Im so lost

[Myka]

Guys, it wasn't a whole bucket, it was a either a box or a bag since he said the container yields 20 gallons.

Originally Posted by slider9969

i was sold salt nd told to put in the entire container that said "yeilds 20 gallons" so it did as im super noob and WOW that was way too much

I'd take the empty salt bag back and get them to give you a new one. When you make salt super saturated like that then a whole whack of calcium and carbonate ions (and many other ions too) will bind and fall out of the solution. So you'll end up with saltwater that is really deficient in various ions. Read the instructions on the bag next time.

Originally Posted by slider9969

i wish the store was still open id just empty the entire thing and start over

I think this is a good idea, but they gave you poor advice, and they should give you a new container of salt.

With the sand, was it dry or did it come in a sealed bag with some water? If it was dry sand then you need to rinse it many, many times to get all the dust out. It can take a week to clear up if you don't rinse well enough.

[Dearth]

Since I'm late to the party I won't add anything to help with your problem but will steer you for help

By all means please post any questions you have here we are more than willing to help

I see you are in Calgary there is a thriving SW community in the city many of our members are from there and are very helpful and may be able to talk to you in person or steer you to someone who can help

Sadly many pet stores that sell SW products often have staff that don't know much about SW luckily there are a few stores that deal specifically with SW and Calgary has a few that deal only or primarily with SW the locals there can direct you to those stores better than I could.

Hope this helps somewhat

[slider9969]

Originally Posted by Myka

Guys, it wasn't a whole bucket, it was a either a box or a bag since he said the container yields 20 gallons.



I'd take the empty salt bag back and get them to give you a new one. When you make salt super saturated like that then a whole whack of calcium and carbonate ions (and many other ions too) will bind and fall out of the solution. So you'll end up with saltwater that is really deficient in various ions. Read the instructions on the bag next time.



I think this is a good idea, but they gave you poor advice, and they should give you a new container of salt.

With the sand, was it dry or did it come in a sealed bag with some water? If it was dry sand then you need to rinse it many, many times to get all the dust out. It can take a week to clear up if you don't rinse well enough.

I did half live sand and half regular whit sand that was totally my mistake as a noob but i think i might be on the right track now i have 2 buckets of water getting filled and slowly salinating them and i pick up a proper refractometer tommorrow so i can be a bit more acurate . and all of the peale here have given me soo much info I LOVE THIS FORUM

[rsisvixen]

Hmmm hydrometers aren't bad per se, just depends which ones you use.
I agree the plastic swing arm ones are rubbish.
The proper glass ones work really well though.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by slider9969

i wish the store was still open id just empty the entire thing and start over

Originally Posted by slider9969

I did half live sand and half regular whit sand that was totally my mistake as a noob but i think i might be on the right track now i have 2 buckets of water getting filled and slowly salinating them and i pick up a proper refractometer tommorrow so i can be a bit more acurate . and all of the peale here have given me soo much info I LOVE THIS FORUM

I'm glad you're enjoying the forums!

Make sure you pick up some calibration solution for your refractometer too, and calibrate it once a month or so. Calibrating with RO/DI water is good for double checking, but shouldn't be used for primary calibration.