I messed up

[EuphylliaAddict]

So I just set up a new 75gal tank, filled it with water two nights ago with some salt, ran out of salt, bought more and added it yesterday evening, the water got cloudy and I assumed it would be fine by this morning. Well, it’s not. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why it was cloudy until I realized I dumped the salt into a bucket then added the water. To make it worse, since I was tired and impatient I didn’t mix it for that long and added it faster than I should have.

Is there a way to correct it besides waiting to see if it hopefully clears up? I used instant ocean so i fear that it likely won’t. The last time this happened I had to completely restart but with 75gal I really don’t want to have to do that since I’ve already dumped bacteria in and it wasn’t cheap. I dosed with seachem clarity twice but it did nothing

That's not a big mistake really, wait a few days, maybe change some water if the salinity is all out of wack... Probably not an issue tho, just don't add any livestock anytime soon besides something for the bacteria to feed on.

 

[jarviz]

Do you have a powerhead and heater to help the salt dissolve faster? I assume it's also not the sand that was kicked up when you dumped the water in right? Super fine sand can take a while to settle.

 

[Sarcazian]

I use 10-20 gallons of reef crystals (IO) a week. Not a lot compared to most, but I also only make it in 5gal pails.

I found once I started heating the water up first the salt dissolved almost instantly. It does not like 53F water that comes out of my RODI unit, but 78F is seems to disappear quickly. I am also using a hydro 450 or so to mix.

 

[HB AL]

Thank you! That seems to be a pretty popular brand, I’ll definitely give it a try

bacteria went in last night, I might pick up some live rock later but we’re wanting the vibe for this tank to be more “minimalistic” with light coloured fake rock/coral looking structures and a few sps. Just trying to decide whether or not we want to add purple since all of our other tanks have tons of live rock already

Ya set up the landscape to whatever you like. If it were me and I had live rock on hand and just started a new tank i would add some of that live rock asap, the more the merrier to seed the tank quickly and get the ecosystem going.

 

[Rubblereefer]

I’ll definitely look into it thank you! I haven’t heard of it but I trust your judgement since you know what I’m dealing with. Small problem but super annoying

If you are in Canada and cannot get tropic marin, check out the BRS salt test videos, they go through quite a few brands, and if I remember Brightwell also scored fairly well in the clean mixing category.

 

[PBnJOnWheat]

I think it’s a chemistry thing, high temperature higher dissolution. So if the water temp is higher, the salt will dissolve faster. When I used to mix salt, that cloudiness would stick for awhile. Hopefully it’s better today, the thing about water buckets was hilarious!

 

[itselenababe]

Do you have a powerhead and heater to help the salt dissolve faster? I assume it's also not the sand that was kicked up when you dumped the water in right? Super fine sand can take a while to settle.

Yes & no sand yet

 

[itselenababe]

If you are in Canada and cannot get tropic marin, check out the BRS salt test videos, they go through quite a few brands, and if I remember Brightwell also scored fairly well in the clean mixing category.

Thanks so much!

 

[Lou Ekus]

So I just set up a new 75gal tank, filled it with water two nights ago with some salt, ran out of salt, bought more and added it yesterday evening, the water got cloudy and I assumed it would be fine by this morning. Well, it’s not. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why it was cloudy until I realized I dumped the salt into a bucket then added the water. To make it worse, since I was tired and impatient I didn’t mix it for that long and added it faster than I should have.

Is there a way to correct it besides waiting to see if it hopefully clears up? I used instant ocean so i fear that it likely won’t. The last time this happened I had to completely restart but with 75gal I really don’t want to have to do that since I’ve already dumped bacteria in and it wasn’t cheap. I dosed with seachem clarity twice but it did nothing

The key for me is the statement that I highlighted above. If you put the salt in the bucket first, and then added the water, you may have caused a calcium carbonate precipitate. If you did, you will either have to wait until it settles out, or redo. The calcium carbonate will most likely not just dissolve quickly.

Just my opinion.

 

[c3h5]

I basically found myself in this situation last week as I’m in the middle of a new build myself. It cleared up within 24 hours but I felt like I was wiping off the inside of EVERYTHING for hours as a very thin layer of white film covered every surface in the tank and sump