making own sea water?

[passionate]

Anyone here know how to make sea water?
Using cooking salt, 1 table spoon to how many litres of water?
Anyone here know??
Hope to know how to do it.
Thanks

[leafy seadragon]

I think have to use marine salt to make sea water. The instruction will be on the packaging.

[kpk]

Anyone here know how to make sea water?
Using cooking salt, 1 table spoon to how many litres of water?
Anyone here know??
Hope to know how to do it.
Thanks

Cooking salt different from sea salt.
Go to fish shop and buy sea salt off the shelf, instructions will be there.
My personal preference would be Coral Life. :)

[hotsoup16]

The intensity of marine salt is much much higher than normal cooking salt. To use cooking salt to make a pail og water with salinity of 1.023 will requires maybe X 4 times or more of marine salt.
Cooking salt different from sea salt.
Go to fish shop and buy sea salt off the shelf, instructions will be there.
My personal preference would be Coral Life. :)

[Maculosus]

Hi Passionate,

Are u just starting to keep marine fish?
If it is, I'd suggest that u read up on the basics either on the internet or borrow some books. :D
U will need a Hydrometer to measure specific gravity of 1.023 - 1.025 for the saltwater.

http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=45
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/

[hotsoup16]

The intensity of marine salt is much much higher than normal cooking salt. To use cooking salt to make a pail og water with salinity of 1.023 will require maybe X 4 times or more of marine salt.
Cooking salt different from sea salt.
Go to fish shop and buy sea salt off the shelf, instructions will be there.
My personal preference would be Coral Life. :)

[KaLiB]

Anyone here know how to make sea water?
Using cooking salt, 1 table spoon to how many litres of water?
Anyone here know??
Hope to know how to do it.
Thanks

Do you happen to be interested in starting a marine setup?

Cooking salt cannot be used to make seawater as it contains certain ingredients that are toxic to marine creatures.

Buy marine salt from LFS if you choose to make seawater, the cheap and good option would be either Coralife brand or Redsea brand. Use a hydrometer(i recommend the swing arm type) to measure the specific gravity of the water. Mix salt with freshwater until you obtain a specific gravity of 1.023-1.025.

What is the tank size? You could need quite a few kg even if its a small 2' tank.

[flame angel]

Anyone here know how to make sea water?
Using cooking salt, 1 table spoon to how many litres of water?
Anyone here know??
Hope to know how to do it.
Thanks
I suggest u go to library to look up some books regarding marine setup. Save lot of money for u & can gain knowledge to keep ur livestocks alive. :)

[bluezing]

do u guys tink its better to mix ur own saltwater or buy water from lfs?

[kpk]

do u guys tink its better to mix ur own saltwater or buy water from lfs?

To me, i prefer to buy from LFS.
But its much more convenient for me to mix myself, so end up i always do self made SW.

[KaLiB]

do u guys tink its better to mix ur own saltwater or buy water from lfs?

Depends on the individual aquarist as well as the tank size. IMO, if the tank is big, buying saltwater is a better option as it saves effort and time in mixing the saltwater yourself.

For me, i prefer to make my own saltwater from salt mix although its more troublesome. I don't feel that comfortable using saltwater from LFS as i'm concerned about it being safe for use(in case it contains pollutants that got by undetected etc.). At least i know Singapore's tapwater is safe for use.

[bluezing]

which one will be more cost effective then? :)

[cci[RR]us]

Natural Sea Water (NSW) will be more cost-effective, if your tank does not get destroyed by contaminated NSW. Honestly I feel that it is very unlikely that the NSW will be contaminated and harm your tank, but some people just want to be on the safer side, but at a slightly higher cost.

I have been a happy NSW user for around 7 months. Each jerry can of NSW costs me S$2.00. :)

[bluezing]

then how many jerry cans needed to fill a 2 x 1 x 1.5ft tank?

[cci[RR]us]

then how many jerry cans needed to fill a 2 x 1 x 1.5ft tank?
One typical jerry can is 20 litres. 1 cubic feet = 28.3168466 liters.

Your tank holds 2 x 1 x 1.5 = 3 cubic feet = 84.9505398 liters = 22.4415583 US gallons.

Therefore, you will need around 4 jerry cans.

