pmb_67
Fish Fanatic
Hi all,
Just wondering what the general feeling is round here on the best way to make up new tank water. I think I read somewhere about it needing "ageing", but I'm not clear (a) why and (b) for how long...
Problem I have is that I'm now planning to use up the whole of the hidden area of my cabinet (sump one side, RO top up and phosphate reactor the other) so I don't really have anywhere I can keep the 40 litres of new tank water I'd need for a 10% change, so if there are any ways around needing a big vat sitting somewhere then that'd be just dandy.
Related question: anyone tried making up brine - i.e. saturated salt solution - from marine tank salt? I was thinking this might be one way round the above problem, so I could make up a smaller quantity of more concentrated water, age that then dilute with RO to the correct salinity just before (like, maybe up to a couple of hours) adding to the tank. One thing that occurs to me is that not all the component salts will have the same solubility limit, so any briney liquid might not have the same composition as the original salt.
Another question: forgive my ignorance but as a marine newbie, how do I do a water change if I'm using a sump? For a 10% change (which is what I give my freshies - is it enough?) I'd need to remove 40 litres or so, which would break the siphon on my tank's overflow. Doing two 20 litre changes back to back would mean I'd remove something like 5% of the first 20 litres that I'd added back in - not a biggie, but seems a little pointless.
That's all for now. Thanks in advance!
Paul
Just wondering what the general feeling is round here on the best way to make up new tank water. I think I read somewhere about it needing "ageing", but I'm not clear (a) why and (b) for how long...
Problem I have is that I'm now planning to use up the whole of the hidden area of my cabinet (sump one side, RO top up and phosphate reactor the other) so I don't really have anywhere I can keep the 40 litres of new tank water I'd need for a 10% change, so if there are any ways around needing a big vat sitting somewhere then that'd be just dandy.
Related question: anyone tried making up brine - i.e. saturated salt solution - from marine tank salt? I was thinking this might be one way round the above problem, so I could make up a smaller quantity of more concentrated water, age that then dilute with RO to the correct salinity just before (like, maybe up to a couple of hours) adding to the tank. One thing that occurs to me is that not all the component salts will have the same solubility limit, so any briney liquid might not have the same composition as the original salt.
Another question: forgive my ignorance but as a marine newbie, how do I do a water change if I'm using a sump? For a 10% change (which is what I give my freshies - is it enough?) I'd need to remove 40 litres or so, which would break the siphon on my tank's overflow. Doing two 20 litre changes back to back would mean I'd remove something like 5% of the first 20 litres that I'd added back in - not a biggie, but seems a little pointless.
That's all for now. Thanks in advance!
Paul
- and chucked 100g of salt in - that's about 3 times the normal 35g per litre. That dissolved ok. Next 100g didn't so well - now Wikipedia claims I should be able to get 360g of sodium chloride into that much water at room temperature, so I guess it's the other salts that are not (or slow) dissolving.
