msavary76
Community Member
Hey everyone is there a way that I can make aquarium salt from home. I need to fill about a 50 gal fish tank. I need this taken care of as fast as possible.. I have two Clownfish in Distress.
Home made Aquarium Salt
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Without already having the proper components you're better suited to guy buy salt from a fish store.
To clarify, you can make your own salt... but you need to have very high quality components on hand already (they can be a pain to source). Unfortunately there's no quick way to use Morton's table salt or the like 
Try to keep some on hand in the future, better yet keep SW mixed up in case the need arises, because it will at some point.
Try to keep some on hand in the future, better yet keep SW mixed up in case the need arises, because it will at some point.
reggaedrummin
Active Member
Yeah there's a lot more to it than just salt. You have to account for the big 3, alkalinity, ph, and calcium. If you're just mixing it up for fish, then calcium and magnesium are less important but any big changes from the water they're already in can cause added stress. I'd probably opt to wait until you can get access to what you need. Table salt is iodized and without an iodine test, I wouldn't use it for my critters. Can you share anything more about your problem at hand?
Reef Scene
Community Member
There is a formula out there it just in a 1000 gallon batch. To make a smaller amount like s 200 gallon batch, just multiply all listed amounts by.2.
Daniel@R2R
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I would suggest ordering online. You can get good salt at $40-$50 online. Definitely easier than trying to DIY and probably less expensive.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Here's a recipe provided in Chemical Oceanography by Frank Millero:
It makes a recipe that matches 35 ppt seawater in terms of major ions, but does not try to match all minor and trace elements, most of which will be present as impurities in the major elements.
23.98 g sodium chloride
5.029 g magnesium chloride
4.01 g sodium sulfate
1.14 g calcium chloride
0.699 g potassium chloride
0.172 g sodium bicarbonate
0.100 g potassium bromide
0.0254 g boric acid
0.0143 g strontium chloride
0.0029 g sodium fluoride
Water to 1 kg total weight.
It makes a recipe that matches 35 ppt seawater in terms of major ions, but does not try to match all minor and trace elements, most of which will be present as impurities in the major elements.
23.98 g sodium chloride
5.029 g magnesium chloride
4.01 g sodium sulfate
1.14 g calcium chloride
0.699 g potassium chloride
0.172 g sodium bicarbonate
0.100 g potassium bromide
0.0254 g boric acid
0.0143 g strontium chloride
0.0029 g sodium fluoride
Water to 1 kg total weight.
beaslbob
2500 Club Member
thanks Randy.
Is boraxo the same as boric acid?
I think most will find the "easy stuff" is extremely cheap but but stuff like strontium chloride is extremely expensive which makes the commercial salt mixes very competive cost wise.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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No, it isn't quite the same.
Borax is the sodium salt of boric acid. You'd need to add more of it, but otherwise that would be OK. It will boost alk a little bit to use that.
Borax is the sodium salt of boric acid. You'd need to add more of it, but otherwise that would be OK. It will boost alk a little bit to use that.
