adding salt to new reefs

[JOSH]

ive herd it makes a differnce for when your adding the salt if you put the salt into the tank and then add water, or if you fill up the tank and then add the salt. doesnt seem to me like it would make a differnce, so i guess my question is does it make differnce?

[danny zubot]

I've always added the salt after because its the only way to tell what your salinity is at, unless you know how may scoops you need for your size of tank.

I don't think it will make a difference though.

[Ruth]

I know that I have read somewhere - and can't for the life of me find it now - that you should always add the salt to the water and not the water to the salt - it was something about the way the various "ingredients" react. Anyway I have tried it both ways and always find that the salt dissolves better when added to the water that has been properly heated and airated.

[JOSH]

yeah thats what i herd, but i couldnt remember what was the better way to do it.

[AJ_77]

ALWAYS add the salt to the water slowly. It's explained in at least one of the linked articles in the Reef Chemistry forum at the bottom of the main page.

If you add water to dry salt mix, some things precipitate out immediately, etc (and then there's the heat, explosions, and the poison gas, and the gloivin, the glave - you know...)