Mixing salt water first time

[canadianeh]

If I don’t have 65 gallon container to mix salt water to fill up brand new tank Reefer 250 for the very first time, what are the options? Can you pour the salt in directly into the tank? Will I kill the caribsea live rock if I fill the tank with RODI water and then mix in the salt directly into the tank?

 

[Euphyllia97]

If the live rock you mean is that dryrock with the purple color, you could just fill up the aquarium with RODI and mix the salt directly in the tank. If it is real life rock you could store the rock in a smaller container with saltwater. Then fill up the tank with your saltwater and the water with the rocks.

 

[Hemmdog]

Go to Home Depot/Lowe’s, get a 35 gal brute trash can. You will need it eventually anyways, make two batches, pour in, good to go. All you need is a spare pump that is 650 gph ideally, but 250+gph will work in a pinch.

 

[Flippers4pups]

If it's "live rock", fill the tank with RO/DI water and add salt. Once at salinity, add the rock. Cycle as usual.

Dry rock, add the rock and fill the same way above. Cycle as usual.

 

[Auquanut]

Two really good and completely different methods to get the job done from two really smart guys. You have options! I would get that brute though. Even if I'm only making a 5 gallon bucket of RO, the bucket goes in my brute before I do anything else. That way when I invariably neglect to turn the RO/DI unit off in time, the brute prevents a flood. Voice of experience.

 

[Radman73]

Two really good and completely different methods to get the job done from two really smart guys. You have options! I would get that brute though. Even if I'm only making a 5 gallon bucket of RO, the bucket goes in my brute before I do anything else. That way when I invariably neglect to turn the RO/DI unit off in time, the brute prevents a flood. Voice of experience.

+1 on this. Thankfully it's my garage, and why I don't pay as much attention as I should, but the whole family has learned that water on the garage floor means to turn off the faucet feeding the RODI lol! I've gotten better.