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Homemade Sea Water

redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Quickly perusing through that link (I did not read for content). There were three things I did not like right off the bat:

1. Mag Flakes has contaminants that you don’t want in your tank
2. Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) can not be use (solely) as a Magnesium source….causes buildup of sulfates. You need a combination of magnesium chloride/magnesium sulfate to get the right concentrations.
3. Somewhere in there I saw using Morton’s Table Salt…NO, NO, NO….contains iodine….unless you get “un-iodized”

I think, if you go to Hidden Reef, they have a salt (can’t remember brand), that sells for (maybe) $29 for 160 gallon bucket. Sorry, I don’t remember details, but it might be a simple salt mix, more for a FOWLR, but you could then just add supplements. That might save you a couple bucks!

And as I typed this I thought about what LFS’s do to make the extremely large volumes of water they need to do water changes. Were do they get their salt from?
 
shipwrecked

shipwrecked

Read thru this post and another person comes to mind-Greg (whitebird) had some really "eccentric" things he did to save a buck and even thgh they might be crazy mad scientist methods,his tanks seemed to run and look fine.Paul if I were to guess at what fish stores do(just a thght) they get the salt at wholesale prices and maybe even write some of that off on Operating expenses..OR I could be way off and this would just be another senseless post of mine..:p
 
steamman

steamman

Paul, it does say do not use iodized salt in the recipe. I do recall skimming through the thread myself and there was a mention of do we or don't we use iodized. Ultimately it was written off as not a good idea. If you don't want to use the mag flake of epsom salts why not just use a regular bought additive that we dose with?

I actually was looking to use it on my grow out system at first. Then if it works out maybe using a blend in one of my tanks as an experiment.

I do like the idea of 150 gallons of salt mix for under 10 bucks.

If I could find a place to buy it by the pallet for like half price I would do that.
 
steamman

steamman

steamman said:
Paul, it does say do not use iodized salt in the recipe. I do recall skimming through the thread myself and there was a mention of do we or don't we use iodized. Ultimately it was written off as not a good idea. If you don't want to use the mag flake of epsom salts why not just use a regular bought additive that we dose with?

I actually was looking to use it on my grow out system at first. Then if it works out maybe using a blend in one of my tanks as an experiment.

I do like the idea of 150 gallons of salt mix for under 10 bucks.

If I could find a place to buy it by the pallet for like half price I would do that.
Click to expand...
I meant a pallet of store bought salt mix.
 
howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
redfishbluefish said:
Quickly perusing through that link (I did not read for content). There were three things I did not like right off the bat:

1. Mag Flakes has contaminants that you don’t want in your tank
2. Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) can not be use (solely) as a Magnesium source….causes buildup of sulfates. You need a combination of magnesium chloride/magnesium sulfate to get the right concentrations.
3. Somewhere in there I saw using Morton’s Table Salt…NO, NO, NO….contains iodine….unless you get “un-iodized”

I think, if you go to Hidden Reef, they have a salt (can’t remember brand), that sells for (maybe) $29 for 160 gallon bucket. Sorry, I don’t remember details, but it might be a simple salt mix, more for a FOWLR, but you could then just add supplements. That might save you a couple bucks!

And as I typed this I thought about what LFS’s do to make the extremely large volumes of water they need to do water changes. Were do they get their salt from?
Click to expand...

So, ESV comes with Magnesium Sulfate to mix with the salt. Is that a bad thing?
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
HERE is the word according to the God of Aquaria Chemistry, Randy Holmes-Farley…about halfway down it talks about Epsom Salts and sulfate concentrations.
 
trivan

trivan

Wow, 200 gallons a week! It takes me months to go through 200 gallons with my 45 cube! But then again I do dream of getting a big tank one day. First, I'd have to get a large house or wait till the kids go to college, but by that time I probably wont be able to afford to pay for a tank and college at the same time, lol.
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

redfishbluefish said:

I think, if you go to Hidden Reef, they have a salt (can’t remember brand), that sells for (maybe) $29 for 160 gallon bucket.
Click to expand...

