Hi all,
I'm not new to reef keeping (15 years) but I am new to mixing my own salt and am in the midst of a new nano tank setup so i figured this would better fall into the new section.
Setup is a basic 20 gallon with just a HOB running filter floss and two Koralia power heads.
Using Bahama oolite live sand topped with Fiji pink.
18lbs of cycled live rock from established reef tank.
Water: Distilled (tested with meter at 0 TDS) and Instant Ocean Reef crystals.
Water temp: 79F
Salinity: 1.025
Cycle method: Used Bio-Spira and dosing 2ppm Ammonia.
I finished cycling my 20 gallon so I wanted to do a water change before adding livestock as my nitrates were high due to the cycle.
At this point my water was crystal clear.
I had prepared a gallon of salt water with left over distilled water a day prior. When it was time to do the wc i just added the salt and water on top of that. I had noticed the salt hadn't fully dissolved. I didn't think much of it. The water did not look cloudy at all in the bucket.
I performed a 40% water change and immediately my water was cloudy. I hadn't disturbed the sand bed at all so I know it's not that especially because during the initial filling of the tank the filter floss was able to clear the sand out of the water column fairly quick and you can see it on the floss. Now my water became cloudy instantly. After over 24 hrs it looks exactly the same with no improvement.
Now i'm trying to figure out if this a bacteria bloom or precipitation due to my lack of knowledge in mixing salt. I didn't think there was much to mixing salt until I had this problem.
Thank you!
I'm not new to reef keeping (15 years) but I am new to mixing my own salt and am in the midst of a new nano tank setup so i figured this would better fall into the new section.
Setup is a basic 20 gallon with just a HOB running filter floss and two Koralia power heads.
Using Bahama oolite live sand topped with Fiji pink.
18lbs of cycled live rock from established reef tank.
Water: Distilled (tested with meter at 0 TDS) and Instant Ocean Reef crystals.
Water temp: 79F
Salinity: 1.025
Cycle method: Used Bio-Spira and dosing 2ppm Ammonia.
I finished cycling my 20 gallon so I wanted to do a water change before adding livestock as my nitrates were high due to the cycle.
At this point my water was crystal clear.
I had prepared a gallon of salt water with left over distilled water a day prior. When it was time to do the wc i just added the salt and water on top of that. I had noticed the salt hadn't fully dissolved. I didn't think much of it. The water did not look cloudy at all in the bucket.
I performed a 40% water change and immediately my water was cloudy. I hadn't disturbed the sand bed at all so I know it's not that especially because during the initial filling of the tank the filter floss was able to clear the sand out of the water column fairly quick and you can see it on the floss. Now my water became cloudy instantly. After over 24 hrs it looks exactly the same with no improvement.
Now i'm trying to figure out if this a bacteria bloom or precipitation due to my lack of knowledge in mixing salt. I didn't think there was much to mixing salt until I had this problem.
Thank you!
