Salt Ratio

[JFoster]

Is there a formula or chart that gives rough mixing guidelines for salt/water?

What I would like to do is figure out how much salt I would need to add if my salinity is off. For example, my 150 gallon tank (plus the water in the megaflow tank) tests at 28ppt and I want to bump it to 30ppt. I guess I'd even like to see a chart that shows how much water to add if a tank salinity level is too high etc.

And if there is such a guideline, how would different brand salts effect it's accuracy? The salt we have right now is mixed 1/2 cup per gallon which works fine for mixing water for a swap...

Thanks, Jon.

 

[Pure]

I don't know of one, and if there was one it wouldn't be very accurate. As the salt in the bag ages it absorbs moisture from the air increasing it's total mass. This makes it difficult to say exactly how much salt is needed in a per cup or table spoon to equal what specific gravity.

I find it best to add the salt slowly and test SG with each addition.

 

[TRe]

if u wanna bump up yur salinity just top off with saltwater instead of ro
btw i dont kno of any calculator

 

[JFoster]

Thanks for the replies. I did a water swap today then began filling 5 gallon buckets with RO water for the next swap. As I was filling the water I started to add salt in 2.5 cup measurements per bucket. Then I started mixing... I had 6 buckets going at once and came up with 6 different results when I checked each bucket. I know the guy doing the mixing before me always dumped the measured amount of salt in the bucket, added "some" water and called it a day. Salinity jumped around in the tank from swap to swap and nobody seemed to do any fine tuning. I was hoping for a way to fix salinity trouble without water changes if somebody else makes a change and sets things out of whack.

Jon.

 

[Lorna]

well you should always check the sg and ph/dkh and temp of your water change water to ensure it is the same as that in the display before you change the water that way the main display doesn't get out of whack.....I must think that the measuring wasn't as accurate as each bucket was different.....I mix my water change water in a 50g rubbermaid trash can and let it mix for a minimum of 24hrs before I change the water. The sg will change between the time you first mix it until it is thoroughly mixed so that may attribute to the differences.

 

[JFoster]

We usually let the freshly mixed water sit for a few days because it takes that long to get enough water out of the RO system to do a swap. I think I found the inconsistency between the buckets too. Some were food service pails, some were 5 gallon buckets and some were something else. Most of them looked similar but some of them were not the same volume. All the odd-ball buckets are now gone.

Our swap water is only room temp too. I don't have a way to heat it.

Jon.

 

[TRe]

i think i found what your looking for

SaltyZoo's Salinity Adjustment Calculator

 

[JFoster]

Cool. I think that's it. Thanks.

Jon.

 

[Pure]

J still you need to use a hydrometer to see where your SG is. Like I said moisture in the air will effect the volume of salt in your container, making this scale inaccurate over time.

 

[JFoster]

Pure, I tried a small adjustment the other day and the change wasn't what I thought it would be. The new SG was pretty much the same 24 hours later. So I think I'll just need to do the premixing and be patient with the process. I was hoping for a quick way to make adjustments but maybe playing it safe is better.

I did run into a new issue though. The filters in our RO systems (for both tanks) have never had filter changes. Getting them taken care of was my Friday project...

Jon.