Red Sea Blue Bucket mixing instructions? (Crazy)

[neiltus]

also, if you plan on anything other than fowlr....learn how to do diy 2 part w mag.

I've done this since the 80s and used a lot of salts. I have better luck with bringing lower mineral salts up to par with my aquarium vs using higher mineral salts. IMO those usually are higher in something I don't want that can cause a bloom after repeated use.

I work up the lowest salt (cheaper that way too).

 

[Trever]

@neiltus that's the sense I get too, eg. I'm not terribly interested in trying RSCP

 

[Potatohead]

also, if you plan on anything other than fowlr....learn how to do diy 2 part w mag.

I've done this since the 80s and used a lot of salts. I have better luck with bringing lower mineral salts up to par with my aquarium vs using higher mineral salts. IMO those usually are higher in something I don't want that can cause a bloom after repeated use.

I work up the lowest salt (cheaper that way too).

Red Sea blue bucket is quite low in most major elements. Lower or equal to IO, even.

 

[neiltus]

Red Sea blue bucket is quite low in most major elements. Lower or equal to IO, even.

Yep. It's low(er) than other retail salts, that is why I use it. I have not used IO in ages. Seen good reefs with both.

I've also seen good reefs with TMPro, and tried it-not to my liking.

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

I just assume that every salt is pretty much 1/2 cup for every gallon. It's more or less spot on. When I mix up 40 gallons of blue bucket (my salt of choice), I use 21 cups. This almost always give me a salinity of 35 ppt (Not ppm as I've seen many times on this thread. That's not how it's measured). I always test it (several times because of OCD) a full 24 hours after vigorous mixing with a power head rated at 4,500 gal/hr. If it's within >0.5 ppt, I'll use it without adjusting as my interference will likely cause it to be more out of whack. I also don't temp match during the summer because it's usually about 3 degrees lower. When doing 10% water changes, that won't swing things enough to for it to matter. Even with a 50% water change, if I'm at 79 and I change 50% at 75, it'll drop it to right about 77, which hurts nothing. Different story if it's 3 higher.

 

[Pauley]

I switched to the blue bucket from Red Sea’s Coral Pro mix. I just found it easier to maintain stable parameters. IMO, the Pro mix is a little out of balance, and precipitates very easily. For anyone interested, here are my calcs/conversions for mixing the Red Sea blue bucket salt based on their chart:

*At 25C/77F which is what’s specified on the bucket

35ppm = 1.0264sg
1lb per 3.1368gal (3gal 17.13oz)
.3188lbs (5.1008oz) per 1gal

33ppm = 1.0249sg
1lb per 3.3285gal (3gal 42.05oz)
.3004lbs (4.8064oz) per 1gal

30ppm = 1.0226sg
1lb per 3.6532gal (3gal 83.62oz)
.2738lbs (4.3808oz) per 1gal

**Red Sea states their numbers are based on mixing at least 500g/12oz salt in RO water. 500 grams is actually closer to 17.6 oz, but I think it’s a moot point, because who actually mixes less than that?

If you want to push the easy button, the following numbers work:
35ppm = 1.594lbs per 5 gal
33ppm = 1.502lbs per 5 gal
30ppm = 1.369lbs per 5 gal

*These numbers are basically the same as what is provided on the Coral Pro bucket, which is as follows:

1.021 = 30.6ppt = 33.4g/l = 1.4 lb/5gal
1.023 = 32.8 ppt = 35.8g/l = 1.5 lb/5gal
1.025 = 35.0 ppt = 38.2g/l = 1.6lb/5gal

**Red Sea provides the Coral Pro numbers at 24C/75F. Not sure if the lower mixing temp (relative to the blue bucket) is intentional or just one of Red Sea’s happy little accidents. Regardless of the RS salt, after mixing I let it sit overnight before doing a final salinity check. Red Sea saltwater tends to need a little extra time (relative to other brands I’ve used) to stop shifting salinity. In any case, hope this helps!

 

[Pauley]

Sorry, forgot to mention:
For those people who like to add salt by volume, .3lbs is almost exactly 1/2 cup. This will give you 1.025 salinity. So basically, this post and the last are a super long way of agreeing with everyone else on the thread who said 1/2 cup per gallon.
*Also, please replace all my PPM‘s with PPT’s in the above thread. I’m getting old...

 

[fishlover1478]

so 1/2 a cup per gallon? I just woke up and I am having trouble doing math lol

 

[Pauley]

I know the feeling. 1/2 cup per gallon should get you pretty close. If you’re super type A, you can use the more exact numbers above calculated by the gal or by the pound. But, not really necessary IMO.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

For anyone that has a simple ($15) digital kitchen scale (I use this one), I get great consistency by measuring the RO/DI water in a 5 gallon jug (just close to the line as you can get) and then measuring the salt in grams using the calculations in this sheet I just shared:
worksheet

This sheet assumes you want 1.025 and uses the instructions from the Red Sea recipe pamphlet (38.2 grams/Liter). If you want a different target salinity, just enter that value from their pamphlet into the field where 38.2 is.

