Bad Salt?

[PaulKreider]

So I have my salt sitting in the garage in the bags that it comes in, But I noticed one of the bags got hard and lumpy rather than nice and smooth like sugar.. Does this mean its gone bad? Is it not good to use? Any dangers ext?

 

[glb]

That probably means humidity got into it. That will make it more difficult for it to dissolve in water for some reason I can't comprehend. I live in south Florida so the humidity gets to it. I use purified seawater now but if I remember right there are directions on the bag for what to do if it gets hard. Good luck!

 

[mike007]

Yes i agree moisture has gotten into the salt. I have had this happen even stored inside and i had no problem with it.

 

[PaulKreider]

Yeah that was I figured the humidity got to it. But it even got into an unopened bag.... But it wont harm the corals?

 

[glb]

Yeah that was I figured the humidity got to it. But it even got into an unopened bag.... But it wont harm the corals?

As long as it's just humidity it won't bother the corals.

 

[CoryC]

the bag went from a hot to cold environment or vice versa quickly. from the store to your car and the inside of the bag condensed

 

[PaulKreider]

Iv had the bag in my garage for months.

 

[CoryC]

changing temps in your garage likely.

 

[MadBrad527]

Yeah I wouldn't worry about it. Give the bag a good smack or two so the clumps become a little smaller, then do your normal saltwater mix and everything should be fine once it's dissolved. As everyone else has said, I would have to agree and say the humidity got to it.

 

[Planedoc]

Yeah I wouldn't worry about it. Give the bag a good smack or two so the clumps become a little smaller, then do your normal saltwater mix and everything should be fine once it's dissolved. As everyone else has said, I would have to agree and say the humidity got to it.

+1
Humidity / water made it clumpy and a little bit harder to mix. Break it up as much as possible before adding to water. Make sure there are no clumps when doing final salinity checks. Chemically it's just the same, just harder to mix.

Tapatalk on Galaxy S3

 

[secretreefer]

It's all G. Just break it up with a mallet and when mixing it put a powerhead in the water so it's under constant "mixing".

 

[glb]

It will take longer to dissolve. Maybe even overnight. That makes absolutely no sense to me that something that goes into water has trouble dissolving if a little humidity gets to it but it's true. Lol

 

[mcarroll]

Everything that's been said, plus:

It does lower the quality of the salt.

Some of the chemicals, once dissolved, do not precipitate back to their original form when dry.

Unless it was a lot of water that got in, the change probably won't be enough to immediately notice. (Like getting unhealthy through bad diet!) Even so, if I had a choice I would store salt in an air-conditioned space rather than allowing this to happen. The manufacturers go to fairly great lengths to make very precise mixes for very good reason.

-Matt

P.S. It's the temperature changes that do it, not so much the heat or cold, or even the humidity within reason.