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water for partial change

yardartist

yardartist

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Hello all, new to the club here. I have been changing about four gallons of water each week to ten days since June on a 36g tank with 2g sump. I recently switched to rodi water from local store. Yesterday I mixed the salt as I usually do directly in the five gallon bucket. Today the water has a film on it and is not clear as in the past. On this batch I let the heater raise the temp to the upper 80's. Would that cause the not clear water? Now that the temp is back down to 80 I can see deeper into the bucket, but it is not like the water I am used to seeing.

The fresh water was sitting still for 11 days. The house temp is 62 day and night and around 68 in the mornings and evenings. Would that create the film on top and cloudiness? The salt is Coralife. I am well into the first bag of a new bucket and the last several changes were clear.

Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Richard
 
What about other parameters? Do you have a powerhead mixing it? I know at times I have mixed Instant Ocean and gotten a white foam, slightly dirty appearing initally, but continued mixing it goes away, and my parameters are fine. I don't know if this is true or not, but it's almost as if the salt is a bit dirty (IMO). A bit strange, but that is how I rationalized what I was seeing with my fresh saltwater.
 
The heated water may have caused some of the minerals to precipitate out. I'd like to assume you have a lid on the container along with a power head.
 
The dKH is off the Salsifert chart at over 16. This answers my question as to the waters usefulness at this point. I do not use a pump in the bucket, and there usually is a lid resting on it yet not sealed. I use the water after 24 hours and up to tank temperature and salinity.

If the new salt did this the first mix I would understand. Could the standing fresh water have caused a precipitate? I will mix a second bucket with the same water source and time standing still to compare, unless someone thinks this is a cause.

My nitrates are getting up around 10 after a major algae harvest. I would like to change the water to lower this number.

Tank parameters yesterday. I had a low pH of 7.8 about three weeks ago and added 2 part B Ionic in 2ml each for a couple days. PhosGuard in the overflow.

pH 8.2
Ca 500
PO4 less than .03
dKH 9.9
sg 1.0245
NO3- 10

Thanks-
 
I really don't know what to think of that. Your brand new saltwater that you have mixed from Coralife, same bag you have been mixing other buckets from has a dKH value over 16. ??? Did you add any supplement to your 5 gallon salt water bucket? Did you take a water sample from under the surface of the water? Maybe your LFS gave you saltwater instead of RODI. After mixing, did you check your salinity? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to understand. :-[

Regarding your tank parameters, I would not add any more 2 part. Your calcium is high, and your alkalinity appears ok. Follow this link for corrections. http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html

Tank parameters yesterday. I had a low pH of 7.8 about three weeks ago and added 2 part B Ionic in 2ml each for a couple days.
Click to expand...
IMO I would not use a 2 part to raise your pH. A pH of 7.8 is not too bad, but is on the low end of normal and the 2 part is just raising your Calcium and Alkalinity. It should be used to replace what your tank is consuming.
 
The next bucket is clear. I will test the dKH tomorrow before adding to tank. I am stumped too. I am glad the water looked different or it would have gone in.

I mixed this bucket with powerhead.
 
Powerheads are very nice to mix saltwater. It beats standing there with a spoon stirring until it is dissolved. I always keep it in my new saltwater. All the movement helps tremendously with the pH.

Is your tank an enclosed biocube type tank?
 
The enclosed tanks don't get a lot of fresh air to them, so gas exchange is impared and the pH drops. I also have a 12 gallon nano tank all enclosed, hard for it to "breathe". I found that my pH was low around 7.6 (looked low on the test strips, but confirmed with a Pinpoint pH meter). Keeping the lid proped open helped a lot, but not practical for me. Little hands like water ;), so I ended up putting a bubbler in the back to help push fresh air into the water and help with gas exchange. Not the best way to do it, but it does help.

Find a way to improve air movement around the tank. Can the light rest on risers to maybe give it an inch or so gap for air flow? What about a fan on the side blowing across the top? Just stuff to think about.
 
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