water from store

phils514 · 03-19-2007, 10:35 AM

I started buying salt water from my lfs and I always get at least a gallon more every week to fill the evaporated water everyday. My question is, will the water get bad? it's stored in a container and sealed with plastic and rubber band, I kinda shake it once in a while to give "aeration", at least I think it does.

Chitown1 · 03-19-2007, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phils514

I started buying salt water from my lfs and I always get at least a gallon more every week to fill the evaporated water everyday. My question is, will the water get bad? it's stored in a container and sealed with plastic and rubber band, I kinda shake it once in a while to give "aeration", at least I think it does.

Not in a weeks time, You will want to keep it as sealed as possible to keep the salinity from raising as the water evaporates and also remember to monitor you salinity in the tank before adding additional water to determine if fresh or salt water is needed for the top off.

phils514 · 03-19-2007, 04:15 PM

ok thanks.

WhoDey · 03-19-2007, 04:29 PM

I would suggest getting a 5 or 10 gallon tank and keep a powerhead and heater in there at all times. This way you are adding water at the right temp and you know the salinity, ect. This way you will also have an extra tank on hand for an emergency (hospital tank, ect.). If you keep corals or anything that gets bothered easily I would suggest adding your water this way. If you leave you water sit too long there are some things that will change that may cause a problem.

phils514 · 03-19-2007, 05:37 PM

I dont leave it too long, i only leave about a gallon of it to fill the evaporated water, its also sealed realy tight. I usually finish the whole thing by thursday, and I buy new water every sunday or saturday.

WhoDey · 03-19-2007, 08:09 PM

Sorry if you know this already, but the wording of your first and last posts makes me think of a question. When you say you buy "saltwater" at the store, do you mean R/O water or R/O water with salt already mixed in it for you? I just want to make sure you aren't adding water WITH salt to your tank as a top off. If you did this your salinity would keep increasing and increasing until you eventually end up with the red sea! Just add plain R/O water to top off for evaporation because the salt doesn't evaporate. Just wanted to get that point out there. I assume you know this but just wanted to be safe.

Chitown1 · 03-19-2007, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhoDey

Sorry if you know this already, but the wording of your first and last posts makes me think of a question. When you say you buy "saltwater" at the store, do you mean R/O water or R/O water with salt already mixed in it for you? I just want to make sure you aren't adding water WITH salt to your tank as a top off. If you did this your salinity would keep increasing and increasing until you eventually end up with the red sea! Just add plain R/O water to top off for evaporation because the salt doesn't evaporate. Just wanted to get that point out there. I assume you know this but just wanted to be safe.

Actually, you do not want to use fresh all the time either. If you loose 1 gallon to evap and you salinity raises by .02, by adding salt water mixed to 1.021 would be better then adding fresh. You need to judge wether you need salt or fresh water for top offs each time you do it and use what will give you a more gradual raise or drop in salinity. I keep a couple gallons of each handy to top off per specific conditions.

phils514 · 03-19-2007, 08:29 PM

thanks. I do buy saltwater mixed already, but I check my salinity before I top of the water. I get so mutuesday is usually just RO but around wednesday to friday, I have to put the saltwater. sorry about not explaining that.

rayjay · 03-20-2007, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chitown1

Actually, you do not want to use fresh all the time either. If you loose 1 gallon to evap and you salinity raises by .02, by adding salt water mixed to 1.021 would be better then adding fresh. You need to judge wether you need salt or fresh water for top offs each time you do it and use what will give you a more gradual raise or drop in salinity. I keep a couple gallons of each handy to top off per specific conditions.

Sorry, I read that you at some times replace evaporated water with salt water but I don't understand why.
Unless you have a lot of salt creep somewhere, the salt is still in the system as far as I know.
In 13 years, I've never added salt water to top up aquarium levels.
If he looses a gallon of water to evaporation in his 20g tank and hasn't been gradually replacing it with water, then the s.g. will only rise about .0014, but most hobbyists would be replacing long before 5% of their water has evaporated I would guess.
Also, I hope you were meaning to type .002 rather than .02.
I top up nightly by adding water via an airline to each tank, so it minimizes the s.g. swing, but if I'm away for a weekend, I usually put a little more water in before I go and then when I come back I top up again only with water but I spread it out over a couple of mornings and nights to get it back to the full level, and have no problem doing so.

Chitown1 · 03-20-2007, 02:20 PM

I have and do use salt water for top offs as well as fresh, I creates less of a fluxuation than straight fresh all the time. The salt I use for top offs is 1.021 and I keep my tanks at 1.026 and the 1 gallon was used as a general reference and not meant to apply to any size tank.