How long will unused saltwater last

Paullawr · Apr 7, 2017

Well very true on the beer front. No different to glass Vs can.

BPA plastic is the best option. But then I've never had any detrimental effect from my jerry cans.

Paul B · Apr 7, 2017

We will have to wait 3 billion years to see what happens to plastic buckets as they have only been around for like ten minutes. When I was a kid, me and Noah had no plastic. Everything was wood or metal. Milk came in a cardboard container that was sprayed with wax, it normally leaked, toys were metal, cars were metal, boats were wood and Men were iron. Now unfortunately many men are made out of cottonballs or popcorn.

Tautog · Apr 7, 2017

Paullawr said:
Well very true on the beer front. No different to glass Vs can.

BPA plastic is the best option. But then I've never had any detrimental effect from my jerry cans.

And I beg to differ, beer is always better in glass, plastic bottled beer is terrible. I'm spoiled, but I tested this at a micro-brewery, fresh beer, made the day or two prior to drinking, tasted especially consistent from #1 - 15. Kegs are better than 6-packs!
Oops! It's Happy Hour! Time to re-test!

Paul B · Apr 7, 2017

There is nothing better than hot beer in a steel Army helmet. It hits the spot every time.

Paullawr · Apr 7, 2017

Tautog said:
And I beg to differ, beer is always better in glass, plastic bottled beer is terrible. I'm spoiled, but I tested this at a micro-brewery, fresh beer, made the day or two prior to drinking, tasted especially consistent from #1 - 15. Kegs are better than 6-packs!
Oops! It's Happy Hour! Time to re-test!

No you misunderstood.

Bpa plastic is best you can get if using plastic. Not better than glass.

40B Knasty · Apr 7, 2017

Tautog said:
FWIW......stores sell pre-made saltwater......hello!
I have a local tank that only gets bay water that I refill with plastic containers. I always have some just in case, and it sits for 2-4 weeks, never had a problem.
But, an old friend who designed the plastic bottle system, he only drinks out of glass or bottles made of glass. Plastic does leach into the liquid. Do a test yourself with your favorite beer. Glass always tastes better!

I always questioned that. That and being a mixer of my own salt for my tanks.
I just think one thing. Power outage. What happens? Water sits and the tank crashes.
In a container there is no life. So water must hold some kind of stability if airtight and maybe even vacuum sealed. I don't know. I am not there to watch them seal it or mix it. So I broke out as many saltwater mixing bibles as I could find on the internet. Breathed a sigh of relief now knowing I never have to worry about it. Now if I could find a bible on GHA. All would be good haha

Paul B · Apr 8, 2017

I store it in an open plastic container, no wax, no hermitically sealed, no nothing. I just have a cover on it for the evaporation. No one covers the ocean

Bdog4u2 · Apr 9, 2017

I do very few water changes on my main tank but when I do i make around 50 gallons and there is always around 5 gallons left afterwards so I store it in 1 gallon Green tea jugs so my 10 year old son can do his wc on his 5 gallon reef and he never has any issues and it's mostly sps

watdachuck · Apr 9, 2017

Bdog4u2 said:
I do very few water changes on my main tank but when I do i make around 50 gallons and there is always around 5 gallons left afterwards so I store it in 1 gallon Green tea jugs so my 10 year old son can do his wc on his 5 gallon reef and he never has any issues and it's mostly sps

Can we see your 10 year olds SPS tank??? I am so jealous, that would have been so insane if I had an SPS tank 23 years ago!!!!!

yellojello · Apr 9, 2017

Has anyone had issues with Alk dropping with stored salt water? Salinity, Calcium, and Magnesium stay steady.

Bdog4u2 · Apr 9, 2017

watdachuck said:
Can we see your 10 year olds SPS tank??? I am so jealous, that would have been so insane if I had an SPS tank 23 years ago!!!!!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 10, 2017

yellojello said:
Has anyone had issues with Alk dropping with stored salt water? Salinity, Calcium, and Magnesium stay steady.

If there is precipitation of calcium carbonate (especially on heaters, pumps, etc.), you will see that as an alk drop primarily, and a small calcium drop (~ 1 meq/L (2.8 dKH) of alk for each 18-20 ppm of calcium).

There's no other substantial means for alk to decline in stored salt water.

Don't test the water before it is totally clear and settled as particulates of calcium carbonate in the tests will dissolve and give false high readings.