I am setting up my first saltwater tank.I mixed the salt in the water for about an hour yesterday and it wont dissolve.I got up this morning and there is salt stuck to the glass on the inside of the tank and i cant get it off.(you cant even see to the back of the tank).so i tried mixing the water and the salt vigourisly for about 2 hours and it still wont dissolve.What can i do?
Salt wont Dissolve
- Thread starter JackDempsey1313
- Start date
I know your not using Instant Ocean for sure because it disolves instantly on contact with water. It's all I use. I bet your using Crystal sea.
Hello,
I had done this as a first time user as well. Never mix directly in tank - it needs to be done outside the tank in a bucket, or drum. I have a 125 gallon tank with puffers, 3 ft moray eel, triggers. What i do is take a 30 gallon plastic drum (bought at walmart), fill it up in my bathtub where i mix the salt. I let a powerhead run in there for about 15 to 30 min. to areate it and mix it good. For convenience sake i bought a sump pump from local home depot with garden hose, and pump it right back down to tank. This has worked extremely well for me - makes it alot easier, and it gets mixed real well before returning to my tank. The water has to kinda areate, along with salt dissolving. This is a good method if you got a big tank. Good luck.
I had done this as a first time user as well. Never mix directly in tank - it needs to be done outside the tank in a bucket, or drum. I have a 125 gallon tank with puffers, 3 ft moray eel, triggers. What i do is take a 30 gallon plastic drum (bought at walmart), fill it up in my bathtub where i mix the salt. I let a powerhead run in there for about 15 to 30 min. to areate it and mix it good. For convenience sake i bought a sump pump from local home depot with garden hose, and pump it right back down to tank. This has worked extremely well for me - makes it alot easier, and it gets mixed real well before returning to my tank. The water has to kinda areate, along with salt dissolving. This is a good method if you got a big tank. Good luck.
Each brand has their own recipe, IO and Oceanic are 2 good ones, with Crystal Sea being "considered" the best. I like oceanic the kind that is liquid form. But depending on what type of saltwater you keep, on which brand you should use. Red sea is good for FO or FOWLR, but IO is better for a reef because of trace element value in the mix. Myself for my reef, I go to the LFS and buy saltwater from them. They have a 1500 gal R/O salt container that they sell for $.95 a gal. And when you can't hardline an R/O this is the easiest way to do it. Considering that salt mix cost about $.50 a gal, and Distilled or R/O water cost about $.50- $.75 a gal.