Dried Sea Salt for an aquarium

[wasp]

Can't remember who it was a while back, but someone was wanting to use dried sea salt to make salt mix for their aquarium.

Anyhow, found this little read that will help decide not to do it. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... did=656138

[Alan]

Couldn't get to it Reef as I'm not a member.

Alan 104

[wasp]

Oh yes. If you do not have a user name on Reef Central, you cannot get in to the Chemistry Forum.

If you are interested in marine, I would recommend creating a user name at Reef Central, it is only a 5 minute or less process.

[Feelers]

It might have been me who asked, I'm still unconvinced by the people on reef central, it seems everyone says it wont work but noone has done it themselves. The guy who is trying it didnt post how it went.

That water keeper guy seems to know what hes talking about but he doesn't go into why the buffering ect is stuffed up by the evaporation process. He also implies that the tanks that failed with synthetic ocean water didnt have their pH/alk levels measured.

Different chemicals will "fall out of solution". Once those chemicals go from ionic to a solid, there is no way to get them to dissolve again. When they form a solid, they combine chemically to form a mineral that will not dissolve back into their respective ions.

I rekon that's crap. He's probably refering to calcium carbonate , which would account for the altering of the pH, and the buffering stuffup,

CaCO3 is soluble, and if the salt came from 100L of water it has to be soluble in that much water again, it might not be instantaneous but it will dissolve.

For every three gallons of fresh water, use 10 1/2 ounces pure table salt, 1 1/2 ounces magnesium chloride, 1 ounce Epsom salts, and 1/2 ounce plaster of paris.

I dont think I would trust this recipe haha but I would imagine making your own salt to be a lot cheaper than the bought stuff. Maybe a more accurate recipe with more additives could be found.

The aquarium hobby is full of rippoffs, and buying salt seems ridiculous to me ( at the price any way) I just think people seem too obsessed with saying something won't work just because it doesnt cost $250 or have a nice shiny lable and a grinning petshop owner. (in this case it needs a little more care and a few additives)

Its like activated carbon for aquarium filters, say $12 a bag(a geuss), while the average price for a pound of activated carbon is around 91cents US. (A pound of activated carbon is heaps because it's so lite)

Does anyone have a comprehensive artificial salt recipe? I could give Clarks Chemicals a bell and see how much a batch would cost to make.

[Feelers]

Hahaa cant believe I wrote that much, this questions been bugging me for a while.

[wasp]

By the time you buy the natural sea salt, and buy everything else you want to add to it, it will have cost you more than the proper stuff.

Never mind quality - do you know what impurities might be in plaster of paris?

Have you ever seen a pic of a nice tank that uses this method?

If it's for reasons of economy, go NSW.

The making of artificial salt mix is quite a science. If you ring Clarkes Chemicals for a quote, I think you will get a rude surprise.

[lduncan]

What wasp said.

If it could be done, it would have been done.

Red Sea salt is probably as close to evaporated NSW a you will come, and around 13% of it is additional chemicals which react once hydrated to give the proper ion composition.

$200 for 40kg of salt is not really a lot of money considering (that is retail pricing too).

Layton

[lduncan]

Same thing with activated carbon. US$0.91 will get you carbon, it'll also get you plenty of phosphate too.

It's the usual story, you get what you pay for.

Layton