixing it into the tank you mixed it first in buckets? What if I do small increments of salt mixes directly into the tank?

Buy a 32 gallon brute garbage can from Home Depot. Get a cheap Amazon pump that will mix the water and double as a pump to pump water from the tank and to pump water back to the tank from the brute.

mrpontiac80 · Nov 3, 2023

Zaxh said:
So rather than mixing it into the tank you mixed it first in buckets? What if I do small increments of salt mixes directly into the tank?

You can mix salt into the water inside the tank on the initial fill only. Never with livestock.

Personally I mix in a container and add saltwater to the tank after sand and rock are in place. I also recommend keeping track of how much water you add on the initial fill for dosing purposes later. Substrate will displace more than you may think. My 180 gallon with 44 gallon sump holds an actual 187 gallons after all is said and done.

Zaxh · Nov 3, 2023

mrpontiac80 said:
You can mix salt into the water inside the tank on the initial fill only. Never with livestock.

Personally I mix in a container and add saltwater to the tank after sand and rock are in place. I also recommend keeping track of how much water you add on the initial fill for dosing purposes later. Substrate will displace more than you may think. My 180 gallon with 44 gallon sump holds an actual 187 gallons after all is said and done.

Yeah, that's what I learned with my 10-gallon when it came to dosing all for reef lol. my 10-gallon display is has 8.5 gallons of water. Just purchased RODI! no more going to my LFS for their RODI at .30 cents a gallon lolol

mrpontiac80 · Nov 3, 2023

Zaxh said:
Yeah, that's what I learned with my 10-gallon when it came to dosing all for reef lol. my 10-gallon display is has 8.5 gallons of water. Just purchased RODI! no more going to my LFS for their RODI at .30 cents a gallon lolol

You’ll be happy you did I think!