Brown substance in water mixing container

[Leaky01ch]

Hello,

I have a brown substance growing/forming on the bottom and the sides of the container that I mix salt water for my tank. It is a 30 gallon container that is always in a pitch dark room except when I am working on the water. I do have a pump and heater in the container. Does anyone know what this could be? Algae? It seems to be a little on the hard side, but mostly wides off with a cloth. I do have well water, but run the water through a 4 stage RO and a dual DI. The highest the tds ever has been is probably 5 going into this container.

Thanks

 

[disc1]

It is precipitate from the salt. What brand are you using? It's nothing to be concerned about, but if it is building up you should give the bucket a good cleaning. Vinegar will help to get the scale off.

 

[jbadd99]

It is precipitate from the salt. What brand are you using? It's nothing to be concerned about, but if it is building up you should give the bucket a good cleaning. Vinegar will help to get the scale off.

+1

I just use a "tank only" scrub brush after every WC and scrub it down. I noticed in my more recent boxes of IO that it's become a little thicker.

 

[Palting]

I use reef crstals, and I used to mix and aerate with a powerhead for 24 hours or more in a 22 gal bin. I noticed this brown prcipitate you mention start developing when RC came out with their new formulation. I have since cut down my mixing and aerating time to 3-6 hours, and no more precipitate. Parameters on the newly mixed salt are still excellent done this way.

 

[disc1]

Another thing which seems to help sometimes is to mix up the salt before you heat the water. Most of the precip is CaCO3 which is more soluble in cooler water.

 

[Leaky01ch]

I am using Kent sea salt. Thank You all for your responses. Glad to know it is nothing to worry about. I did just clean it with vinegar to get rid of it. I am using Kent sea salt.