Mixing Salt Tips and Tricks

I use instant ocean salt mix, and I suck at getting the salt at a good level. So I never get to do a water change when I want to.

So what I am looking for is advice on how to best Mix up some salt?

Do any of you weight it? Do you just use a measuring cup?

Do you use water containers that have markings on them?

I use a powerhead, airstone and heater. Do i really need all that?

Also What salinity should my tank be at? Its been at 1.022-23 for a while, but people say thats low.
What happens when your salinity is low?

Could i start making 1.025 water and using it for my evaporation (instead of fresh) and that might slowly bring it up?

 

That could work.

 

I just fill up a 5 gallon bucket with ro water....add about 2.5 cups of salt using a standard styrofoam cup...put a power head in the bucket to mix it...let it sit overnight and measure the salinity the next day..if thats right I put a heater in the bucket about an 1 hr prior to the water change or until it is close to the tank temp..If your salinity is low you could do small w/c with slightly higher salinity until you ideal level is reached

 

Peace.......John.

 

If you add salt to your make up water, remember that you are quickly concentrating the salt in the tank. My 75g sys went through 5g/wk of make up water... I have added a cup of salt to the makeup to fine tune the SG after a water change. If you take it slow, it works fine (adding salt, kalk, or other dosing through your auto topoff system)
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I just eye ball the salt as I mix, get it close, let it dissolve for about 30 minutes(via powerhead), then test the salinity and adjust accordingly. 30 minutes more and another salinity check and in it goes. No heater/airstone for me.

 

-same here, 20 gallon Sterilite storage container with 10 and 15 gallon labels on it.