I always make a 10 gallon batch and so just round th 1446 grams up to 1450, works like a charm. (I converted the grams to lbs as well at the end of the sheet, but why fight the original instructions?).

Other hints:
NEVER dump the salt into an empty trash can and then add the water.....it will precipitate (due to the much higher instantaneous concentration). Always add the full volume of water first then slowly add the salt. Also along the same lines, it is probably smart to bring the water up to temperature first before adding the salt, as that will also minimize precipitation and reduce the amount of time required to dissolve.

One point the BRS videos point out from their tests is that once mixed, the alk and ca levels do drop (precipitate perhaps?) over several days, so in my opinion I only keep a small amount of emergency water on hand, never large amounts which will progressively drop levels.

Yes, I realize that common sense would dictate asking, well what about the persistence of these levels once added to the tank? I'll let somebody like @Randy Holmes-Farley answer that one, but as most people either do two part dosing, or (like me) do very sizable (80%) changes because we have nanos, that issue is moot. Also, even if a correction wasn't being performed the levels would converge on a lower limit, consumption by livestock aside.

 

[ajtomase]

I switched to the blue bucket from Red Sea’s Coral Pro mix. I just found it easier to maintain stable parameters. IMO, the Pro mix is a little out of balance, and precipitates very easily. For anyone interested, here are my calcs/conversions for mixing the Red Sea blue bucket salt based on their chart:

*At 25C/77F which is what’s specified on the bucket

35ppm = 1.0264sg
1lb per 3.1368gal (3gal 17.13oz)
.3188lbs (5.1008oz) per 1gal

33ppm = 1.0249sg
1lb per 3.3285gal (3gal 42.05oz)
.3004lbs (4.8064oz) per 1gal

30ppm = 1.0226sg
1lb per 3.6532gal (3gal 83.62oz)
.2738lbs (4.3808oz) per 1gal

**Red Sea states their numbers are based on mixing at least 500g/12oz salt in RO water. 500 grams is actually closer to 17.6 oz, but I think it’s a moot point, because who actually mixes less than that?

If you want to push the easy button, the following numbers work:
35ppm = 1.594lbs per 5 gal
33ppm = 1.502lbs per 5 gal
30ppm = 1.369lbs per 5 gal

*These numbers are basically the same as what is provided on the Coral Pro bucket, which is as follows:

1.021 = 30.6ppt = 33.4g/l = 1.4 lb/5gal
1.023 = 32.8 ppt = 35.8g/l = 1.5 lb/5gal
1.025 = 35.0 ppt = 38.2g/l = 1.6lb/5gal

**Red Sea provides the Coral Pro numbers at 24C/75F. Not sure if the lower mixing temp (relative to the blue bucket) is intentional or just one of Red Sea’s happy little accidents. Regardless of the RS salt, after mixing I let it sit overnight before doing a final salinity check. Red Sea saltwater tends to need a little extra time (relative to other brands I’ve used) to stop shifting salinity. In any case, hope this helps!

Do you still use these calculations, especially for measuring 35ppt?

 

[ajtomase]

I switched to the blue bucket from Red Sea’s Coral Pro mix. I just found it easier to maintain stable parameters. IMO, the Pro mix is a little out of balance, and precipitates very easily. For anyone interested, here are my calcs/conversions for mixing the Red Sea blue bucket salt based on their chart:

*At 25C/77F which is what’s specified on the bucket

35ppm = 1.0264sg
1lb per 3.1368gal (3gal 17.13oz)
.3188lbs (5.1008oz) per 1gal

33ppm = 1.0249sg
1lb per 3.3285gal (3gal 42.05oz)
.3004lbs (4.8064oz) per 1gal

30ppm = 1.0226sg
1lb per 3.6532gal (3gal 83.62oz)
.2738lbs (4.3808oz) per 1gal

**Red Sea states their numbers are based on mixing at least 500g/12oz salt in RO water. 500 grams is actually closer to 17.6 oz, but I think it’s a moot point, because who actually mixes less than that?

