# Tips to Make the Saltwater Enthusiast's Life a Little Easier



## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Hey as some of you know I have had a salt tank going now for about 3 or 4 months, and man is it a lot of work!
So I'm starting this thread because I know there are some hard core saltwater keepers on this site who know there stuff and probably have some tips to help save us newbies some trouble and time.
It takes me a while just mixing the saltwater for simple water changes, its hard to remember to put the Alkalinity, Magnesium, and Calcium in when they are needed (even harder to test your water just to see if you need them), its hard to figure out what fish go with what and what corals are suitable.
So basically, from all you pros out there, what are some shortcuts or helpful tips/methods you use to keep your wonderful tanks as wonderful as they are?
How do you mix salt? Where you get r/o? How do you do water changes? how do you keep your additives on a tight schedule? Basically anything that will help make our lives easier from your personal experience?


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## Dragonbeards (Dec 14, 2008)

Don't have any input, but I am going to keep my eyes on this thread as well. Hoping to start in salt when I move out.


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## SouthernBelle23 (Mar 24, 2009)

I mix saltwater in a 5g bucket with a 50w heater and a powerhead (maxijet 400). I usually mix it up and let it sit (with the heater and powerhead) for 3+ hours prior to a water change. My goal is to mix it the night before I do a water change but I keep forgetting. I've only had my tank up a running for a month, so I haven't had to do alot of water changes just yet.

I use some 1/2" tubing to get the water out of the tank and then use the same tubing with a small water pump to pump the new water back in. I have 3 5g buckets that I use....1 for mixed sw, 1 for r/o water (either for the next salt mix batch or for top offs, feeding...), and 1 for when I take the water out of the tank. 

I've been testing my water every few days since I've been in the habit of doing that for the past month. I don't have to add anything just yet, but I imagine it will be hard for me to remember it, since I have issues remembering to dose my planted tank. 

I get r/o water from my r/o unit which is under my sink.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i have always mixed the salt in a 5 gallon bucket with only about 3 gallons of water...even when i was changing 20 gallons...drained the 20 gallons....put the hose in the tank and started to fill and dumping the water from the bucket in at the same time..then added the trace elements...i don't touch RO/DI water..


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Water changes are a breeze. I use a rubbermaid trash can to mix mine up with a powerhead and a heater installed, you can always have a batch mixed up for emergencies. Quarantine everything! Prevention is always key.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

How about additives?
Any products you found don't work or work exceptionally well?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

anything by mark weise LOL sux balls


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Haha I was hoping for a little more input on this thread lol


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Marc Weiss products actually do work as advertised, and very well at that, but with one leeetle drawback--> if you ever _stop_ using them your tank will pretty much crash. Why? These products seem to take over much of the normal functioning of the tank so much that when removed the tank can't get back into it's own groove fast enough. When you do use them, though, they work amazingly well despite themselves.
All in all I wouldn't recommend them since they're something of a "crutch" of sorts, but if you're lazy or otherwise don't have much time to spend working on your tank, they're very handy. I've run tanks with and without them and can honestly say that they are worth the money, as long as you're prepared to keep spending that money.

As for all other additives, here's one big important thing to always remember:
Don't add them all together!!
Many of them interfere with each other in some way and will cause some really wonky results if not allowed enough time to get fully into solution. This isn't a problem when you use a constant drip dosing method, but if you are a daily batch-adder ( like me ) it can bite you on the butt. Your test results will also often get skewed so badly that they become useless, so it's important to make sure everything is good and dissolved before testing.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

What do you add daily that you think works the best?


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