Mixing Salt

Jerry Ebner

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I use IO Reef Crystals From the mixing instructions it seems I can ready mix and use it no wait times etc. Anyone care to share how they mix or even store such salt. I do keep a 17g bucket for my tank for AWC . But my other tank is by manual water change so I just mix up and use within a day or two .
Feel free to share your methods looking to expand how I may do my water changes in the future .
thx
Jerry
 

don_chuwish

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No matter what salt I’ve tried over the years I always try to have it mixing for at least six hours, usually I just let it go a full 24. Keep it moving and it can be stored quite long term. There are some great BRSTv vids on the topic.
 
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Jerry Ebner

Jerry Ebner

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No matter what salt I’ve tried over the years I always try to have it mixing for at least six hours, usually I just let it go a full 24. Keep it moving and it can be stored quite long term. There are some great BRSTv vids on the topic.
Yes I have seen the BRS video on salt mixing. I do run a powerhead to mix my salt beats the days of a large spoon lol.
Thanks for the input :)
 

NeonRabbit221B

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In an emergency situation (not sure if its an accident that it is posted here) I will mix with a powerhead and heater for atleast 1 hour. Check salinity and temperature and go. Because my nano tank has such a small volume when I drip acclimate I might need to replace or top off 2 liters which makes using a powerhead pretty challenging. In this case I will mix with a large plastic spoon several times over the course of a 2 hour period and use an air stone.

For planned bi-monthly water changes I use a bucket, powerhead and heater and let it mix for 12-48 hours. I calibrate my refractometer (essentially I do this weekly) and check the new waters salinity and temp.
 

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Usually mix 15 gallons in a 20 gallon Brute. Heat to about 70-75 degrees then mix in salt with powerhead (then let heat get to 78). Typically let it mix over night and sometimes store for multiple days or weeks. When storing, i keep the powerhead and heater in. I use Fritz blue box.
 
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Jerry Ebner

Jerry Ebner

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In an emergency situation (not sure if its an accident that it is posted here) I will mix with a powerhead and heater for atleast 1 hour. Check salinity and temperature and go. Because my nano tank has such a small volume when I drip acclimate I might need to replace or top off 2 liters which makes using a powerhead pretty challenging. In this case I will mix with a large plastic spoon several times over the course of a 2 hour period and use an air stone.

For planned bi-monthly water changes I use a bucket, powerhead and heater and let it mix for 12-48 hours. I calibrate my refractometer (essentially I do this weekly) and check the new waters salinity and temp.
Yes by accident to post in tank emergency sorry :(
 

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When I did maintenance the instructions were--If the water is clear you are good to go.
Now I mix for a few hours . I saw the BRS video series.
 

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Usually mix 15 gallons in a 20 gallon Brute. Heat to about 70-75 degrees then mix in salt with powerhead (then let heat get to 78). Typically let it mix over night and sometimes store for multiple days or weeks. When storing, i keep the powerhead and heater in. I use Fritz blue box.
I do the exact same thing and I use Fritz Red Box.
 

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Also, Amazon has some great options for cheap powerheads. This is the one i use:

 

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i heat my water to 24-26c and mix in the salt (red sea blue) and leave overnight but problem is that the ALK drops to 7.6-7.8 next day before use! so have to buffer back up before use!

does leaving your salt heated normally do this?
 

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i heat my water to 24-26c and mix in the salt (red sea blue) and leave overnight but problem is that the ALK drops to 7.6-7.8 next day before use! so have to buffer back up before use!

does leaving your salt heated normally do this?

Mix it at room temp and then heat it after mixing, before you do the water change. You will have less precipitate mixing at lower temp.
 

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I also use the Reef Crystals. I mix it up in a 20G container and leaving overnight with a powerhead and heater. But lately I've been considering switching salts but RC leaves a lot of brown residue after mixing it. I've seen the video on BRS and it seems like Tropic Marin is a favorite option but the only thing holding me is the low ALK.
 

johnj

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Mix it at room temp and then heat it after mixing, before you do the water change. You will have less precipitate mixing at lower temp.
room temps cold as in garage and in uk mate" can i just set heaters to say 20-22c and then turn up to temp im after last hour or two before water change?
 
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Jerry Ebner

Jerry Ebner

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I have found living in south texas anyways no heater in my brute 10 ga bucket the water gets too warm and I end up having to use a bag of ice to chill the water back down to tank temp. Seems the power head heats the water up good . Maybe the tight lid keeps the heat in.
 

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