Water Change

[heath]

what I do is; fill my water drum (40g) add my power head and then add the salt slowly, let it mix for a bit test it and just add it until you reach the level that you want.. the more that you do it you will be able to do with your eyes closed... you will get to know your tank...

 

[Canadianeh]

Where do you buy food grade drums?

 

[heath]

mine are the salt barrels from old water softeners...you can find them for free...they work well for me and if space is an issue they are not that big were I think you could put them in a closet...

 

[Canadianeh]

I found some on kijiji. Not expensive. I don't think I have room for it though.

Maybe I can put cure my rock in condo balcony? Opinion? It is outdoor.

 

[heath]

just be very careful buying from someone that you don't know and haven't seen their tank... sometimes cheap isn't so cheap..you could be buying yourself a whole lot of trouble, not saying that its all trouble...just be cautious...

 

[kapelan]

http://aquaforest.eu/en/product/reef-salt/

The manufacturer web says to mix to 33 ppt in 24 degree Celcius of 100 litres of water use 3.8kg salt.

do not trust them, use spectrometer.
I've bought 2 boxes of Instant Ocean salt from the same store. One of them in May, another in August.
From the first box to make 33pt I added 600 gram of salt to 5g.
From second 660 gram per 5 gallons.

 

[Canadianeh]

do not trust them, use spectrometer.
I've bought 2 boxes of Instant Ocean salt from the same store. One of them in May, another in August.
From the first box to make 33pt I added 600 gram of salt to 5g.
From second 660 gram per 5 gallons.

Spectrometer? Another device? Why not refractometer?

 

[Canadianeh]

just be very careful buying from someone that you don't know and haven't seen their tank... sometimes cheap isn't so cheap..you could be buying yourself a whole lot of trouble, not saying that its all trouble...just be cautious...

it is between $15-$30 for 50-55 gallon of food grade barrel with lid. Some of them is labeled "food grade" as well. Is there a way to be sure if it is food safe?

 

[heath]

Iam so sorry, I thought that you were talking about rock...its probly safe, do you know what it was used for before...

 

[Canadianeh]

Iam so sorry, I thought that you were talking about rock...its probly safe, do you know what it was used for before...

It says new on the ad. There are many of them on kijiji.

 

[Chrismayu]

As for finding out how much salt to add to get the correct salt level - I"ll mix up 3 or 4 different bottles and fill them all to the same level on the bottle. I'll weight out a range of grams and then track which amount of salt ends up in which pail(bottle) then shake each bottle . I wait a day or so then I shake up the bottle and test. I keep doing this till I found the amount that works for that pail of salt - yes i agree - each pail of salt might be slightly different. Rule of thumb with having a Reef tank 1 - read a lot - 2 write stuff down