How do I de-clump my salt

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nemofan

Guest
I have a bucket of salt with individual bags of salt in it. The bags are rock solid. Any ideas on how to break them up. I have already tried smashing them on the garage floor - not fun sweeping up the mess. Thanks for any ideas! Anne
 

katsafados

Active Member
Why would you want to? Your just going to dissolve it in water to make salt water lol? Put a power head or something in the bucket with it to speed up the disolving.
I use a airlie tube with a pump.
 

meowzer

Moderator
Why are they rock solid? Is there a leak....have they gotten wet? I think when you use salt that has been exposed to moisture you may have other issues, you may have to skim some gunk off too....I read something about this in other posts a while back...so maybe someone else will help out here
 

aquaknight

Active Member
I've had salt get pretty solidified on me, but never to the point of having to smash it on the floor. Usually some scraping/bashing with the measuring cup, gets it into small enough pieces that I can dissolve by hand into the water.
If the salt is that far gone, and this is for a reef, I could consider/recommend just tossing it. What has happened is that moisture has gotten to the salt, and the calcium carbonate has precipitated. Basically why you add salt to water, never water to salt.
Either way, if you decide to use the salt, or for the future anytime anyone uses clumped salt, always test the alkalinity after it's mixed.
 

loopy101

Member
why is your salt hard as a rock?
I would wait and let some one with more experience in this come on and voice there thoughts on the matter! but from the little ive seen and read about this(clumpy salt) if moisture or water got into the bags of salt if may not be good anymore. it could lead to poor water quality and algea growth just my thoughts...
 
I would think that the bags were not sealed, so the salt is most likely contaminated. I personally would throw it out and buy some new salt. WHY TAKE THE CHANCE!
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
If you are sure the salt was contaminated by moister and not from another liquid you can use it. You may find some white precipitate on the bottom of the bucket after you mixed it. If there is a large amount of precipitate in the bucket transfer the water to another vessel leaving the precipitate behind and just check for calcium
BTW. globaldesigns. I am honored that you liked the avatar that I use so much that you felt compelled to use it yourself
 

lil.guppy

Active Member
I had the same issue from a discounted bag from the LFS so I took two peices and rubbed them together and it dissolved them just fine.
 

bang guy

Moderator
I agree with AquaKnight and Florida Joe.
If it's rock solid then you're looking at salt with clumps of Calcium carbonate in it. If you mix it up you're going to have to add a lot of expensive additives to make it look like marine saltwater.
 

cranberry

Active Member
When you salt clumps like that, it'll never be the same. Beat it down into it's original grain size, measure out a bunch of buckets like you normally would, and then test the water for a bunch of different parameters. You'll get some crazy values. I did anyway.
All those "Do not eat" silica gel packets you find in everything... throw them in your containers of salt.
 
Hmmmm.... Florida Joe... You and I have somewhat of the same avatar... It was one of the most favorites on I believe National Geographic... HEHE, I cropped mine though....
Since you had yours first, I will look for a new one...
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
yes now i do see they are somewhat the same.I can see how you made the mistake of thinking they where in fact not the same
 

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3158241
yes now i do see they are somewhat the same.I can see how you made the mistake of thinking they where in fact not the same
I was terrified when I saw this...I though OMG!!!!! There are 2 JOES

 
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