Instant ocean salinity?

[LordJoshaeus]

No mention of sulfur. I am having a sample of fresh salt mix for ICP test to check for sulfur. It is getting higher in my reef.

It does mention sulfate, which is sulfur bonded to four oxygen atoms. It appears to be the third most common ion in the instant ocean mix but is listed as being slightly lower than natural ocean levels, so I don't think that by itself is causing the climb in sulfur you mention.

 

[SaltISlife]

The exact measurement to get 1.026 for a full 5 gallon bucket is about 700ml in a cup i have which is about 2.95 measuring cups. I dont check my salinity when mixing salt. I just use my cup scoop it full pour it ina 5 gallon bucket.. mix it and dump it in and after 70-80 gallons of that in my 135g tank my salinity is 1.0.25 to 26 everytime.

And as i said that cup full is 700ml. So yea.

Also i havent premixed ny salt ever.. In my years. For one i dont have room for a 80 gallon trash can in my 3rd level of my town house where my tank is.. nore would i have a trash can up here for that either.

So i just use the 5 gallon bucket.. i start filling with water directly from my tap water in my sink. Then i pour the 700ml of salt right in.. and mix it by swirling it in as its filling. Then i pour it right in the tank.

Dont care what others think.. but my tap is fine where i live and mixing it like this hasnt done jack to my 80+ corals sps lps and softies . Nore my fish

 

[LordJoshaeus]

The exact measurement to get 1.026 for a full 5 gallon bucket is about 700ml in a cup i have which is about 2.95 measuring cups. I dont check my salinity when mixing salt. I just use my cup scoop it full pour it ina 5 gallon bucket.. mix it and dump it in and after 70-80 gallons of that in my 135g tank my salinity is 1.0.25 to 26 everytime.

And as i said that cup full is 700ml. So yea

A tablespoon is 15 ml and I was going to use 10 tablespoons per 4 liters (which is slightly more than a gallon of water), so I think we came to very similar results.

 

[Thaxxx]

It comes out correct time after time for me...... 1.026
22 oz. by weight for each 4 gallons.
Each 160 gallon pail mixes 130 gallons @1.026
All with rodi water @about 78°

 

[SaltISlife]

It comes out correct time after time for me...... 1.026
22 oz. by weight for each 4 gallons.
Each 160 gallon pail mixes 130 gallons @1.026
All with rodi water @about 78°

Yea thats what i got about 130 gallons worth at 1.026 for reef crystals.

Brs did a video on the buckets from many manufcatures if they premixed t see if the buckets make what they say as far as 160 gallons or whatever it said on the buckets.. and BRS bashed reef crystals for only making like 134 gallons worth i believe.. and claimed they had no chart for salinity.. which is utter nonsense because it has a huge chart of silinity right on the bucket. And 1.023 is what makes the 160 gallons. Not 1.026.

This is why i dont listen to alot of stuff on brs. They are really wrong on alot of things and pretty biased to stuff

 

[anthonygf]

It does mention sulfate, which is sulfur bonded to four oxygen atoms. It appears to be the third most common ion in the instant ocean mix but is listed as being slightly lower than natural ocean levels, so I don't think that by itself is causing the climb in sulfur you mention.

It is really strange. I rinse my frozen food in RODI water. Maybe the "Replenish" Blocks I ad to the sump, one every 2 weeks. Nice explanation thanks.

 

[Everything Aquatics]

For my tank I use a little less than 5 gallons for 1/2 of salt which gets it up to 1.025

 

[Homebrewer]

Link to Amazon I always use this stuff

Just a tip to check out Chewy. Buy 5x50-gallon bags @ $11.87 each. With free shipping at $49, you get 250 gallons-worth for the same price as the 200 gallon box from Amazon.

Also, BRS has an entire series of videos on salt mixing, one of them addresses the amount the directions say vs the amount you actually need to hit 35ppt. Very interesting stuff. They then normalize the data based on cost - but the prices are BRS prices. As I just pointed out there are ways to beat that. Lastly, price isn’t the only consideration (before someone jumps all over me about quality). My comments here are only about IORC.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Just a tip to check out Chewy. Buy 5x50-gallon bags @ $11.87 each. With free shipping at $49, you get 250 gallons-worth for the same price as the 200 gallon box from Amazon.

Also, BRS has an entire series of videos on salt mixing, one of them addresses the amount the directions say vs the amount you actually need to hit 35ppt. Very interesting stuff. They then normalize the data based on cost - but the prices are BRS prices. As I just pointed out there are ways to beat that. Lastly, price isn’t the only consideration (before someone jumps all over me about quality). My comments here are only about IORC.

Cool! Had not even thought of chewy. On inspecting the site, you can do something similar with the regular instant ocean salt, with the price difference between that and the reef crystals amounting to mere pennies...would there be any reason (other than price) to favor one over the other?

 

[anthonygf]

Just a tip to check out Chewy. Buy 5x50-gallon bags @ $11.87 each. With free shipping at $49, you get 250 gallons-worth for the same price as the 200 gallon box from Amazon.

Also, BRS has an entire series of videos on salt mixing, one of them addresses the amount the directions say vs the amount you actually need to hit 35ppt. Very interesting stuff. They then normalize the data based on cost - but the prices are BRS prices. As I just pointed out there are ways to beat that. Lastly, price isn’t the only consideration (before someone jumps all over me about quality). My comments here are only about IORC.

I get my box of RC from Amazon for $50, with subscribe and save. Yes Chewy does have a good deal there.

