Old Saltwater to culture Brineshrimp and Phyto and Rotifers

[BCOrchidGuy]

As long as the water is sterilized I see no problem other than you'll need to dillute it for rotifers, they need a different SG. 1.017 if I remember. Once it's sterilized I guess run it through a micron filter as well to remove any dead crap that would normally start the biological cycle again. All in all, IO salt is inexpensive, and for the potential for trouble I don't see it as a risk you should take.

For hatching brine shrimp simple coarse ground salt is adequate and if you go to somewhere that has a bulk section you can buy a huge bag for nothing. A few years ago I went to Real Canadian Superstore, told them I wanted a big bag of pickling salt, I got a 90lbs bag for about $10, that's a lot of brine shrimp hatching. FWIW I'll use a bit of baking soda with the salt just to bring the alk up for bbs. Rotifers and phyto I'd stick with IO, use a 5 gallon aquarium with 4 gallons of clean fresh water, add 1 1/2 cups IO and you'll get a SG of 1.017, store that in 4 cleaned out milk jugs (4 litre) and store until you need it.

Douglas