Is my plan for salt mix fine?

[cascardo]

Hey, folks.

I have a nano reef that I have been running for 19 months now. I have live rock, two clownfish, one Fridmany Dottyback, some inverts (4 snails and 2 hermit crabs). And I tried a Hammer, but unfortunately, that was a goner. One of the issues is how regularly I do water changes and the salinity of my LFS water. They sell it at 1.022, and I read that I should try to keep my water at 1.025. So I decided to only get RO from my LFS and do weekly water changes.

My plan is to get RO from the LFS as I don't plan to have the gear to do it myself. But I will do my own mixing from now on. I have a 60L (around 15 gallons?) tank and I plan to do weekly changes of around 5L (so a little bit below 10%).

What is the catch? I don't want a large setup for the mixing either. I have a good food-grade container I use for the water, so I would put the salt in the container with the RO water, shake it for a couple of minutes, let it sit for 10 minutes, and repeat that two or three times, measure with my refractometer, then use it the next day when I do the water change. Would you suggest any change in that plan that does not involve getting equipment for the mixing? What do I lose or what are the risks of doing it this way?

UPDATE: I recalled I have a spare pump (it was too noisy when I got the tank, so I replaced it), and I am planning on getting a 5L "milk" container (the reason I don't want to use a bucket is that I am sure people at home will use it for something else). So now the plan is to use the pump to mix it for 2 hours or overnight (which one is better?). And how do you suggest I dry the container after using it, or may I just leave it closed? How about drying the pump? How often do I need to clean the pump if it is being used exclusively for this?

As for the salt mix, I did some quick research and I am considering the Reeflowers Caledonia Sea Salt (https://www.reeflowers.com/urunler/tuzlu-su/sea-salt/CSS7K?lang=en).

WATER PARAMETERS at salinity 33.5 ppt
Alk/Kh: 3.3-3.5 meq/L / 9.3-9.7 dkh
Ca: 410-430 ppm
Mg: 1250-1310 ppm
K: 380-400 ppm

Would those be good parameters for a nano reef with 3 fish, inverts and one or two LPS corals? I would like to reintroduce an LPS when I manage to get to that weekly routine and get at least salinity and KH to stable levels for a few weeks.

I really appreciate any tips here.

 

[Saltyreef]

Mix it a couple hours before you plan on doing a water change. Mix it only until its clear. All the salt mixes ive used will precipitate and get cloudy if mixed overnight. I have a digital scale i used to measure the amount of salt it takes to make the salinity 1.025 at 77 degrees and once its clear and at temp, i use it.
I use red sea blue bucket.

I use a graduated 5 g bucket, a mj600 or mj1200 pump and a 100w heater with controller. It stays in my closet when not in use labeled fish tank only!

When im done i rinse everything in the bucket with tap water from the tub and let it air dry just to get the salt water off.
The pump doesnt need to be cleaned as there is no biofilm to rinse like there would when its being used on a tank with fish.

Also you should make a small investment into an RODI unit unless your LFS is selling 0tds water. You can get away with just RO for a while but eventually it will catch up to you and cause headaches with chemistry or nutrients.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO it would be better to buy distilled water from the grocery store rather than LFS water, who knows how often they clean their equipment. It comes up often enough on the forum that I wouldn't trust it.

I would suggest to get a bucket from home depot, you can get 3 gallon buckets for just a few dollars, and its the perfect size for water changes on your size tank. Then buy a cheapo powerhead from amazon (or use your spare one), and mix the water that way.

I never clean the powerhead.

Also a good idea to have a spare heater to heat the water before changing it.

 

[MC Blowfish]

I buy distilled water from the grocery store. I use a 5 gallon bucket where I put in my salt and my water. I have a small powerhead that I use to mix the water. I check the salinity after an hour and make adjustments if I need to.

 

[exnisstech]

As to mixing it depends on the salt mix. Some have different mixing and storage instructions than others. I'm an instant ocean purple user and I mix mine overnight and often keep a powerhead running all week. I keep a brute full for emergency so if nothing comes up it may sit with a powehead running for a week before I use it for changes and it's never been an issue. Ive heard if other salts that are supposed to be used as soon as it's mixed and it's not to be stored.
I find it pretty odd that a LFS store would only sell 1.022 saltwater. They obviously don't expect people to keep coral I hope. I would expect them to sell it at a salinty suitable for fish and coral. IMO 1.022 should only be used in a fowlr not a reef tank.

 

[cascardo]

They sold me my Hammer, and whenever I brought up water for testing, if my salinity was above 1.023, they would tell me to get it down to 1.022. Only then I realized that they must be selling me water at 1.022 and I decided to measure it with my refractometer and confirmed it was the case. It's hard to ignore the people who are supposed to be giving you expert advice, but, unfortunately, it seems they were not giving me good advice at all.
Thanks everyone who responded, I realized too that I could use my TDS pen to measure their RO water, and though it was an "old batch" (from a container I brought from the store a couple of weeks ago), it still measured too high, I think (55ppm, while my tap water measures 75ppm). So I am going to a different store and check if they sell RODI and measure their water.
I am not sure I can get distilled water from the grocery store or from the pharmacy at a reasonable price, but I will try that avenue too if necessary.

 

[Saltyreef]

You can get distilled water for around $1.50/gal. Target, walmart....etc.
You would be able to buy over 250gals before breaking even with the cost of a decent standard RODI unit.
The target water bottles are nicer than walmart and can be reused if you ever have the need just fyi.

 

[ColorMeGone]

I make mine in a 5 gallon bucket and make 2 gallons per week since I only change 3 cups a day on my 7 gallons of water nano. I mix it overnight using a powerhead and a heater to make the water match my tank temp of 78 deg. Then I can measure salinitly correctly to match my tank that I keep at 35.

 

[Saltyreef]

Btw i was using 7ppm RO from the local street corner water machine and it still ended up causing nutrient/algae issues.
I would not skimp on 0 tds water. Alternatively you can also buy natural sea water for around $4/gal and not have to worry about mixing. Thats how i started reefing though the water was much cheaper then.

 

[Kooma]

Keep things simple.

Buy the 5 gallon water cooler jugs from a water store or grocery store. I did this for years with my 60 gallon.

White 5 gallon bucket

50 watt heater

250-500gph circulation pump.

Combine water and salt with your water in the pail.

Mix for a few hours and check salinity. Adjust if needed. I usually only fill my bucket 80% full to start so I can add rodi if I overshoot the salt.

Let it mix and once it’s up to temp and salinity, grab another bucket and hose to siphon water out. Place the new bucket beside your new one to eyeball the water levels. Once bucket of old water is the same level as new, dump your new bucket of water in.

Did it like this for 8 years, it’s simple, compact and easy.