Mixing Red Sea Coral Pro Salt

[SE_Billy]

Hey all,

 

I was trying to decipher the mixing instructions on the Red Sea Coral Pro Salt for a new AP12 HQI that I am setting up and was looking for help. This says that I should add 1.5 lbs of salt to 5G of RO/DI water to obtain a SG of 1.023 which is a Salinity of 32.8 ppt and 450 ppm Calcium. Without specific scales how do I go about getting this SG to where I want? How much salt do I add? Is there anyone out there that uses this stuff that could shed some light on this for a newbie? Unfortunately, the search feature did not give me the types of answers I was hoping.

 

Thank you in advance,

 

SE Billy

[viix]

Use about 1/2 cup per gallon (just a hair under) to shoot for 1.026. Then test water using a hydrometer or refractometer to see if you need to add more water or salt.

 

Does that answer your question?

[masterbuilder]

I use Red Sea and what viix said is about right.

[SE_Billy]

So a half a cup per gallon will get me to 1.026 so I probably want to use a little bit less when mixing. Okay I'll give that a shot and see what happens. I ran freshwater on my tank after mods for a week with the lights on a full timer to watch temperature and see how much of a swing I will get and I was consistantly 79.0F in the morning when lights came on and 80.2F when lights went off. I'll mix the water in the tank and test 24 hrs later. I'm using a refractometer calibrated with solution and an IO hydrometer to see the difference between the two.

 

Thanks!

 

SE Billy

[viix]

If you are just setting up your tank I'll make a suggestion.

1. mix your water in a seperate container

2. put your sand in your empty tank and use a large ziplock to cover the sand

3. add your water and aim for that ziplock bag you just put on it

 

Remove the ziplock bag and you have a fresh new tank that you can see in. If you add your water first then add your sand your tank will be a cloudy mess for a good 3-7 days.

[scarfish]

I have never measured salt ever. I just add salt to my water in a mixing bin, then add more salt or water till I get a correct reading on a refractometer. I start with less salt and because if I overshoot SG I have to wait for my RO unit to drip more water out.

[masterbuilder]

Scarfish,

 

If you never measure salt...how do you know what gets you close to the salanity you want? If you knew about how much salt you needed it seems it would save you MANY steps.

 

I add slightly less than 1/2 cup per gal and adjust from there, sometimes I need to add more salt and sometimes I get lucky and hit it exactly.

[jamesnmandy]

i never measure it either, just know about how much to add, let it run, check it, add salt or water as necessary to fine tune, done

[scarfish]

Scarfish,

 

If you never measure salt...how do you know what gets you close to the salanity you want? If you knew about how much salt you needed it seems it would save you MANY steps.

 

When I make SW I fill a 32 gallon Rubbermaid trash can about half way, anywhere between 1/3 & 2/3s full, I have no clue exactly how many gallons I have in there so it doesn't matter exactly how much salt to add per gallon. I just eyeball it. I usually have to add more salt twice the most. I mostly only have to add more salt once. After doing it a while you get a feel for how much to add. I did anyways.

[SE_Billy]

If you are just setting up your tank I'll make a suggestion.

1. mix your water in a seperate container

2. put your sand in your empty tank and use a large ziplock to cover the sand

3. add your water and aim for that ziplock bag you just put on it

 

Remove the ziplock bag and you have a fresh new tank that you can see in. If you add your water first then add your sand your tank will be a cloudy mess for a good 3-7 days.

 

I was planning on mixing the water in the tank and then draining the water when I put the liverock and livesand in the tank and then putting the salt water fully mixed and temp controlled back into the tank. Seems like a lot I know but I like to make sure everything is working properly before I take it to the next step. I'll mix the salt in a 5G "homer" bucket for 8 hours and see what happens instead. If it works right and I can get the SG going right then I'll know what to add for the other 2 buckets of RO/DI I have currently.

 

Thanks again for all your clarifications.

 

SE Billy

-Insert witty signature here-

[dtfleming]

I use around a cup per 2gal of red sea to mix with a SG of 1.025

[monosyth]

This sounds about right. I was doing 4gals of water and followed StevieT's water change. 2.5 cups for 4 gals put my SG at 1.035! So I think 2 cups sounds about right for next time for 4 gals.