 

[anthonygf]

Cool! Had not even thought of chewy. On inspecting the site, you can do something similar with the regular instant ocean salt, with the price difference between that and the reef crystals amounting to mere pennies...would there be any reason (other than price) to favor one over the other?

The only difference is the amount of trace and major elements I believe.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

The only difference is the amount of trace and major elements I believe.

Ah! OK. I did some calculating, and using the above Chewy trick would save me some 23% over just getting the salt from Petco even assuming I did curbside pickup (I did not calculate for larger packages of salt at petco).

 

[tnw50cal]

I use IO Reef at 2/3 a cup to a gallon of RODI water to arrive at 1.025.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

I use IO Reef at 2/3 a cup to a gallon of RODI water to arrive at 1.025.

Yeah, I did more research on reef crystals and discovered that it takes more reef crystals to reach a given salinity than regular instant ocean...my plan for 10 tablespoons of salt per 4 liters would have produced a salinity of about 32.95 ppt (which, while within the range of what corals live in naturally, is a tad lower than I would like), while the same volume of regular instant ocean lead to a salinity of 34.518 ppt (almost perfect...this is a slightly higher value than I got before, and I'm not sure which one is correct. The difference is not large enough to make a huge difference, though)

 

[Homebrewer]

Yeah, I did more research on reef crystals and discovered that it takes more reef crystals to reach a given salinity than regular instant ocean...my plan for 10 tablespoons of salt per 4 liters would have produced a salinity of about 32.95 ppt (which, while within the range of what corals live in naturally, is a tad lower than I would like), while the same volume of regular instant ocean lead to a salinity of 34.518 ppt (almost perfect...this is a slightly higher value than I got before, and I'm not sure which one is correct. The difference is not large enough to make a huge difference, though)

Yeah, like I said the amount you actually need vs. what the packaging says differs (see BRS vid on that).

Just to clarify, when I said 50 gallon bag, I was using that description as a unit of measure to compare prices. A 200 gallon box contains 4x50 gallon bags, and I was remaking that you can get 5x50 gallon bags for about the same price if you buy the 50 gallon bags separately rather than in the 200 gallon box.

Neither, however makes what they say they make. It is just a way to compare one quantity to the other in terms of price.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Yeah, the regular instant ocean says that 1.5 pounds produces 5 gallons of saltwater with a salinity of 1.022 sg/29.222 ppt (lower than I would like); 1.4 pounds of reef crystals produces 5 gallons of seawater at a mere 1.021 sg/27.898 ppt.

 

[Thaxxx]

Yea thats what i got about 130 gallons worth at 1.026 for reef crystals.

Brs did a video on the buckets from many manufcatures if they premixed t see if the buckets make what they say as far as 160 gallons or whatever it said on the buckets.. and BRS bashed reef crystals for only making like 134 gallons worth i believe.. and claimed they had no chart for salinity.. which is utter nonsense because it has a huge chart of silinity right on the bucket. And 1.023 is what makes the 160 gallons. Not 1.026.

This is why i dont listen to alot of stuff on brs. They are really wrong on alot of things and pretty biased to stuff

I totally agree. I always take BRS videos with a huge grain of salt.
Pun intended ;Greedy
Maybe it should be BSR

 

[SaltISlife]

Just a tip to check out Chewy. Buy 5x50-gallon bags @ $11.87 each. With free shipping at $49, you get 250 gallons-worth for the same price as the 200 gallon box from Amazon.

Also, BRS has an entire series of videos on salt mixing, one of them addresses the amount the directions say vs the amount you actually need to hit 35ppt. Very interesting stuff. They then normalize the data based on cost - but the prices are BRS prices. As I just pointed out there are ways to beat that. Lastly, price isn’t the only consideration (before someone jumps all over me about quality). My comments here are only about IORC.

I just go into petsmart. Mine matchs chewy and i get either the bags for the 11.87$ or the bucket for 34.84$.

Because 3 bags of 150 gallons for 35.61$. So you get 10 gallons more in the bucket for 34.84 so less money. And you dont have to wait for shipping. Two buckets would be 320 gallons worth for $69.68. Or 300 gallons worth of 6 bags for $71.22. So 20 gallons more with two buckets for 2$ less.

Plus you get more buckets !!! Lol

 

[SaltISlife]

I totally agree. I always take BRS videos with a huge grain of salt.
Pun intended ;Greedy
Maybe it should be BSR

They also dont even test API test kits when they do their test kit videos. Because they dont sell them. They only do videos on what they sell. And i hate that because ive actually found the api tests to be as accurate as the saliferts i use for calcium. Alk, nitrates and so forth.

Honestly i just use the api kits for my 135g reef asside from the magnesium because i havent had any issues with their kits being off. I know some people have but i havent at all.

 

[Lenett]

Hi everyone! When I had saltwater tanks in the past, I was using standard instant ocean salt for my aquariums...I was using the standard 1/2 cup per gallon and I thought I had a decent specific gravity of 1.023, based off of my hydrometer. HOWEVER, I have since learned that said hydrometers are often unreliable, especially when not regularly cleaned. I am thinking of using instant ocean again when I make my second attempt with saltwater tanks, but first here's a question...when mixed according to the directions on the box, do you guys actually get the stated 1.022 specific gravity listed on the box? If not, what do you get? I was going to use slightly more salt - about 9 or even 10 tablespoons per 4 liters (I know that is slightly more than a gallon, I just find liters more convenient) - than the directions in an attempt to make the setup more comfortable for any corals or other inverts my next tank may have. Thanks