Reef nutrition

Thinking about setting up NSW holding tank for water changes instead of mixing

kinetic

kinetic

Supporting Member
BARcard
I was reminiscing about my first reef tank, when it was thriving and full of life. Ever since that first tank, I've had a lot of issues (for various reasons). I was thinking what was the biggest change, and it was switching from NSW to an RODI with salt mix. I doubt that was the only reason why I had any problems, but it got me thinking about my upcoming tank setup, and how nice it would be to just drain some water, and pump in new, without buckets and such.

I'm considering upgrading my 50gallon vertical tank to something closer to 100 gallons if I can fit it. I heard there's a few services in the Bay Area that can deliver NSW, but they deliver in 300g quantities at a time, but I'm wondering if they would do as little as 100. Not sure though. There's no way I can fit something bigger.

Some other thoughts on the setup:

1. 100 gallon vertical tank
2. VarioS-4 pump plumbed to circulate and to pump through a hose to the tank
3. 400-watt heater

Before I do a water change, I'll probably just heat up whatever is left in the 100g tank for the water change and circulate with the varios-4 pump. Then after draining some water out of the display, just pump right back in.
 
I don’t get why you can do the same with salt mix?
I don’t know that you’ll have luck getting only 100 gal at a time, but there’s only one way to find out.
 
Coral reefer said:
I don’t get why you can do the same with salt mix?
I don’t know that you’ll have luck getting only 100 gal at a time, but there’s only one way to find out.
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  • I've always been under the assumption that you need to use a salt mix immediately after mixing. I've found this to be the case in the past myself, especially with the residue after mixing and leaving for too long.
  • I don't have to mix anything
  • I've had strong personal experience with NSW in the past, so I'm interested in doing it
 
kinetic said:
  • I've always been under the assumption that you need to use a salt mix immediately after mixing. I've found this to be the case in the past myself, especially with the residue after mixing and leaving for too long.
  • I don't have to mix anything
  • I've had strong personal experience with NSW in the past, so I'm interested in doing it
Click to expand...
Gotcha. I think the use right after mixing is true for some brands. However I have not had issues leaving it for a week or so. That might not be long enough for you tho I guess.
I think you are supposed to keep the ocean water mixed constantly but could be wrong. Makes sense to me any bacteria in there would die if not.
I’m not against ocean water, there certainly could be some benefits, but I always caution people it’s not without its potential risks as well.
 
So what was in the NSW that isn’t in synthetic salt that might have helped your reef? If you get Fritz or Red Sea salt, it’s gonna be almost guaranteed to have all the trace elements because it was sourced from an ocean (or ancient ocean) - Tropic marin and other synthetic salts could be deficient if someone forgets to add the right elements to the batch. But assuming the salts all have the same basic stuff, is it the bacteria, plankton, or something else in NSW that you guess helped your reef before?

I imagine plankton could help feed hungry corals in a low nutrient tank, or injecting “good” or diverse bacteria could help in a tank prone to dinos or mini cycles.

I wonder if an Aquabiotics test on fresh (like same-day taken from the ocean) and stored NSW would be interesting enough for BAR to fund.
 
I also read you should use salt mix immediately after mixing. What could be the possible reason behind the theory? What is the different for salt water in a bucket with a pump, or in the display with fish ?
 
newfly said:
I also read you should use salt mix immediately after mixing. What could be the possible reason behind the theory? What is the different for salt water in a bucket with a pump, or in the display with fish ?
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I think @Kensington Reefer can prob weigh into that one? I have had my sitting around for a week without issues as far as I can tell.

But moving over recently I haven’t seen any detriment to the tank. Would love to get delivery but at 40 gal a month -not happening. That’s ok-I’ll let HTA suck my money dry!
 
newfly said:
I also read you should use salt mix immediately after mixing. What could be the possible reason behind the theory? What is the different for salt water in a bucket with a pump, or in the display with fish ?
Click to expand...
Some if not all will lose alk over time. My understanding is co2 in the air gets into the water and the Alk is used up buffering it
 
Coral reefer said:
Some if not all will lose alk over time. My understanding is co2 in the air gets into the water and the Alk is used up buffering it
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CO2 will get into the water in the display as well. When my tank is new , it barely consume any alk. At least it’s not measurable. I assume most display have 10x the water movement compared to the mixing container . If the alk lost in the display ( not consume by coral) is not measurable in the display, are we really should concern about the alk lost in the mixing container? Just curious.
 
newfly said:
CO2 will get into the water in the display as well. When my tank is new , it barely consume any alk. At least it’s not measurable. I assume most display have 10x the water movement compared to the mixing container . If the alk lost in the display ( not consume by coral) is not measurable in the display, are we really should concern about the alk lost in the mixing container? Just curious.
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I had way more circulation in my mixing container than my display.
I think some salts have much higher levels and will change more over time compared to other salts. Not sure exactly. Also I believe there can be dissolved co2 in rodi water sometimes. I forget how that works tho
 
BRS has a series of videos about salt mixes and how long you're supposed to wait, the temperatures, and alk affects over time by sitting. If you're enough of a fish nerd to be reading this forum, it's probably something you'd find interesting/useful.
 
richiev said:
BRS has a series of videos about salt mixes and how long you're supposed to wait, the temperatures, and alk affects over time by sitting. If you're enough of a fish nerd to be reading this forum, it's probably something you'd find interesting/useful.
Click to expand...
Yeah the conclusion from that was you could keep anything except Red Sea Coral Pro (and of course any other salt like bio actif or anything with organics in it) for weeks.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

How long can I store saltwater after mixing? | BRStv Investigates

For those reefers mixing small batches of saltwater and using it rather quickly after mixing, worrying about the Alkalinity and Calcium parameters shifting is typically not a concern. A growing number of reefers are mixing large batches of saltwater, less frequently and use
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
 
Darkxerox said:
Yeah the conclusion from that was you could keep anything except Red Sea Coral Pro (and of course any other salt like bio actif or anything with organics in it) for weeks.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

How long can I store saltwater after mixing? | BRStv Investigates

For those reefers mixing small batches of saltwater and using it rather quickly after mixing, worrying about the Alkalinity and Calcium parameters shifting is typically not a concern. A growing number of reefers are mixing large batches of saltwater, less frequently and use
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
Click to expand...
Thanks for being less lazy than me and linking it. Other thing I found super interesting is that you're supposed to mix salt water at low temperatures, and not raise it until hours after mixing. Otherwise it causes good stuff to precipitate out. I always assumed that inverse, and that's what I get for not reading the instructions. At least that's was for certain brands explicitly.

I've gotten way less junk at the bottom of my mixing container since doing that, and also nice it saves a bit on electricity.
 
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