Start up with NSW or Salt mix?

[Fjdam]

Hi,

Should I start my tank with NSW or Saltmix for now?

My plan was to use salt mix to kick start the nitrogen cycle. Once everything complete, i will do major wc like 80% to be replace with NSW. I felt that buying nsw will be a waste because i know i will be changing that water anyway. Any advice?

[DottyClown]

There is no right or wrong or any fast rule on starting a new tank with NSW or saltmix.  It is simply what is comfortable and convenient for you.

Some wants the convenience of just pouring in NSW, instead of having to fill a full tank of freshwater followed by mixing a huge amount of salt and still have to adjust parameters to the right salinity.

Whereas some feel more comfortable with saltmix as they can be assured there are no contaminants like there could be in NSW.

[Harlequinmania]

For me I would go for cycling using NSW since it is much cheaper and faster to cycle the tank.

After the cycling is completed, I would use Salt mix for a major water change since the parameters is better and easier to adjust upward before adding corals.

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[Fjdam]

There is no right or wrong or any fast rule on starting a new tank with NSW or saltmix.  It is simply what is comfortable and convenient for you.

Some wants the convenience of just pouring in NSW, instead of having to fill a full tank of freshwater followed by mixing a huge amount of salt and still have to adjust parameters to the right salinity.

Whereas some feel more comfortable with saltmix as they can be assured there are no contaminants like there could be in NSW.

Hmm.. ok thank you. So i can assume its just each own preference..

[Fjdam]

For me I would go for cycling using NSW since it is much cheaper and faster to cycle the tank.

After the cycling is completed, I would use Salt mix for a major water change since the parameters is better and easier to adjust upward before adding corals.

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Ok noted. You are right. Which farm sells nsw around north side? Too bad madpetz dont bring nsw anymore

[leong_rei]

I don't think is a watse of mix salt water because nsw water may got problem and if u do 80% change water 1 time u will loss all your cycle water then u have to cycle again if I not wrong and if your tank is 322 or bigger 80% change is a lot very hard for u to mix the slat outside tank for me I use mix salt when cycle finish I change 20% and add reactor then weeky change 10% until no3 reach 10 I add fish and coral to test the water this way for me I think is safe and eazy hope this can help u

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[JMW]

Would advise against a 80% wc as that is way too much a change at one shot. Living organisms in your tank might not be able to adjust to the sudden huge change in parameters & some may perish, contributing to a buildup in ammonia. As for using of NSW or salt mix, I'd think it's really up to preference & convenience. With NSW there's always a risk of contaminants but I'm sure many bros here use NSW without any ill effects. Salt mix would be a lot of mixing given your tank's volume.

if you are in the north, your closest might be kranji area where there's LCK, CF, etc

[Fjdam]

I don't think is a watse of mix salt water because nsw water may got problem and if u do 80% change water 1 time u will loss all your cycle water then u have to cycle again if I not wrong and if your tank is 322 or bigger 80% change is a lot very hard for u to mix the slat outside tank for me I use mix salt when cycle finish I change 20% and add reactor then weeky change 10% until no3 reach 10 I add fish and coral to test the water this way for me I think is safe and eazy hope this can help u

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Definitely it help. Im still on planning stage to minimize water disturbancy and save some money. May i know what kind of reactor did you add? Didnot know reactor is needed that fast..

[Fjdam]

Would advise against a 80% wc as that is way too much a change at one shot. Living organisms in your tank might not be able to adjust to the sudden huge change in parameters & some may perish, contributing to a buildup in ammonia. As for using of NSW or salt mix, I'd think it's really up to preference & convenience. With NSW there's always a risk of contaminants but I'm sure many bros here use NSW without any ill effects. Salt mix would be a lot of mixing given your tank's volume.

if you are in the north, your closest might be kranji area where there's LCK, CF, etc

Ok thanks for pointing 80% water change.. i tot its normal for huge wc to remove nitrate..

Wanted to use tap water+ conditioner for salt mix.. any bros here have any objection?

