Properly Mixing Red Sea Coral Pro Salt

[sangheili]

Here's a heads up for those that have this salt and maybe overlooked the mixing instructions.

 

Mix it like this:

 

1. Fill container with cold or room temp water (below 75deg)
2. Turn on mixing pump
3. SLOWLY add salt to water
4. Let mix for 30mins or so
5. Turn on heater and bring up to temp
6. Leave to mix for another 30-90mins (check with refracto to know when its done)
7. STOP MIXING

I used to add the salt as I was adding the water, or dump in all the salt as the container was still filling. Turns out, this leads to a ton of the calc/alk precipitating out of the container before being mixed with the water. Since the calc/alk levels are so high in this salt it very easily reaches the maximum limit of what is soluble in water so you have to keep that in mind.

 

I know for many this is old news (and it's even in the instructions!) but I figured it is worth reminding people. I wondered for a long time why my salt didn't mix up to the levels advertised until I did some reading on calc/alk/mag and then it dawned on me that the stuff was precipitating out.

[Begow]

I've always been curious to the exact amount of cup to gallon ratio, any ideas?

[Lawnman]

I've always been curious to the exact amount of cup to gallon ratio, any ideas?

Welcome back .

[Begow]

Welcome back .

 

Thanks buddy, nice to see you're still on here

[sangheili]

Begow, iirc I use 620-630 grams for my 5 gallon bucket mixing. I fill to about an inch below the rim of the bucket. I end up around 34-36ppt with that much. Still trying to perfect the weight to ppt ratio but I'm close.

[Pancetta]

I've always been curious to the exact amount of cup to gallon ratio, any ideas?

I use 1/2 cup of salt per gallon.

[Begow]

I use 1/2 cup of salt per gallon.

 

 

Is this the general consensus? 1/2 cup of salt per gallon?

[sangheili]

Is this the general consensus? 1/2 cup of salt per gallon?

 

Try to go by weight not volume. Use an accurate gram scale and do a couple test batches. It varies depending on the salt brand. Once you figure out the amount needed for your application you can pre-measure them in containers (eg: ziplock round containers), it's a great time saver and makes for nearly perfect salt batches each time.

[Pancetta]

Is this the general consensus? 1/2 cup of salt per gallon?

Yes. At least from what I found online. That is the ratio I have been using for the past 7 months.

It would be interesting to find out what Red Sea recommends.

[Leatherneck3755]

1/2 cup per gallon works for me.. I only mix/heat for about 30-40 min. I used to mix overnight and everything precipitated out. Lessons learned.

[Skuba]

 

I've always been curious to the exact amount of cup to gallon ratio, any ideas?

Any 200g mix I've bought came with a scoop that's marked 2.5 gallons. Just switch to reef crystals to see why so many swear by it for years and it seems to be the same ration of 1/2 cup per gallon

[BulkRate]

Sorta on-topic here - my bag of IO (stored in a used bucket of Salinity w/ desiccant packets) uses about 1/2 cup + 2 tbs to mix up to 1.025 on a gallon of distilled water. I wonder if over time measuring by weight would become inaccurate as the salt takes on even the little bit of moisture it's exposed to when opened/scooped... especially for owners of pico/smaller nano tanks whose 200G box of salt could be around for a year or more given normal water change routines.

 

Now the tangent - why do we not use conductivity meters instead of refractometers as the go-to device for measuring how salty our salt water is? On testing a batch of newly-mixed salt water wouldn't its electrical conductivity be a more absolute measure than a temperature-dependent optical approach?

 

Not meaning to threadjack... just idle musing that found its way out in an otherwise relevant post.

[Begow]

Any 200g mix I've bought came with a scoop that's marked 2.5 gallons. Just switch to reef crystals to see why so many swear by it for years and it seems to be the same ration of 1/2 cup per gallon

 

Really? I thought most of the experienced reefers I know use Red Sea Coral Pro.

[Skuba]

 

Really? I thought most of the experienced reefers I know use Red Sea Coral Pro.

Google which salt to use and read some threads. They all have identical conversations back n forth. Between coral pro and reef crystals. Or plain Instant ocean. All seem equally popular. But since RC is available everywhere I figured I'd give it a try.

[BoxKing]

1/2 Cup per Gal works for me everytime... I dont even know why I test my water before I add it to the tank anymore other than to check to see if the temp is roughly the same. I use Red Sea Coral Pro. I follow the directions, but I tend to let it mix for 2-3 hours in a covered 5gal bucket.

[ItsOnlyThai]

Does Red Sea Coral Pro or Reef Crystals precipitate out if you mix a big match and and store it for a while?

[joeyhatch11]

I've always been curious to the exact amount of cup to gallon ratio, any ideas?

I mix a 5g bucket (filled roughly 1in from the top) and use 1 3/4 cups to get a 1.024 on my refrac.

[bdevillier19]

I use 4.5 gallons of water to 630 grams of salt and I get 1.025 everytime

[Swing2Harmony]

I mix my weekly magnesium dose with the WC RODI just before adding the salt at 20c and I've never seen a cloudy mix.

[Tinpanva]

I use a 5 gallon bucket and fill to the same line each time, I would say roughly 5 gallons.i add 65 grams of salt. 1.026 every time.