Trouble mixing saltwater

T

tiberius

Guest
Hello all,
I can't believe I have a problem mixing saltwater after 22 years! I started using RO water last October. In the past, I have always drained the tank in a 32 gallon barrel,dump the water and filled it with tap water and add salt and chemical to remove chlorine and chloramine.
Since October, I have been filling the same barrel with the RO water and adding salt and letting it sit with a powerhead. I use another container to drain the tank into.
Thursday, I filled the container with the 4 jugs of RO water and added the salt. I figured I would add the rest the salt for the other 5 jugs I need to get later. This way I would not have to stick my arm all the way down to the bottom of the bucket to get any spots of remaining salt. I would use the 5 jugs dumped in the bucket to mix the salt up. I don't normally do it like this and I guess maybe there the problem lies. I always fill the barrel with 27 gallons of water then add the salt and stick my arm in there to mix it up and put a powerhead in and aerate it while I drain the tank to another barrel. I am not one to wait 24 hours to use the water. Unless, I had to put a heater in it.
So, I added the 5 jugs of water. I stuck the powerhead in it. I expected to see the bottom of the barrel in a couple of hours. I couldn't even see down 6 inches! Sunday it is still hard to see. I put an aerate on the powehead last night. Today, there is a white film on the sides of the container and the powerhead. When I wipe it with my finger, it justs liquefies. I was going to put my Magnum filter on it to see if it clears.
Sometime in the past I have just used a 5 gallon bucket to change the water. I used to add the salt in the bucket then run the tub faucet to fill the bucket and let the water mix the salt. I would wait maybe 15 minutes and check the water and I wouldn't see any salt on the bottom and use the water. So, I didn't think there would be a problem adding all the salt.
I did check the TDS of the RO water and it is at 7. It is from the Glacier machines and the range is normally 5-7.
The only thing to do would be to waste all this water and start over. But, I wanted to check before I did that. Maybe someone would chime in and state they had this problem before. But 3 days and it is still cloudy!!!
Oh, and I use Coralife salt and have been for I don't know how
many years.
 
T

tiberius

Guest
I did open a new bag for maybe half of the salt. But, I never had a bad bag of salt in all the years I have been doing this.
I just looked at the barrel and I can see the bottom now. I can see that there are 3 clumps of salt down there that still needs to be mixed in. Or, it might be 3 clumps of that white residue.
It measures 1.025 with my refractometer.
I haven't checked the calcium level yet.
Thought of a way to mix my salt next time instead of sticking my arm down in there. I will use my sump pump and just hold it up and aim the hose down in the bucket for a few minutes. That should work just fine. Just never thought about holding up the pump before. I never wanted to put the pump in the bucket on the bottom and have all that salt go into the pump.
But, this is just so weird.
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
Sounds like hard minerals to me, who knows though. I had a similar problem with my water a bit back that corrected itself. You might want to try going to a different machine and filling up your jugs and scrubbing off all the white junk.
 
T

tiberius

Guest
My calcium level is high at 480. States on the bag that it should be between 390-410. This is testing the water as is with the white stuff on the sides and bottom still. I am going to use my pump to mix it all up and hopefully it will all dissolve. Then, I will test the calcium again.
I am going to email the company about this.
But, I was hoping someone would have had this problem. I searched on here and no one has.
 
coraljunky

coraljunky

Active Member
Sounds like it the high concentrate of salt mix at first tried to calcify in your mixing container. Just like any other additive, if the water is saturated it will precipitate.
 
T

tiberius

Guest
Originally Posted by Kelly
http:///forum/post/2575758
I thought it might be high calcium, and that it was precipitating.
Really? You consider that high? I always thought that a tank should be between 400 and 500. My tank got up to 750 one time. I don't add calcium to it but I think it was from constantly adding this 480 calcium new water to the tank.
I am not going to stir up the water. I guess I will have to use it like it is since it is now clear. I am glad I didn't set the Magnum up. The reading would have been so much higher and I would have to waste the water.
I did send the company an email. But, I will be throwing this bag out and switching to Tropic Marin. I have used it in the past and had no problems. But, I am turned off by Coralife and won't ever go back on it.
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
Could be the formation of algae based on the length the mixing container has been used. Usually forms as a series of bubbles and then almost a film that only forms around the edge of the water because the powerhead movement is pushing it away from the center. I stuck my arm in a mixing container last week and pulled my arm out to find brown spots all over it. Upon further microscopic inspection, it appeared to be regular diatoms. I just filled the container with warm water and a small amount of white vinegar and ran the powerhead in it for about 2-3 days. Just pulling the powerhead out will sometimes cause it to spread as soon as you put the powerhead back in. Especially because most mixing containers are left in the dark, MOST alga develope without pigment.
 
T

tiberius

Guest
I didn't bother to stir up the container. I just siphoned out the clear water into another barrel and didn't disturb the white on the sides.
I have had the barrel for close to 10 years now. Never had a problem with it before. I always rinse it out with a spray hose and let it air dry before covering it and putting it away.
Now, I do have the perfect reason to start using Tropic Marin again!
 
T

tiberius

Guest
Finally got an answer about my mixing problem from the company.
The bag probably had too much calcium chloride in it. This caused the bicarbonate ingredient to precipitate out when mixed as insoluble calcium carbonate (the white film). This can happen so me ti me s if the calcium chloride does not disperse evenly in the batch when mixed. So me bags get a little more than they should. It’s a rarity but it happens in all brands of salt. A test kit for calcium won’t read the actual dissolved levels of calcium in the water which at 1.025 will be around 420-450 in actuality. The process of testing for calcium with a titration test kit requires slowly dropping the pH down below 5. That’s when the color changes. However once you get below 7 the suspended particles of calcium carbonate in the sample (the white cloudiness) will dissolve and read as dissolved calcium which they really aren’t. Another important point to make is that Coralife salt chemistry is made up to a salinity of 1.023. Mixing to 1.025 adds about 9% more salt to the mix. That makes everything 9% higher than the stated value.
The salt is still good. Just turn off the mixing pump for a short ti me and let the particles settle to the bottom. Then pull off the clear supernatant liquid above the precipitate at the bottom. If anything you may have to add a little Superbuffer to the aquarium to replace the bicarbonate lost to precipitation and bring the pH up.
To clean off the white film a little plain white vinegar will dissolve it right away and leave no residue.
 
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