Help - Cloudy water 48 hours after mixing Instant Ocean

[reefkeef]

Hello everyone,

I am getting back into the hobby after a break and I have ran into a problem I have never had before. I have a 120g aquarium and a RO/DI unit. I filled the completely empty aquarium with about 40 gallons of RO/DI water and then added a bag of Instant Ocean mix (enough for 50 gallons). I stirred it up and then put a powerhead and heater in it and left it overnight.

The next morning the water was still very cloudy (I could not see the back of the tank from the front). I added an additional 15 gallons of RO/DI water and the salinity is now around 1.022. I added a few more powerheads and aerated the water with them to help it dissolve better. It's been running like that and is just as cloudy as ever.

I think adding too much salt might have caused a precipitation event because I do see very fine white silt covering the bottom of the tank, the heater and the powerheads. Is there anything that can be done to salvage this water or do I need to dump it all and start from scratch? I was thinking of letting the water settle for a day or two and syphoning out the white silt. I don't mind the cost of the salt too much, but my RO/DI unit only makes about 25 gallons of water a day.

This tank will be used as a mixed reef with soft Corals, possibly LPS at some point. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Keith

 

[thegrun]

I agree that if you added the salt to quickly what you are seeing is calcium precipitate. Run a 100 micron filter sock if at all possible you help clear the water and as you posted siphoning out what did settle on the bottom of the tank will help. Other than it having somewhat lower calcium and alkalinity, there is no problem with using the water in the tank.

 

[reefkeef]

I agree that if you added the salt to quickly what you are seeing is calcium precipitate. Run a 100 micron filter sock if at all possible you help clear the water and as you posted siphoning out what did settle on the bottom of the tank will help. Other than it having somewhat lower calcium and alkalinity, there is no problem with using the water in the tank.

Awesome - thanks for the advice. I will try to run the sock (I have to go buy one tomorrow). Do you think I should just shut off all of the circulation for the night to maximize the amount that settles? I was also thinking about just letting it settle on the bottom of the tank and putting the aragonite sand over it. It actually stays on the bottom pretty well when it settles.

 

[thegrun]

Yes turn off the pumps to let things settle until you get a filter sock. Covering it over with sand will be fine. I would test the alkalinity to see if it is off, the calcium will not effect the cycle so don't worry about it for now.

 

[sticky polyps]

No problem.. Just keep making saltwater.. Try to make it in batches, should be just fine..