Anyone having trouble getting reef crystals to fully dissolve?

[jam77]

Ive had some trouble getting reef crystals to fully dissolve there always seems to be some salt left in the bottom of the bucket. I mix ro/di water in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and a penguin 550 power head in there over night and still see salt in the bottom. Could I be doing something wrong?

[Bill Nye]

Ive had some trouble getting reef crystals to fully dissolve there always seems to be some salt left in the bottom of the bucket. I mix ro/di water in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and a penguin 550 power head in there over night and still see salt in the bottom. Could I be doing something wrong?

 

 

I used to use IO regular and I had the same problem. I think its a common problem with this salt.

[Dnic]

I've never had a problem with the regular IO salt

[Shyla8]

I use Reef Crystals and I actually mix my salt in a storage container with a heater and a spoon lol, if you can believe that.

I don't have an issue with mine fully dissolving and I have gone through bags and 2 200 gal boxes of the stuff.

[jam77]

Is it possible I got some bad salt ? Do I have to let it mix longer than 12 hours ?

[MitchReef]

You are probably seeing a bit of calcium precipitate. I usually just decant the clear off the top and leave the last little bit. I have thrown it right in and it doesn't seem to hurt anything, it just blends in with everything or becomes part of the substrate. That's actually what I usually do. And I've been using Reef Crystals for over 20 years.

[lakshwadeep]

Synthetic sea salt is very hygroscopic (absorbing water from the air), and that can lead to insoluble solids like calcium carbonate, which are harmless if added to the tank (coral skeletons, and thus most live rock and sand, are made of calcium carbonate). So, it's very important to tightly seal any bucket/bag of salt.

 

If it is calcium carbonate, you could try to dissolve it by lowering the pH with carbon dioxide and then aerating the water to return the pH back to normal.

[Markushka]

You can pour that in too Its probably calcium precipitate, Ii may dissolve in the tank when the calcium level drops. you can try dissolving it in some ro/di water or adding some mag. Or as lak said with the carbon dioxide, I hadn't thought about that.

[davidncbrown]

I have the same issue with seachem reef salt. How long do you let your salt mix before its ready? Also I've found that if i start with my 5 gal of water and add the salt slowly, say half the total amount of salt and let it mix for about 20 and then the rest of the salt, it tends to not precipitate any "sand" which i assume is just calcium carbonate crystals.

[reefer916]

I just have my water constantly mixing, so it's usually well mixed for several days before I do my water change.

[Soopa1]

Synthetic sea salt is very hygroscopic (absorbing water from the air), and that can lead to insoluble solids like calcium carbonate, which are harmless if added to the tank (coral skeletons, and thus most live rock and sand, are made of calcium carbonate). So, it's very important to tightly seal any bucket/bag of salt.

 

If it is calcium carbonate, you could try to dissolve it by lowering the pH with carbon dioxide and then aerating the water to return the pH back to normal.

 

I have never had that problem with Reef Crystals until the last bag I got. Coincidentally, I didn't seal it very well and it began to clump up, and wouldn't fully dissolve. I guess that explains it.

[davidncbrown]

Synthetic sea salt is very hygroscopic (absorbing water from the air), and that can lead to insoluble solids like calcium carbonate, which are harmless if added to the tank (coral skeletons, and thus most live rock and sand, are made of calcium carbonate). So, it's very important to tightly seal any bucket/bag of salt.

 

Thats one of the reasons I love tropic marin salt. Even in the 5 gallon bucket it comes in a bag, so you can press all the air out of the bag before placing the lid back on top.

[burtbollinger]

I had the same problem with RC...cloudy as milk. Nasty white residue left in mixing containers. I switched to Tropic Marin salt years back and I am very, very happy. RC is junk IMO.

[Mr. Microscope]

I always let my IO Reef Crystals mix o/n. Seems to work okay.

[disaster999]

the most i mix my RC salt is 5-10 mins, i have a 3000LPH (700gph) pump that mixes the water and they dissolve very fast. change out my water and dump the new water in. sure its gets cloudy but it will clear up in an hour. never once had a problem. no nasty residual left inside mixing containers or pumps.

 

i refuse to pay for salt 2-3 times the price to have the same parameters regardless of what people say how good the TM pro or DD H2O are and how good their corals reacted. I can get the same results as the "inferior/junk" salt.