Boomer / Randy - Please help me understand dissolving salt

[Boomer]

About the salt - I mixed 68kg in to 2000l water and that gave me 1.014

Well, that is 32 kg / 1000 l or 3.2 g / l. I do not know about the TM Pro but TM @ 3.5 g / l yields 32.6 ppt what is no where near 1.014. The lowest salt in the test was just over 28 ppt = 1.019.

Something Marsh brought up

Whenever you get around to it post your alk, mg, ca, ph [

So, what are they ? Maybe you got a bad batch and the Alk and Ca++ are really high, thus your problem. And what is the water temp ? You did not put the salt in the tank than then dump in water did you ?

Fill a glass with this cloudy water and then blow into it with a straw and see if it clears up.

 

[Mr31415]

I have tested them a while ago and listed them on this site - if I remember correctly they were 10dKH, Ca 452mg/L, Mg 1240.

The water was at 16C when I started adding the salt. It is now 25C

The cloudy water has all disappeared so unfortunately I cannot repeat that test

 

[Boomer]

OK

annnnnnnnnnnd that 15 C has allot to do with it, as solubility decreases as water temp decrease. That was more than likely the cause.

 

[Mr31415]

Boomer / Bertoni - just a quick update. It has been roughly 1.5 months since I had this problem, and I have been monitoring the specific gravity ever since. It rises by 0.001 every 10 days. It used to be at 1.0240, it is now 1.0295. I have not done a water change, only topped off evaporated water with RO using an auto topup system - which is fairly accurate in only replenishing evaporated water. Usually AFAIK the salinity of a tank should fall as water is skimmed out and salt creep, but this increase I can only attribute to that "missing" salt somehow slowly dissolving...

What confuses me is why it is doing it so slowly? 0.001 every 10 days!

 

[Percula9]

I was wondering whether you use a hydrometer or a refractometer to measure your specific gravity.The low mixing temp would slow the dissolution time quite a bit. Don't mix salt into water the wrong temp. I'm glad your water cleared up. I'm perplexed by the changeing salinity every ten days. Try another water change with a different salt and see if this cures the problem. Since your tank is large, it might be easier just to buy water already made.

 

[Mr31415]

I have covered that question already - three independent Aquatronica density probes, a USD 2000 Hanna electrical conductivity meter (all calibrated with 53mS/cm fluid), as well as a Deltec refractometer. No mistake there... All yielded exactly the same results.

PS: When I said it raises by 0.001 every ten days - this is a smooth, linear thing. So every ten days it has raised by 0.001 - obviously gradually.

Tank is 528g of water - I'd go bankrupt if I did a large water change

I can buy water but it is too expensive to get it here - in any case, my water is *much* higher quality than the LFS as I use RO/DI water. Salt is fine - when I premix it in a drum it mixes correctly, when I added it to a tank with sand it did not so I tend to believe the OR (Original Replier) that the substrate had something to do with it.

 

[Percula9]

I apologise for asking on your method of measurement I didn't get that info. I thought you only had the 145 gal, I read the particulars to fast. Is this problem in all your tanks or in just the one. I would try changing salts. I had a similiar problem once. It seemed to resolve itself. I never could find a good explaination for it. Good luck to you.

 

[Mr31415]

Nope only ever happened once - when I set up my 480g tank.

 

[Percula9]

The cloudiness may have been some sort of ionic imbalance caused by the bad salt.Try Coral Life salt I have never had a problem with it. Don't put any supplements into the mixed water. All you can do is monitor the situation and hopefully it will resolve itself.

 

[Boomer]

Mr

That is a rise in salinity of ~ 100 ppm /day. That may be things going into solution as we have discussed before, i.e. undissolved solids from the salt mix or something in the SB or a combination of the two, although I doubt both. As before, I suspect the SB. Have you measured the Alk, Ca++ and Mg ++ /day as you did the salinity ? This may have given the answer. 100 ppm / day is a lot.

 

[Mr31415]

Not as regularly as the density (obviously) as it is a manual test. I do know my Calcium when measured about 2 weeks ago was still > 520mg/L, Alk was about 7dKH.

 

[Boomer]

Ok