(All figures are obtained through Google)

[bluezing]

so i just need abt 6-8 bucks to fill the tank? pretty cheap hor? hehehe

thx bro :)

[nim75sg]

Yes it is very affordable but you must have strong biceps to carry 8 jerry cans to your car ... :D

[kpk]

Yes it is very affordable but you must have strong biceps to carry 8 jerry cans to your car ... :D

And carry from carpark to home to pour inside tank. :p

[cci[RR]us]

Yes it is very affordable but you must have strong biceps to carry 8 jerry cans to your car ... :D
Just a warning: When you lift the jerry cans, don't bend your back. Always squat down, grab the handle, then stand up. I almost sprain my back when I simply bend over and lifted the jerry can. :)

A trolley would be useful here.

[bluezing]

i tink i will pour into a pail 1st than use another scoop to get the water into the tank...

hahaha

[dirtxtreme]

den hw long u guys change the water??
n will the water becum less "salty"?? if i nv change the water for abt 3mths?
nw i keepin grouper in my tank.. no coral..

[coralreef]

den hw long u guys change the water??
n will the water becum less "salty"?? if i nv change the water for abt 3mths?
nw i keepin grouper in my tank.. no coral..

Just some info, salt wont evaporate.

[KaLiB]

den hw long u guys change the water??
n will the water becum less "salty"?? if i nv change the water for abt 3mths?
nw i keepin grouper in my tank.. no coral..

Water change is very subjective and depends on the individual reefer. Some change it weekly, monthly, bi-monthly or even yearly and the percentage varies can be 10%-30%.

SG will lower overtime as salt creeps out of the setup, but usually it will take many months unless the tank is small.

[flame angel]

den hw long u guys change the water??
n will the water becum less "salty"?? if i nv change the water for abt 3mths?
nw i keepin grouper in my tank.. no coral..
It's good to have a water change as frequent as possible. If u r keeping grouper than i would suggest u at least make a change for every month. cos they r big eater and produce quite an amount of waste. I used to do weekly water change but found it too tedious so now i change every 2 wks. Water change is good i like the feeling of new and clean water, so don't try to skip it! :)

[dirtxtreme]

so do u all change 100% of the water or like freshwater, change certain percentage of water onli?

hw abt change abt 30% mthly?
4ft tank change every quite "shag" = no time, no $$ buyin the marine salt in long term.. :o

[flame angel]

so do u all change 100% of the water or like freshwater, change certain percentage of water onli?

hw abt change abt 30% mthly?
4ft tank change every quite "shag" = no time, no $$ buyin the marine salt in long term.. :o

Nobody change 100%, if u do so i guess all your livestocks would be ended in heaven. A monthly 20 to 30% would be good. it all depends on what u keep and what r your bio-load and stuff. :)

[dirtxtreme]

hahaa...
oh okok.. thks alot..
btw my tank onli hv grouper no other living tin inside.. heee

OT: do u guys get the chiller?
i dun hv it so i dunoe will my grouper last...
isit a MUZ to get it??

[KaLiB]

For FOWLR, no need to get chiller unless the temperature is at the extremes(32deg and above) which then would pose a problem to the fish. Anything between 26-31 is fine for the fish.

[flame angel]

hahaa...
oh okok.. thks alot..
btw my tank onli hv grouper no other living tin inside.. heee

OT: do u guys get the chiller?
i dun hv it so i dunoe will my grouper last...
isit a MUZ to get it??
U could get a cooling fan to blow across the water surface, it could maintain the temp around 28 degree, the larger ur tank is the cooler u'll get by using fan. :)

[dirtxtreme]

ya.. jt read abt tis frm other thread, they r usin the PC fan.. tink gg to get 4 fan for my 4 ft.. heee...

nw i usin an externel filter, Fluval 304 n i mk the flow out like the attach pic
n the water dun seem to move alot in the tank..
shld i get another to air pump?

expert pls advice.. thks

[KaLiB]

There is no need for airpumps in marine aquariums apart from using an airpump to drive a skimmer. Airpumps create bubbles in the water which result in unnecessary salt spray.

Adding in a wavemaker/powerheads would be good enough to aerate and circulate the water. Placing them near the surface would cause water movement which encourages gaseous exchange.

Do note that the use of fans to cool the water will cause excessive evaporation, meaning top-up could become a daily affair and each top-up could be a few litres of water or more!

Continue asking your questions in a new thread, don't hijack other people's thread.