[kohanson]

For my new setup, I used around 80% salt mix and another 20% from my old tank. After that, I just continue with my 5-10% water change every 2 weeks.

have been using tap water + seachem prime and salt mix for the past 2 years. The only thing is diatom will continue to grow after every 3-5 days. Not recommended though.

[equiox]

So which is better?

[Kumar 1981]

Always mix comments on this topic
Some say Nsw first den first wc salt mix
Den come again some say salt mix first so that u know wat is inside ur tank referring to salt mix water contains.


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[vincentwangz]

I've used nsw to start before, and experienced a tank crash when I did wc with salt mix. I also heard from those who just stick to nsw all the way and had much success. My current set up I'm using salt mix right from the start. My experience is that this method is more stable. When I top up I'm using distilled water bought from NTUC which I add my salt mix to. This has helped prevent algae built up due to the excess silicates and phosphates from tap water. So I guess it depends on what u're gunning for. Find something that balances sustainable effort and risk of causing tank crash I guess.


Sofishticated Friend

[Mike Stone]

I am also going to set up a new 100g tank next month and is having headache how to set it up, as filtering 100g RO water using my RO unit takes a whole day.
I read somewhere about putting in tap water on the tank and than uses RODI filtering to cycle filter the water until TDS 0. By doing that I need to speed $$ to buy the RODI unit, but I already have RO unit set up to tap....
Any pro bro can give me some suggestion?


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[sharonleong]

On 4/19/2016 at 6:55 PM, he said:

For me I would go for cycling using NSW since it is much cheaper and faster to cycle the tank.

 

After the cycling is completed, I would use Salt mix for a major water change since the parameters is better and easier to adjust upward before adding corals.

 

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Larry... Normally for your salt mix you use tap or ro/di water? I got information from others if we use tap water it can be done but we need to add phosphate to control the algae. 

[Harlequinmania]

Larry... Normally for your salt mix you use tap or ro/di water? I got information from others if we use tap water it can be done but we need to add phosphate to control the algae. 

For Salt mix I would use di water, as the watse filter will helps remove impurity from the water source . If you are using raw tape water , best is at least use a dechlorine solution to remove chlorine from the water which will kill bacteria in the tank .

There is no right or wrong answer, every method has its pro and cons. If nsw is not available, I would just use tape water with Salt mix for tank cycling since the nitrate and phosphate level is going to rise anyway after cycling . After tank cycling is completed, then I would do a major water change with ro/ di water before adding live stocks. This would be a cheaper solution I feel.

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[Mike Stone]

I really like your statement about using tap water with salt mix for tank cycling since NO3 and PO4 level will increase anyway. Why I didn't think of that and was troubled initially how to filled 100g of DI water into new tank.
Thanks for this great advice !!


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[sharonleong]

20 hours ago, he said:

 

For Salt mix I would use di water, as the watse filter will helps remove impurity from the water source . If you are using raw tape water , best is at least use a dechlorine solution to remove chlorine from the water which will kill bacteria in the tank .

There is no right or wrong answer, every method has its pro and cons. If nsw is not available, I would just use tape water with Salt mix for tank cycling since the nitrate and phosphate level is going to rise anyway after cycling . After tank cycling is completed, then I would do a major water change with ro/ di water before adding live stocks. This would be a cheaper solution I feel.

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Again i learn something new from you again.  

Well actually i would like to go with pure tap water with mix salt for my tank. DO you mean by using tap water my phosphate and nitrate will increase? 

I read up our tap water do have nitrate,m phosphate well we can control it can we?

 

[Mike Stone]

Hi Sharon, what he means is that even using DI water to start the cycling, after cycling complete you will still have high nitrate and phosphate (of course there may be unwanted heavy metal elements from tap water that we need to filter out by carbon later). So it doesn't make too much difference using tap water or DI water to start the cycling. But whatever added/changed after cycling should use DI water to lower down nitrate and phosphate .


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[Mike Stone]

Nitrate and Phosphate can be reduced using proper method , i.e. reactors, Red Sea NO3- PO4- , carbon, Purigen, Chemipure etc.


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