Table salt(before irodine) for FOWLR tank

[Reesj]

I could not find a proper answer for this anywhere so here goes,

Has people tried to use table salt for FOWLR tanks ?
I mean salt made from evaporating sea water cleaning them and adding iodine? I guess after adding iodine it is obviously bad.
But if I have the capability to get salt from salt farms right after the sea water is evaporated, can I use it without any problems ?

Does anybody know about the things they do in the process of mixing and cleaning salt for homes?
Thanks guys

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I could not find a proper answer for this anywhere so here goes,

Has people tried to use table salt for FOWLR tanks ?
I mean salt made from evaporating sea water cleaning them and adding iodine? I guess after adding iodine it is obviously bad.
But if I have the capability to get salt from salt farms right after the sea water is evaporated, can I use it without any problems ?

Does anybody know about the things they do in the process of mixing and cleaning salt for homes?
Thanks guys

I tried that years ago and had poor results. The issue is that during evaporation, different salts leave solution at different times. The bitter salts are collected and removed during the process, so that the ionic balance is changed too much for fish.

There is/was a company that claimed to be using "dehydrated" seawater in their mix. When I dug down into their claim, it turns out they were just using solar farmed sodium chloride, to which the added the typical mix of salts to create artificial seawater.

 

[Reesj]

I tried that years ago and had poor results. The issue is that during evaporation, different salts leave solution at different times. The bitter salts are collected and removed during the process, so that the ionic balance is changed too much for fish.

There is/was a company that claimed to be using "dehydrated" seawater in their mix. When I dug down into their claim, it turns out they were just using solar farmed sodium chloride, to which the added the typical mix of salts to create artificial seawater.

I'm actually hoping to collect it stright from salt pans of salt producers. Here is Sri Lankan they still do not produce salt for reef tanks or for hobbies but for domestic use. I'm able to collect the salt stright after it gets cristalised on sun light from salt water.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I'm actually hoping to collect it stright from salt pans of salt producers. Here is Sri Lankan they still do not produce salt for reef tanks or for hobbies but for domestic use. I'm able to collect the salt stright after it gets cristalised on sun light from salt water.

My understanding is that the salt pans develop rings of different salts around the edges as they dehydrate. This makes it very difficult to rehydrate it into something that matches natural seawater.

Why not just use natural seawater?

 

[Reesj]

My understanding is that the salt pans develop rings of different salts around the edges as they dehydrate. This makes it very difficult to rehydrate it into something that matches natural seawater.

Why not just use natural seawater?

Well its not easy to go to sea and load a lot of water. I used to do for like 20l for my reef tank but it was 2 much of a hasle. Sepcially if I want to FOWLR I'm going to need a lot of sea water for my 180 gallon. Also it is quite expensive to get reef salt here now in sri lanka.
So seems the cheapest alternative is trying to find salt from salt pans..

 

[Devaji]

sri Lanka nice! I really wnt to visit some time. been on the list for years.

anyway I liked in Hawaii for some time. I took 5gal. bucks like 4-5 of them. and rent to a rocky shore to collect NSW. worked great.

alternatively you could rig up pump in to a larger barrel of some sort. would take some work but would not be to hard.

I never ran my NSW through a DIY sand filter but one could easily make one.
I would think collecting NSW would be your best bet. there has to be ways to get some clean sea water there.

got to be creative. make friends with tour boat guides or fisher men that would help you out.

all that said I have heard people using salt for water softeners not sure if that's a think there or not but collecting NSW would be my 1st choice by far.

 

[Doctorgori]

Sri Lanka, nice to see reefers from all over

 

[Reesj]

sri Lanka nice! I really wnt to visit some time. been on the list for years.

anyway I liked in Hawaii for some time. I took 5gal. bucks like 4-5 of them. and rent to a rocky shore to collect NSW. worked great.

alternatively you could rig up pump in to a larger barrel of some sort. would take some work but would not be to hard.

I never ran my NSW through a DIY sand filter but one could easily make one.
I would think collecting NSW would be your best bet. there has to be ways to get some clean sea water there.

got to be creative. make friends with tour boat guides or fisher men that would help you out.

all that said I have heard people using salt for water softeners not sure if that's a think there or not but collecting NSW would be my 1st choice by far.

YEs I have used NSW for occasional water change of my reef. manage to collect like 20l only currently with my 3 buckets. But for a 180 gallon i need a lot of water and its about 500m from sea to my car carrying all the water.. not to mention and hassle of canes on the shote with a small opening..

So if i can get salt from salt pans should be much easier and cheaper alternative..