Water question

[Lou Raffael]

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to get my tank up and running for a long time. Had some delays with life, kids, etc... Anyway, I'm finally getting water in the tank, I have 30 gallons pre-mixed salt water in marine safe dark blue 5 gallon buckets in the basement that have been sitting for a few months. I'll make the rest with fresh RO water. I don't believe the water in the blue jugs had evaporated and the salinity is about 1.24 maybe 1.25 in them. Question is can I use this water or does every bucket I pour into the tank have to be spot on 1.26 on the refractomer? I am adding water in order to get the bacteria going on the rocks so there won't be any fish but I still don't want to go through this entire process just to realize the water is no good later when I get things going. Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

 

[loweryphil]

I cycled my tank with no fish just live rock at 1.019 as i ran out of salt. Brought it back up to 1.025 with more salt the next pay day (a month later) and everything was fine.

 

[cloak]

You can go ahead and use that water. Once the tank is full and has mixed for a few hours though go ahead and test the salinity again. Make any adjustments if need be. GL.

 

[ahiggins]

I would be more worried about water quality than specific gravity with the water that sat.
But to your specific question...yes its totally fine to use. I usually make up mine at 1.024 or 1.025 and natural evaporation takes it up to 1.026 before I top it off.

 

[Lou Raffael]

I appreciate the help. Thank you