If you want to push the easy button, the following numbers work:
35ppm = 1.594lbs per 5 gal
33ppm = 1.502lbs per 5 gal
30ppm = 1.369lbs per 5 gal

*These numbers are basically the same as what is provided on the Coral Pro bucket, which is as follows:

1.021 = 30.6ppt = 33.4g/l = 1.4 lb/5gal
1.023 = 32.8 ppt = 35.8g/l = 1.5 lb/5gal
1.025 = 35.0 ppt = 38.2g/l = 1.6lb/5gal

**Red Sea provides the Coral Pro numbers at 24C/75F. Not sure if the lower mixing temp (relative to the blue bucket) is intentional or just one of Red Sea’s happy little accidents. Regardless of the RS salt, after mixing I let it sit overnight before doing a final salinity check. Red Sea saltwater tends to need a little extra time (relative to other brands I’ve used) to stop shifting salinity. In any case, hope this helps!

When you were doing the calculations based on their chart, you mentioned 35ppm = 1.0264sg, but on their bucket, it says that 35.5ppt = 1.0255. I'm curious about this discrepancy and if that would change your calculations...

 

[Pauley]

When you were doing the calculations based on their chart, you mentioned 35ppm = 1.0264sg, but on their bucket, it says that 35.5ppt = 1.0255. I'm curious about this discrepancy and if that would change your calculations...

I’ve experimented with different variables (temp/mix time/salt qty per gal/etc). For me, it’s not worth the hassle of trying to control all the variable impacting the mixing of saltwater under lab-grade conditions. I typically mix about 40gal, and I’ve found that 1/2 cup per gal gets me very close. I mix for a few hrs, let it sit overnight, and adjust as necessary. Blue bucket salt is finicky, and trying to land on an exact salinity with no adjustment is hard. I’d be interested to see how long the mixed saltwater can be stored before breaking down/precipitating out. Even more interested in what it’s doing in my actual tank.

 

[ying yang]

Stupid question time ^_^

I'm in UK so just use weight like grams and kg.

But when Americans say add a cup or 1/2 a cup what does this mean ?

As all my cups are different sizes so you add a cup full but your cup is half the size of my cup then I get twice the amount of you so I don't get this add a cup lol

Look picture I share,3 different size cups on my cup rack I often use,so 3 different measurements lol

 

[Pauley]

I use a standard measuring cup, like you would use for cooking. 1/2 cup is 4 oz, which is about 118 ml. You can get a measuring scoop, but a larger measuring cup for cooking (eg 4 cup capacity) will save you lots of time when mixing larger batches of saltwater.

 

[ajtomase]

I've seen two designs out there. One bucket gives measurements for 35.5ppt where the alkalinity is 7.7 dKh, the other design gives measurements for 35ppt where the alkalinity is 8dKh

 

[Supa]

the company assumes if your dropping 100 bucks on a bucket of salt that you would know what you are doing with it.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

When you were doing the calculations based on their chart, you mentioned 35ppm = 1.0264sg, but on their bucket, it says that 35.5ppt = 1.0255. I'm curious about this discrepancy and if that would change your calculations...

Regardless of that conversion (ppt to sg), I can say that I use 38.2 g/L in my mixture and it consistently comes up right around 1.025. While I can absolutely nail dry measurements using a kitchen scale (within reason, it isn't a lab grade scale of course), doing the same with a 5 gallon jug for liquid measurement is another story and will only get you probably within a few percent. But it is as close as you can expect without taking truly crazy measures. And probably (most certainly) close enough to provide stability, even when doing crazy 80% changes like I do. I would argue that consistency in your method is probably more important then any calculations (as long as you are in the ball park), because you will be able to subtly tweak it and get consistent results in the direction you want as long as you can control those measurements.

One other step I take is that I use an identical heater with digital present (the Cobalt Neotherm) that is in the tank and plunk it into the water mixing trash can to try to make sure that temperature doesn't play into the final calculations (anymore than can be expected).

 

[Reef.]

the company assumes if your dropping 100 bucks on a bucket of salt that you would know what you are doing with it.

That’s not true as they give directions for mixing on every bucket of salt.

Some salts require more or less salt to reach 35ppt.

 

[ying yang]

I use a standard measuring cup, like you would use for cooking. 1/2 cup is 4 oz, which is about 118 ml. You can get a measuring scoop, but a larger measuring cup for cooking (eg 4 cup capacity) will save you lots of time when mixing larger batches of saltwater.

Ummmm

Thanks for reply,very much appreciated,even after your reply I was still confused as a cup to me can be any size so saying a " cup " I use for cooking means nothing lol as the size of cup all depends on which one I use,so investigated further and looked on one of my measuring jugs in kitchen and it has ml. Fl oz. Pints and. Cups ha ha so a "cup"is actually a bona fida measurement lol,well I be dambed you do Indeed learn something new every day

All Americans and few others reading this be like .......... .
Really ying yang surely can't be that stupid lol
But seriously I always intrigued Me how big a cup is in measurement as all cups different sizes buy thanks again now I know ^_^