Mixing Salt for the First Aquarium Fill

[Chris H Reef]

Hey All,

So I am filling my 75 gallon tank for the first time. I have sand, rocks, and the tank filled about 75% of the way with FRESH rodi water.

I've seen people saying I should not dump salt directly into the tank to mix because it will not mix properly. I do not have a large reservoir to mix a whole 75 gallons in.

I do have a 15 gallon tub. My question is, should I mix in enough salt for the entire tank in the 15 gallon tub to make a super salt concentrated 15 gallons that I can then dump into the tank and it will mix with the rest of the water giving me the correct salt content for the entire tank?

Does this seem like a good idea?

 

[TX_REEF]

Hey All,

So I am filling my 75 gallon tank for the first time. I have sand, rocks, and the tank filled about 75% of the way with FRESH rodi water.

I've seen people saying I should not dump salt directly into the tank to mix because it will not mix properly. I do not have a large reservoir to mix a whole 75 gallons in.

I do have a 15 gallon tub. My question is, should I mix in enough salt for the entire tank in the 15 gallon tub to make a super salt concentrated 15 gallons that I can then dump into the tank and it will mix with the rest of the water giving me the correct salt content for the entire tank?

Does this seem like a good idea?

yes your idea will work fine.

 

[RocketEngineer]

You don’t want to do that because at high concentrations some salts precipitate instead of dissolve certain compounds you want. Instead, mix it in the tank by slowly adding the dry salt where there is lots of flow. Gradually adding it gives time for everything to dissolve. That also lets you test before adding more to be sure you have the right amount.

 

[Jekyl]

Agree with above method. For future I use a 32g brute trash can to do my mixing. Any plastic that has been marked as "food safe" will work.

 

[crabgrass]

The above methods are certainly better…. But I just added water then salt, turned my powerheada and pump on and let it mix.

I did about 75% of what I thought I needed (a cup / scoop at a time). Waited an hour or 3, tested and added more, tested, etc.

The water should be at your target temperature when testing though

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey All,

So I am filling my 75 gallon tank for the first time. I have sand, rocks, and the tank filled about 75% of the way with FRESH rodi water.

I've seen people saying I should not dump salt directly into the tank to mix because it will not mix properly. I do not have a large reservoir to mix a whole 75 gallons in.

I do have a 15 gallon tub. My question is, should I mix in enough salt for the entire tank in the 15 gallon tub to make a super salt concentrated 15 gallons that I can then dump into the tank and it will mix with the rest of the water giving me the correct salt content for the entire tank?

Does this seem like a good idea?

With an empty tank, I typically add RO water and then drop in salt and allow it to mix, then add sand and then coral once tank clears. In your case you can bail out water into buckets, mix the salt within and pump/add back to tank until you reach desired salinity