Initial fill - RODI fill, then mix salt IN tank, what would you do in this scenario?

[B33TR00T]

I understand that there's more than one way to cook an egg, but let's say you're already in this situation -

65gallon total water volume
You've got your aquascape in place on a bare-bottom(glass)
You've filled with RODI up to the overflow
You're about to continue filling into the sump, hit the on switch, and let things get to temperature...

Now you need to add a pinch of salt, and you're intending to remove the skimmer, socks etc etc, and let the pump and powerheads do the work until salinity reaches the magic number.

My question is, considering there's a full aquascape in place, in what increments would you add salt?

I'm thinking probably something along the lines of 30oz per hour for 10 hours (not accounting for rock displacement, for simplicity in this hypothetical context) whilst tracking salinity, however, as I've never done this before, I don't know if that could be too frequent and cause a problematic amount of build up in the rock.

I'm willing to increment as finely as it requires in order to achieve good dissolvement and avoid build up in the aquascape, but just how fine should those increments be?
I could be way off the mark here and be better off adding 30oz per day? - I'd love some guidance on this.

Thanks!

 

[ying yang]

Me personally would look on bucket of salt and see how many gallons it makes at what salinity and put in just under like 3/ 4 of it in one go slowly let it mix in as pouring then wait few hours and test and add and repeat after few hours.pour in salt just in front if a powerhead or return nozzle to try let it disperse evenly through tank
And would wait till temperature I at desired level when testing salinity as temperature can affect salinity I believe .
Also if no information on bucket then would google how many gallons you get out of your make of salt.
I use instant ocean but buy the box now as even cheaper.
I get 10x2 kg bags and each 2kg bag makes 50 litres at sg 1.026 ( doesn't say on box so had to work it out and now easy as 50 litres is exactly what water change I do.

And if worried about any salt getting stuck in the rocks or sand if you have any ( as I know I worried about it staying in sand undisolved lol,then slowly dissolving over coming days and affect my salinity ) can grab a power head and aim at rocks and gently run your finger through the sand.

 

[Conchman]

Hmmm....I just pumped in the RODI, every so often I mixed a 5 gallon pail (heavy salt), pumped that in, kept checking and adjusted as I got close, added in minor amounts at the end.

 

[BanjoBandito]

Yeah I’ve always winged it. Just dumped mix in front of the power head at a rate that I didn’t see anything settling/falling.

 

[Woodyman]

I understand that there's more than one way to cook an egg, but let's say you're already in this situation -

65gallon total water volume
You've got your aquascape in place on a bare-bottom(glass)
You've filled with RODI up to the overflow
You're about to continue filling into the sump, hit the on switch, and let things get to temperature...

Now you need to add a pinch of salt, and you're intending to remove the skimmer, socks etc etc, and let the pump and powerheads do the work until salinity reaches the magic number.

My question is, considering there's a full aquascape in place, in what increments would you add salt?

I'm thinking probably something along the lines of 30oz per hour for 10 hours (not accounting for rock displacement, for simplicity in this hypothetical context) whilst tracking salinity, however, as I've never done this before, I don't know if that could be too frequent and cause a problematic amount of build up in the rock.

I'm willing to increment as finely as it requires in order to achieve good dissolvement and avoid build up in the aquascape, but just how fine should those increments be?
I could be way off the mark here and be better off adding 30oz per day? - I'd love some guidance on this.

Thanks!

I'd say make it easy, remove the rock (it's not cycled rock so no harm in letting it sit for a little).

Shut off the return pump and add the salt mix to the empty tank and let the Powerheads work. After it's mostly dissolved kick on the return and add more salt until you hit the target.

If you know the total volume of water you can use the calculator to get a ballpark weight of salt needed to hit your target.

 

[Woodyman]

I'd say make it easy, remove the rock (it's not cycled rock so no harm in letting it sit for a little).

Shut off the return pump and add the salt mix to the empty tank and let the Powerheads work. After it's mostly dissolved kick on the return and add more salt until you hit the target.

If you know the total volume of water you can use the calculator to get a ballpark weight of salt needed to hit your target.

Direct Salt Addition Calculator

Aquarium calculator; Estimate the amount of solid salt required to raise salinity to a target level.

www.hamzasreef.com

 

[B33TR00T]

I'd say make it easy, remove the rock (it's not cycled rock so no harm in letting it sit for a little).

Shut off the return pump and add the salt mix to the empty tank and let the Powerheads work. After it's mostly dissolved kick on the return and add more salt until you hit the target.

If you know the total volume of water you can use the calculator to get a ballpark weight of salt needed to hit your target.

Nope, the scape stays

I'm not really concerned with how much salt to add, I'm just going to add - wait - check, ensuring I don't go over 35ppm, it's solely the amount/frequency to effectively avoid buildup the best I can - that I'm concerned with.

I'm thinking some powerhead movement in and around the scape by hand during the process will be helpful.

 

[ying yang]

Yeah just add some and let mix and test and so on.
Your suggestion sounds OK,I'm not familiar with imperial measurements but know ummm 28 grams is a ounce so 28x30 =840 grams so yeah adding that much then wait few hours and test sounds OK.
For me at start added lots in slowly pouring it in then as got closer to my target sg added in little increments.
I lefty scape in as wanted tank plus sump running and of removed scape I would of had to add more water and at end when put scape back in then would need to remove some newly mixed saltwater and throw it away so seemed a waste ,( could of probably kept it in a bucket circulating and used for a wc during cycle neat end I guess but just kept ot simple As I could.
Good luck and hope you and your family get great enjoyment from your tank ^_^

 

[B33TR00T]

Yeah just add some and let mix and test and so on.
Your suggestion sounds OK,I'm not familiar with imperial measurements but know ummm 28 grams is a ounce so 28x30 =840 grams so yeah adding that much then wait few hours and test sounds OK.
For me at start added lots in slowly pouring it in then as got closer to my target sg added in little increments.
I lefty scape in as wanted tank plus sump running and of removed scape I would of had to add more water and at end when put scape back in then would need to remove some newly mixed saltwater and throw it away so seemed a waste ,( could of probably kept it in a bucket circulating and used for a wc during cycle neat end I guess but just kept ot simple As I could.
Good luck and hope you and your family get great enjoyment from your tank ^_^

Yep that's what I'm gonna do, I'll get there.

(Just using imperial to be friendly to our Usanian majority... when in Rome... )

 

[PatW]

I mixed before adding. There is often some salt that does not dissolve and I would just as soon keep it out. But, adding water and then salt is often done. No big deal.

Salt mixes usually are .5 cup to a gallon (and I forget the salinity target). I think they talk about a salinity of 1.022 which is for fish only. For coral, you usually want 1.025 so that means a bit more. I think I would be really cautious and add about 10 cups on day 1, 10 cups on day 2 and 5 cups there after until I got close to my target and then go down to 1 or even half cup increments. But I could get impatient and add something like 90% of the suggested amount and then dial it in.

If you over shoot, you can just take out some water (and store it if you are frugal) and replace it with RODI.

 

[Reefer Reboot]

Put the sock back in and add the salt cup by cup into the sock.

 

[B33TR00T]

Put the sock back in and add the salt cup by cup into the sock.

Ohh snap that's an interesting idea