A question about salinity
 

Hy Guys,

Hmm, I am a little bit confused with a hydrometer that I just get, "Red Sea" brand. I did not disolve the salt yet, basically i run the fresh water through the system. But that strange device shows that my fresh water has salinity of 1.024 :mrgreen: Hmmm, strange though :idea: Does anyone know whether it is normal?
And another question, i bought a Kent salt and funny enough it does not have mixing directions, the instruction just says : mix appropriate amount of fresh water to get desired salinity :mrgreen: What would be the appropriate amount then in grams/liter or oz/galon?

Thanks!

I use 1/2 cup of salt per gallon of water and get good results :mrgreen: I use instant ocean, which is comparable to kent

Well...I use Kent and can tell you that about 1 cup salt per 2 Cdn Gallons works out about right. More accurately, I use 350grams of salt per 2 Cdn Gallons.

No comment on the hydrometre. I don't use that kind. Is it possible that there are air bubbles trapped on the needle?

1/2 cup per gallon is about the norm, but I would highly recommend getting a refractometer since hydrometers suck.

Great!!! That was a tiny air bubble on the back side of the needle :lol: , hence I did not see it from the beginning. Thanks a lot!!!

I am also using the Kent and am trying to fine tune the level in my new tank.
Question 1: Is there a mixing formula (ie 1 tsp per 10 gallons) to raise tank salinty .001?
Question 2: How long do you wait after adding salt to let it fully dissolve before taking a reading?

so in reality with 350g you are actually using almost 1.5 cups per Imperialgal (no such thing as a Canadian gal :mrgreen: ). the .5 cup for a gallon is for US gallons.

Steve[/b]

question 1, ya and knowing the amount of actual water in your tank with some simple mixture problems you can figure it out :mrgreen: for example if you know you have exactly 100 gal of water in your system (like I do) then you can figure it out that if 50 cups of salt gives you 1.025ppm then 1 cup of salt will raise 100 gal of water 0.0005ppm. so if my salinity is down to 1.023 and I want to take it back up to 1.026 I need to add 6 cups of salt to my tank. so that tells you in 100 gal of water you need to as 2 cups of salt for ever 0.001 you want to raise your tank.

question 2, once it is fully desolved it is not going to change any more the question realy is how long do you allow it to fully desolve.. I usaly wait over night.

Steve

So the formula would be:

.02 cups per gallon=.001

eg. My tank and sump is 150 gal. (.02x150=3 cups salt for every .001 needed)

Thanks StirCrazy

is it 150 gal of actual water in there? you have to figure out how much you rock displaces ect.. also I don't know anyone who fills tanks to the top. a easy way to confirm it is to mix 3 cups in a minimum amount of ro water (enuf for it to desolve) then add it to the sump then after 24 hours check your salinity and see how much it changed and you can go from there.

Steve