I mix two Brute (sp?) garbage cans about 30g each and use Reef Crystals. I just tested both after about four days, one was heavily aerated and both had power heads running the whole time.
Both batches nitrates at zero. I do get a brown scum on my one can that I always have water mixing in.

I’ve used mixed aerated water that had been sitting around after four weeks…next time I do that I’ll measure nitrates.


That’s whacked… 0 and then 20 on your nitrate scale makes no sense. What is the measurement?

All this fuss on measuring, I don’t get. Take your water volume of make up water what ever it is, add your salt until you have the correct SG. Remember how much salt that was…repeat. Really simple! 1g or 100g whats the difference?

Dave

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals I haven't went looked at it if I remember it starts a zero and goes up in increments of 20 up to about 160 /ppm.
I'm at work so thats why I can't check :rolleyes:

I agree with monza... having makeup water is easy... fill the bucket, get the SG and temp right, keep it aerated, surface agitation , whatever you want.... remember how much salt you added to the bucket, and bam that's it ...

Heh.. for a tank 20g and less... not having makeup water isn't such a big deal , because it takes about 15 minutes max to make up a 5g bucket of saltwater!

Murm... that nitrate test kit is pretty weird... they usually don't go in sets of 20's do they? I think mine goe's by 5...

well, i never saw this post yet....i just filled up my 100 gallon waterchange tank with RO water and have a small power head in it for a tiny bit of circulation, no heat, and a lid on top, ...i'll do the nitrate test tomorrow and let you know what i get,

since i only have a 35 gallon perfect cube, my water changes arnt going to be very much, hence why i set up a large barrel to store my RO water

we'll i'll guess we'll see.... :eek:

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Space is a bit of an issue at my place so when I need to do more than the usual 5 gallons/week water change I just ask my Gal to fill a few buckets during the day. :mrgreen:

I don't understand where nitrate the nitrate would even come from.

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Over time even the smalles residual bacteria can start the nitrogen cycle. It could come from your hands or even airbound bacteria, like if you sneeze or something. If you mix the salt water before storing it sometimes there are nitrates in the salt.

I am having problems with the crystal sea mix. In the process of setting up a new 20g tank. I mixed the water to a SG of 1.023, mixed it overnight, it was still cloudy. Tested the Ph it was off the hagen scale (8.6 is their top reading). Took a sample of water to Pauls aquarium, he tested it to be 8.8. He gave me a new bag of salt. I mixed up a 5g batch, circulated over night. The water was clear PH still over 8.6, alk=2.6 meg/l which is on the low side. This could have been what lead to the brown water problem I was having with the batch mixing. I'll be going back to see him today with more water so he can test the calibration of my Sg reader, alk, and Ph. Didn't take a very large sample last time. Contacted Crystal Sea Robert Spellman will get back to me tomorrow. I'll let you know what he says.

I would be buying a new Nitrate kit. Go get a Salifert. Increments of 20 is unreal for a reef tank.

Hey, fun thread! Question is can you mix up a month or 2 worth of water change water to have on hand so you don't have to mix a gallon at a time? Sure, can't see why not. I've stored IO and Kent salt in 5g jugs for over a month, no problems at all. I regularly have a rubbermaid of SW made at any time, usually two weeks old anyway.
To store salt water, fill a jug, put the lid on it, and keep it in the dark until you need it. You shouldn't have any nitrates or brown water. This assumes you're using RO and quality salt. If either of these isn't the case, change it.
You should have no trouble keeping 10g of SW handy over a span of 2 months....