Need A Water Recipe

[corrosionjerry]

Is there a recipe for creating marine water /// ROwater and marine salt / how much salt per gallon of ro water

I know this is basic stuff / however I have never done salt before....

Sooo I have a million questions that I need answered by someone experienced and trust me it is apreciated as the litterature on the net is a little confusing.

TY in advance

[dunl]

Is there a recipe for creating marine water /// ROwater and marine salt / how much salt per gallon of ro water

I know this is basic stuff / however I have never done salt before....

Sooo I have a million questions that I need answered by someone experienced and trust me it is apreciated as the litterature on the net is a little confusing.

TY in advance

What you need is a refractometer or hydrometer to calculate the level of salt in the water, or salinity. With this tool, you take a reading of the salinity, and add more salt if needed. BE CAREFUL. You can't remove the salt - sounds silly, I know, but it's really easy to add too much. Refractometers range from cheap to expensive....I use cheap, because that's what I am.

One thing to know about mixing saltwater is that it is caustic for the first 12-24 hours....you can actually burn livestock with new saltwater. So it must sit for a while first. It's also quite cloudy and takes some time and a lot of mixing to dissolve all the salt; therefore, quite easy to add too much salt as you can't see the huge amount that is sitting at the bottom until it's too late. But make sure you have lots of freshwater or RO water on hand, and you can mix and match that with your saltwater to achieve a perfect balance. If you have some saltwater premixed and left over, you now have some left for your next water change, and you can add some RO to that to get it to the correct level.

What you REALLY need is a mentor close by. Easy to ask and answer questions on the net, but so much easier to visit with people or have people come by and show you some tricks and things. I bet if you posted on canreef asking for a mentor, someone close would step up to the plate and nursemate you through the starting processes. It is extremely confusing reading things on the internet. You have all sorts of info out there from really precise, to a very stupid video years ago from a large continent wide retailer showing how to take a fish bowl, throw in some water, pour in some salt, toss in little Nemo (with his scales now burning and sizzling) and voila! You have a finding Nemo fish tank (please return tomorrow for a new fish :chair: ).

Canreef is a much more friendly place to new people than it was when I first joined....probably just a bad time and I hit it during that time. There are quite a lot of good stores up in Edmonton now to get livestock and advice from than there were five years ago too.

HTH.

[corrosionjerry]

Thank you for the sound advice

[dunl]

Here's a good excellent thread.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=70778

[corrosionjerry]

Yes indeed / that thread did answer some of my question.... however if I may be so bold to show my ingnorance if you go to the last page of the thread ... it shows the sump / why does it apear that there are two inflow tubing lines into the sump? Ah the sump I better start doing somthing there/

[Cgy_Betta_Guy]

Hi! I believe that is a link to my thread on Canreef! I also have it as a journal here on AA. The dual inflow lines into the sump is for a backup drain in case the main line gets plugged for whatever reason. The size of the overflow box on the Fluval Edge that I built is small and I didnt want to risk it overflowing for whatever reason. The drain pipe for the main drain line is lower down in the overflow box while the drain pipe on the emergency one is about 1.5 inches higher. The level of the water in my overflow sits almost exactly between these two heights. You will also notice the ball valve located on my main drain line... this is what is referred to as a "Herbie". Simply put, by closing up and restricting flow on the drain line just enough reduces noise of water sucking air into the line. Quiet is better! This tank is my beginner SW tank so I am also learning as I go. Hope that helps!

[corrosionjerry]

Thanks / Yes the pictures on this thread show what is happening /

[dunl]

Also, you don't NEED a sump. They're great to have, but you can get by fine without them. Just remember that all the filtration (well, almost all) comes from the live rock. Just make sure the water keeps circulating through the tank very well, be VERY slow to stock it, and don't overfeed.

CBG's tank is just an example of a very awesome nano tank setup. He might be a beginner, but as you can see if you know freshwater very well, you can make an easy go of saltwater with your prior knowledge and some good research. With nanos, there is less water, so there is a potential for things to go somewhere in a handbasket very quickly if something happens. Think of his sump as almost doubling the water capacity.

Now think of a larger tank....say a 120 gallon 6ft. Build a nice stand, and put a 90g 4ft in it for the sump, and hide all the pumps, filter media, crabs, mantis shrimp, more live rock, lighting for a refugium to grow pods for a mandarin goby,etc (whatever you don't want in the top tank) and you now have a combined total of 210 gallons in that system. Much more stable if one little thing dies. Depending on the stand, you can build endless combinations for sumps. Only limit is budget, size, and imagination.

[corrosionjerry]

Yes this will be about a 6 month project //// My budget doesnt like the big big idea...my head does tho

However the plan is this / I have a 60G for the top tank and I need to find a suitable sump tank... I am thinking somthing around the same size /// aiming for a reef tank.

I am also going to try and build a refugium and use a protien skimmer /

Have to decide if I am going to drill the top tank or rig something / If I am not mistaken it seems like the drilled Idea seems more pleaseing and less complicated / question about the incoming water from the sump.... can a person just run water from pvc into a drilled hole with a bulkhead? or is it better to use a spray bar... as seen on the nano tank

Thanks for your help

[jvision]

I had a 90gal w. a 50gal sump, and I just ran my drain down to the sump - no spraybar. Here's a couple pics of a sump I'm running right now on a FW system:

This is similar to how I had my SW setup, except I didn't use a sponge/floss in the first chamber. I also used a full partition instead of just eggcrate to separate the main chamber and the pump chamber (I actually used an external pump, in the SW setup).

The first and second (only about 2" wide) are just to remove the bubbles and slow the water down from falling down the PVC. The middle section is where I had a Macroalgae refugium, and placed my skimmer. I also put another skinny section to remove any microbubbles that may have come from the skimmer. The last section is where I put my heater. Ideally, the last section should be pretty big, as this is where evaporation is realized (see my first pic - it's been about 10days since a WC). If you were to run an ATO, the last chamber is where you'd put the float. Remember that only Fresh Water evaporates, so top off w. RO water.

[corrosionjerry]

Thanks for that example Jason / and the tip of the top off water with only ro