POLL: Do you mix salt using a scale?
- Thread starter NY_Caveman
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I use a lot of salt. I have a 55 gal drum where I mix my salt. Each time I use the mixed salt, I leave about 5 gal behind and then turn on the valve to fill the drum with RO. The water line have a float valve which automatically shut off the water when the drum is full. I think just dump one bag of either Instant Ocean, Reef Crystal or Kent marine into it. I have a paddle, to mix the water, but also have a PH in the drum. Just take a few mins and have ready to use, perfectly adjust salinity, every time.
Never weight or even check the salinity of the water. Because after I dump the salt in the volume of the fluid in the container always raise to above the float valve so I always know if I added salt in it already or not. The drum have a cover so elaboration is not an issue
Never weight or even check the salinity of the water. Because after I dump the salt in the volume of the fluid in the container always raise to above the float valve so I always know if I added salt in it already or not. The drum have a cover so elaboration is not an issue
Dkeller_nc
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Pretty late to this conversation, but thought I might add a comment about preventing moisture adsorption. Most of us that have been doing this a while recognize that the constituents of ASW aren't "stable" in the presence of moisture in the air, in that the calcium chloride and sodium carbonate/bicarbonate will combine to form insoluble calcium carbonate. In the extreme, that will turn the salt mix to a block of concrete.
So obviously, the key to preventing this is to keep the salt mix from adsorbing moisture from the air. That sounds pretty simple - just close the plastic bag. In reality, though, it turns out that the typical polyethylene bag that most salt is sold in is a rather poor water vapor barrier. Even never-opened, sealed bags of salt will adsorb a significant amount of water from the air through the plastic bag over a period of time; if the salt's stored in an unconditioned space in a warm, humid climate, that period of time may be measured in weeks. If it's stored in a conditioned environment, the shelf life may be measured in months.
So if you purchase your salt by the box, it may be worth getting a 5 gallon bucket from the home store. As long as it has a rubber gasket and the lid seals tightly, the considerably greater moisture barrier that the much thicker plastic provides will keep your salt mix pristine as long as you don't leave it open longer than necessary, and are careful to completely dry a measuring cup or scoop before you use it to remove salt from the container.
So obviously, the key to preventing this is to keep the salt mix from adsorbing moisture from the air. That sounds pretty simple - just close the plastic bag. In reality, though, it turns out that the typical polyethylene bag that most salt is sold in is a rather poor water vapor barrier. Even never-opened, sealed bags of salt will adsorb a significant amount of water from the air through the plastic bag over a period of time; if the salt's stored in an unconditioned space in a warm, humid climate, that period of time may be measured in weeks. If it's stored in a conditioned environment, the shelf life may be measured in months.
So if you purchase your salt by the box, it may be worth getting a 5 gallon bucket from the home store. As long as it has a rubber gasket and the lid seals tightly, the considerably greater moisture barrier that the much thicker plastic provides will keep your salt mix pristine as long as you don't leave it open longer than necessary, and are careful to completely dry a measuring cup or scoop before you use it to remove salt from the container.
OP
OP
NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
This is excellent advice. It is what I used to do before I just started buying it in a bucket.
OP
OP
NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
Smart question. My mix bucket is marked off for each gallon. Not as accurate as the scale, but I still get it pretty dead on every time.
OP
OP
NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
LOL, reefers. Between our scales and pink refugium lights everyone probably thinks we are drug addicts.
Dkeller_nc
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I'm sure my neighbors think something's up, since my kitchen counter always has various volumetric flasks and beakers on it, and I'm often measuring things out into little containers with syringes, and holding the containers up to the light to judge color....
BZOFIQ
5000 Club Member
I haven't done a water change in years so not sure if anything has changed.
Have used scale in the past for ESV but generally its 10 and half cups (my cup is not exactly a cup if that makes sense) of IO in about 30 gallons of water.
Have used scale in the past for ESV but generally its 10 and half cups (my cup is not exactly a cup if that makes sense) of IO in about 30 gallons of water.
I measure out plastic bags at 720g for 5g of RS salt I make a couple months worth of bags at a time. The bucket has marked lines at each gallon increment but I’ve never really checked if they are correct. Seems to mix out at the correct sg though. Really hardest part is getting the water back to the same point every time and not over/underfilling. That affects tank salinity way more.
Sleepydoc
Valuable Member
Yes, this was the point of my earlier post. I find it ironic that people obsess over weighing the salt to an accuracy of 1g but yet they most probably have a 3-5% error in their water measurement and a 5% error in measuring the salinity of the finished mixture. (If you look at the specs of the Milwaukee digital refractometer, it’s ±0.002 or ±2 ppt)
On top of this, if you do a 10% water change and your new water is off by 0.002, the SG of your tank water will change by less than 1%.
Weighing salt is a perfectly fine method of measuring it, but buying a scale because you are concerned about the accuracy is rather pointless.
Rockit
Active Member
I dump a "yeah.... that's about right" amount of salt in the 32 gallon Rubbermaid can that's filled to the handle contour line. 90% of the time I'm just a tad high and drop it by adding FW a bit at a time.
Usually takes less than a gallon be spot on.
I use a floating glass hydrometer (Tropic Marin) that I let float freely until I think I have the SG correct then I take a sample with a super sized test jar I put together specifically for the oversized Tropic Marin hydrometer and get a precise reading.
Usually takes less than a gallon be spot on.
I use a floating glass hydrometer (Tropic Marin) that I let float freely until I think I have the SG correct then I take a sample with a super sized test jar I put together specifically for the oversized Tropic Marin hydrometer and get a precise reading.
I don't think most are doing it for accuracy... It's just easier and faster.
For me, it takes about 8 cups of salt. However, it's almost impossible to be perfectly precise when measuring a powder of sorts. Is it level, are you slightly above the line, or slightly below, etc. Not to mention the salt residue makes it hard to see the lines on my 4 cup measuring cup unless you clean it between every scoop. I find I have to use 7 cups, then continue to add the remaining cup in smaller increments while testing in between. It's slow because you have to wait for it to mix and then of course you have to keep testing, which includes cleaning the testing devices in between.
If you go through that process once, but weight the salt you used to get to your desired value, you simply just add that amount of salt moving forward to your already established volume of water and you're done. A single test to verify is always a good idea though.
I don't ever adjust the salt to make up for variances in the tank's salinity. My salinity tends to increase a little over time, so when I'm checking my tank water and it's started to creep up a little, I just drain a little tank water out into a bucket and let the ATO top it back off.
