How long does it take for salt to be "fish safe"

[KoleTang]

I never really thought about it, until it came up with a problem I had tonight.

I was acclimating some fish and I noticed that my QT tank needed a top off. I added two gallons of RO/DI. The problem was that I forgot that I had removed that water, it had not evaporated. By adding the RO water I lowered the salinity to 30 PPT.

I took some saltwater and mixed in two half cups of salt to make up for the missing salt. (Mixed until clear) I got the salinity back to 35 PPT and the fish were never exposed to the 30 PPT water.

I finished acclimating the fish and let them loose on the QT tank.

Fish: Ocellaris
Salt: IO
Tank: 29 Biocube QT. (about 25g of water)


My question is, should I be concerned about the two gallons worth of salt mix. (Since it was mixed so quickly)

I have never made this mistake before. I usually mix my salt overnight.

 

[josh009]

I used to mix overnight but found several references on the web from Red Sea (I use their Coral Pro salt mix) not to ever mix it more than four hours. I'd think it would be fine.

 

[jduck]

The fish would of been fine in the lower salinity water 30ppt is 1.023.

 

[KoleTang]

I used to mix overnight but found several references on the web from Red Sea (I use their Coral Pro salt mix) not to ever mix it more than four hours. I'd think it would be fine.

I wonder how they define "mix". Even when I store saltwater I have a powerhead or air bubbler in there.

The fish would of been fine in the lower salinity water 30ppt is 1.023.

Dang it your right. I guess I overreacted a bit.

 

[mcarroll]

I have used salt mix as soon as it clears - even just a snidge before - many times without issue. Also the lowered salinity wuld ot have been a biggie. :) Hey, none of us know until we know!

-Matt

 

[Reefing Madness]

Salinity using 1.017-1.027 would not harm the fish. Drip acclimation to any of those levels would be advisable because you don't know what SG they came from. And on the I/O bag is states you should let set after mixing for 24hrs.

 

[AZDesertRat]

I mix and use my new saltwater within an hour or less, always have. As long as the pH, temperature and salinity approximate the tank its good to go. Several reefers including FutureDoc did some testing using pH and other monitors and data loggers over a 24 hour period and found no significant changes in anything that would cause freshly mixed water to be any different than aged water. I think much of this goes back decades when the salt mixes didn't dissolve as well as they do today. I know Oceanic mixes up instantly with no residue or cloudiness when I use it but when I used IO or Red Sea it stayed cloudy longer or had a residue in the bottom of the Rubbermaid when I emptied it.