It's been a while... During the pandemic not many occasions to head to the seas. But things are going on. I had a short episode of combining a sea water tank with a paludarium. A rock overgrown with mosses and tiny plants on top of a marine tank. This was managed with a fresh water reservoir integrated in the marine tank setup on top of which the rock was set and pieces of rope drove freshwater into the planted rock. So far in theory. In reality salt was "crawling" into the freshwater reservoir and salt water sprays harmed the vegetation on the rock. Still an idea that deserves to be realized some day in a better way, because it combines the two most attractive forms of aquariums in one...
Showing posts with label seawater DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seawater DIY. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Seawater DIY
May be you too have wondered, whether it's really necessary to buy salt mixtures for saltwater tanks. Some state, they don't make any water changes in years, thus don't mix seawater. Others say you need those products for sure, since the organisms in your aquarium consume minerals and other nutrients and these must be replaced through water changes.
Well, I see their point and can't imagine either, how you could run a saltwater tank without water changes. But I'm a pathetic DIY guy, that's why I did some research about the composition of sea water. After finding the main elements and their percentage in seawater the question was: with which minerals could we get this exact mixture?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawater#/media/File:Sea_salt-e-dp_hg.svg
After thorough research about the weight of atoms and molecules I composed this recipe:
267 grams of Sodium chloride (=salt)
16 grams of Calcium chloride
7 grams of Potassium chloride
34 grams of Magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (=Epsom salt)
52 grams of Magnesium chloride hexahydrate
dissolved in 10 liters of warm water.
That's it. Of course there might be a need of particular macro and micro nutrients, but this depends on your stocking. Anyway I would advise to add some iodide, e.g. Potassium iodide, this should be done every day, when lights are switched off, since iodide dissolves under light.
I'll post a DIY solution for micro elements soon...
Well, I see their point and can't imagine either, how you could run a saltwater tank without water changes. But I'm a pathetic DIY guy, that's why I did some research about the composition of sea water. After finding the main elements and their percentage in seawater the question was: with which minerals could we get this exact mixture?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawater#/media/File:Sea_salt-e-dp_hg.svg
After thorough research about the weight of atoms and molecules I composed this recipe:
267 grams of Sodium chloride (=salt)
16 grams of Calcium chloride
7 grams of Potassium chloride
34 grams of Magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (=Epsom salt)
52 grams of Magnesium chloride hexahydrate
dissolved in 10 liters of warm water.
That's it. Of course there might be a need of particular macro and micro nutrients, but this depends on your stocking. Anyway I would advise to add some iodide, e.g. Potassium iodide, this should be done every day, when lights are switched off, since iodide dissolves under light.
I'll post a DIY solution for micro elements soon...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)