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brackish salt help

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:44 pm
by reiterta
anybody have an idea on how much salt to add to a 5 gallon bucket to get about a .002 salt level?

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:47 pm
by Boxermom
It varies depending on how much moisture is in the salt. You need a hydrometer or refractometer to measure it accurately.

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:48 pm
by reiterta
I do but I just wanted a starting point...

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:57 pm
by Boxermom
Well, it takes approximately 1 cup to raise 5 gallons .005.

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 5:19 am
by nmonks
I have a modest application called Brack Calc that works this sort of thing out in metric and US units. For SG 1.002, the amount of salt needed is about 4.9 g/l at 25C (0.65 oz/gal at 77F). The application can be downloaded from my website in Mac and Windows versions. It's free.

http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/aquaria.html

As Boxermom has said, you should still check the SG using a hydrometer or refractometer afterwards (though this is far less critical with brackish water fish than marine fish, since brackish water fish are pre-adapted to sudden changes in salinity).

Cheers, Neale