2 cups of IO salt gives a specific gravity of 1.017

[deansreef]

Why does instant ocean require like 3 cups of salt per 5 gallons to reach a specific gravity of 1.023? This make alot less water than the 160 gallons that a bucket says it makes!!!

[DeeZeal]

You know alot of those "5 Gal" buckets hold like 6...

[deansreef]

i measured 5 gallons out with 5 one gallon buckets

[Urabggr]

Usually its about a half-cup per gallon gets to their reccomended salinity which is around like 1.021ish (i think, I actually use Red Sea now). So for 5 gallons, around three cups sounds right.

[AcroSteve]

Marketing gimick?