Salt Creep

[PaulPerger]

I am fairly new to SW tanks, and I have a question about Salt Creep.

First, I completely understand how salt can "creep" onto areas that get wet with saltwater where the water then evaporates leaving the salt behind. What I am trying to get an understanding of is the physics of what we call "salt creep" as I have begun to see salt where there has been no water. For example on the lid of my overflow box. There is a thick crust of salt all along the seam where the lid fits onto the box. It has never overflowed, so water has never been near the top of the box. So, how does salt get there?

In the top corners of my sump I am beginning to see small bits of salt build up. Again, no water of any kind, salt or fresh has been near there. There are no water spots, just salt.

I am sure someone on here knows the answer and I am curious...

 

[bluprntguy]

From saltwater condensing, splashing, misting/bubbling onto the surface and over time the water evaporates and leaves salt that builds up.

 

[BadFish619]

Probably a small amount of water that seeps through where your pipes meet lid. Mine has it. As for the corners, do you have any splash? I always consider these things as normal. Especially on the lid

 

[lou dog420]

No splash, no mist, no spray, no salt creep!!

 

[PaulPerger]

Splashing I completely understand. I guess that could be the answer for inside the overflow box.

So, what I am hearing is that my understanding of the physics is correct, I am apparently having splashing or misting that I am not aware of... Time to do some investigating...

 

[PaulPerger]

So. After some investigating, I figured out that I was indeed getting some misting in my overflow box. Figuring out how salt was creeping up the outside bottom edge of my tank took a bit longer.

I finally figured out that I had a VERY SLOW drip. It took about 10 minutes for a single drop to form and drop onto the stand where it would land right between the glass and the plastic frame. It would flow along the inside of the base frame of the tank until it reached a corner where it would pool and dry up leaving the salt behind. I realized that I never put plumbers tape on the threads... 10 minutes later, I had tape on the threads, the salt creep cleaned up a piece of tissue placed where the water was dripping (so I could see evidence of a continued drip) and 24 hours after that, I have no evidence of any dripping water.

 

[ZoWhat]

No splash, no mist, no spray, no salt creep!!

as gases exchange at the surface, there are micro burst of bubbles. take a bright flashlight and with the room completely dark shine a beam of bright light over the surface to watch the micro bubbles bursts

you post like salt creep is a BAD thing. I think it's a good acceptable sign that there is surface agitation and good exchanges of air. trapped CO2 would kill a reef tank

I'd be worried if I DIDNT have to clean a small amt of salt creep each month


.

 

[PaulPerger]

as gases exchange at the surface, there are micro burst of bubbles. take a bright flashlight and with the room completely dark shine a beam of bright light over the surface to watch the micro bubbles bursts

you post like salt creep is a BAD thing. I think it's a good acceptable sign that there is surface agitation and good exchanges of air.

I'd be worried if I DIDNT have to clean a small amt of salt creep each month


.

I read this response as a reaction to my OP, which read...

I am fairly new to SW tanks, and I have a question about Salt Creep.

First, I completely understand how salt can "creep" onto areas that get wet with saltwater where the water then evaporates leaving the salt behind. What I am trying to get an understanding of is the physics of what we call "salt creep" as I have begun to see salt where there has been no water. For example on the lid of my overflow box. There is a thick crust of salt all along the seam where the lid fits onto the box. It has never overflowed, so water has never been near the top of the box. So, how does salt get there?

In the top corners of my sump I am beginning to see small bits of salt build up. Again, no water of any kind, salt or fresh has been near there. There are no water spots, just salt.

I am sure someone on here knows the answer and I am curious...

No splash, no mist, no spray, no salt creep!!

The response is basically that if I am seeing salt creep, there HAS to be water getting there somehow... Which was proven correct!