It is / was called Crystal Sea Marine Mix Bioassay salt and IIRC it was about $19 for a 160 gallon box. I used it on my reef tank for years without issue. I just got tired of driving to PA to stock up. I switched to Reef Crystals. If you print out the page from Petsmart's web page they'll match the online price.
 
steamman

steamman

Randy Holmes Farley has a DIY for these additives. I don't understand your disliking to the recipe. You are quoting a man who tells you how to make these DIY supplements yourself and use them safely. You don't have to use Epsom salts in the recipe because it raises sulphates too much it would be a bad idea. He does say you can use Mag Flakes for the supplement in lieu of Epsom salts.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
What he is saying is “Epsom salts alone is not an ideal magnesium supplement.” Just like magnesium chloride by itself is not an ideal magnesium supplement. However, if you mix magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) and magnesium chloride (MAG Flakes) in the right ratio, everything balances out. To actually quote the good book, ”A certain mixture of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate has no net effect on seawater's major anions (chloride and sulfate). All that is necessary for such a recipe is to add these two ingredients in such a ratio that they add chloride and sulfate in the ratio naturally present in seawater (which is 7.1 to 1 on a weight basis and 9.6 to 1 on a per ion basis).” So what Farley is saying is that a balanced mix of mag sulfate to mag chloride is the ideal magnesium supplement.

By the way, I’m not against the fact of making your own salt. I just had concerns over a few points made in the link provided.
 
steamman

steamman

I can't seem to find this salt anywhere.

That was a discussion thread on home made mixes. People sharing ideas. Not all ideas are the best. Maybe diy magnesium is not the ideal way to go. If there is a possible issue with this mixture it may be best to just add a commercially available product. Like something from BRS.

Although I would like to try to make a mix as close to a salt mix that I can buy off the shelf. Maybe just to see if I can do it. A perfect mix may not be necessary in the application I intend to use it for.
 
steamman

steamman

trivan said:
Wow, 200 gallons a week! It takes me months to go through 200 gallons with my 45 cube! But then again I do dream of getting a big tank one day. First, I'd have to get a large house or wait till the kids go to college, but by that time I probably wont be able to afford to pay for a tank and college at the same time, lol.
Click to expand...
I have a thousand gallons to maintain. If you do the math that is 20 percent a week. I have to change that much because of the heavy feedings raising clown fish. It actually doesn't seem to be enough water changes. Besides high nitrates my phosphates are through the roof. Algae becomes an issue if I add lighting to the mix. I don't know if GFO and or Bio Pellets reactors would be a way to go. I would need 5 gallon reactors. LOL.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Your other option is to get your water right from the source…..the Atlantic ocean. I don't think it's common here in NJ, but in Florida it is a common source for aquariums.
 
howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
So after doing a little reading it turns out that ESV uses Magnesium Sulfate Heptahydrate. Is that the same as just Mag. Sulf.? Will I get the same Sulfate build up?

Sorry for hijacking this thread but chemistry was a pretty long time ago and just reading some of these sites is going to make my head explode...
 
S

SHLUZER

This was my thought too. Get a small (simple) boat with trailer and a bunch of containers. Go out to deep water, fill in, come back. Think of other benefits! -fishing, etc.
redfishbluefish said:
Your other option is to get your water right from the source…..the Atlantic ocean. I don't think it's common here in NJ, but in Florida it is a common source for aquariums.
Click to expand...
 
radiata

radiata

NJRC Member
redfishbluefish said:
Quickly perusing through that link (I did not read for content). There were three things I did not like right off the bat:

1. Mag Flakes has contaminants that you don’t want in your tank
2. Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) can not be use (solely) as a Magnesium source….causes buildup of sulfates. You need a combination of magnesium chloride/magnesium sulfate to get the right concentrations.
3. Somewhere in there I saw using Morton’s Table Salt…NO, NO, NO….contains iodine….unless you get “un-iodized”

I think, if you go to Hidden Reef, they have a salt (can’t remember brand), that sells for (maybe) $29 for 160 gallon bucket. Sorry, I don’t remember details, but it might be a simple salt mix, more for a FOWLR, but you could then just add supplements. That might save you a couple bucks!

And as I typed this I thought about what LFS’s do to make the extremely large volumes of water they need to do water changes. Were do they get their salt from?
Click to expand...

I think the Hidden Reef salt you're referring to is MEI Crystal Sea Marinemix. I was in Philly 4 weeks ago, and I got two 150G boxes of it for less than $20 a box. (They also have it in pails for something like $25.) The Hidden Reef has always had great loss-leader prices on salt. (I have no idea why the prices aren't posted on their web site!) In years past I'd drive down there and pick up a year's worth of this salt at a clip. One reason why this salt brand is so inexpensive is because it is manufactured in Maryland - hence much lower delivery charges in the North East.
 
radiata

radiata

NJRC Member
While a DIY salt mix is indeed a noble scientific experiment, I think you'll find that the cost to create a quality 150G quantity of it will exceed the cost of a commercially available salt. Even volume users, like public aquariums, buy their salt in bulk from commercial sources. You'd probably have to use even more salt than a public aquarium to make the DIY effort cost-effective.
 
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