coolwaters Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 a week ago at most i mixed some seachem reef salt for a water change. i put too much salt in the water so i ended up with extra fresh saltwater that i stored in a a polythene water container? well it loos like this the water was crystal clear before and maybe 2 days later too. but a week later it was very cloudy. whats wrong? is it because there was not water movement? it was just sealed off. Link to comment
coolwaters Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 i check it today and the cloudy stuff settled on the bottom. i shook it up and the water turned all cloudy again. the settlement is very milky. Link to comment
cptbjorn Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 There is only a certain amount of calcium carbonate that water can hold at a given temp/pH, and if you mix in too much salt you can cross that line and some of it precipitates out. Even if you subsequently add more water the CaCO3 will not readily dissolve again. If you want you can add a cup or two of plain soda water which will lower the pH enough to dissolve the cloudy stuff (CaCO3) and then let it sit with a pump or air stone for a day or two and the pH should stabilize back to 8.3 or whatever (thank you Fosi for this idea) Link to comment
coolwaters Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 crap... thanks i'll try not to over shoot it next time... so if my salinity is less then 1.030 or something close to natural salt water then i wont get this problem? cuz iv been jamming a lot of salt in a bottle of fresh water so i can just add that in if i need more salt... Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 If you want to get that precipitate back into solution, add a little (read: less than 500 mL) soda water to the container, mix it up and re-cap it. Once the precipitate is re-dissolved, check the pH (likely will be way too low). If it is low, aerate it until the pH comes back up to an acceptable range, then use it before it re-precipitates. Link to comment
illuminano Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 once you get your tank settled at the the right salinity you should only have to have a bucket of saltwater that matches your parameters (for water changes) and a bucket of fresh water (for topping off) When saltwater evaporates the salt is left behind (for the most part) which is why you should only ever have to top off with freshwater Hope that helps -Dave Link to comment
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