Is this possible

[olingerjccj]

Ok its about my salt. This salt was given to me its Instant Ocean sea salt. Its a 160gal bucket. There was about 80 gal left . I think its about a yearish old. Ok here is what I am working with. My tap water is .5 to 1pph nitrates. I am getting a ro/di filter in like 3 weeks. Just trying to find the best deal. My levels in the tank are over 100pph, I just made a bucket today to use for evaporation right after I made it my levels were 50pph. Do you think I have bad salt or the mix of salt to my tap water is causing some reaction. I just want to make sure before i buy the new salt and do a 50% water change...
Thanks

 

[spiderwoman]

Did you mix salt water for evaporation? You should top off your tank with fresh water, not salt.
What is the tank size, how long has it been running and what do you have in it? Can you list all of your water params here please?
Until you get your RO/DI, I'd recommend buying the RO water from your LFS or Walmart or such.

 

[olingerjccj]

Ok sorry the tanks is about 3 weeks old .Its a 47 gal bowfront with 52 lbs of live rock. Only my live rock in there nothing else till I get my levels right. But can salt go bad? From my figures the stuff i made should maybe around 2ppm not 50?

 

[casper1875]

Tap water is not good. I go to Wal-Mart or Giants and buy RO water. 20 gal every 2 weeks I make 18 gal of saltwater and use the other 2 for top offs.

 

[camanuch]

you can have a bad batch of salt. this is not impossible. i would check your saltwater when you remix it the next time. if its still crazy hi then you have a bad batch.. also what are you planning to keep?? reef or FOWLR.
if you are doing a reef then go with reef crystal
for A FOWLR instant ocean is perfectly fine.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by olingerjccj
http:///forum/post/2583513
But can salt go bad?
Yes, if salt is allowed to absorb moisture then it becomes useless but bad salt won't add Nitrate.
Don't replace evaporated water with saltwater unless you are trying to raise the salinity.

 

[olingerjccj]

Well I want to do a reef but mostly soft corals.

 

[camanuch]

i would recomend reef crystal salt. its packed full of trace elements.

 

[globaldesigns]

I also use the Instant Ocean reef salt. It also has alot of trace elements. Very good salt...
Anyways, salt does go stale or old, so I would buy new salt. However old salt wouldn't add nitrates IMO.