Salt water storage has brown stain

[scott11106]

I am not sure if a pump is going as i have a pump in there to move water every so often or if a heater is going as i have put a heater in there recently to see if it helps the salt mixing or if neither have anything to do with it and it is normal. it is a 50 gal closed container and i make salt once a week as i use 3/4 of the water to do auto water change.

i use Tropic Marin PRO REEF SALT MIX

as an additional question what can i use to clean it? i tried bleach with water and that took some off but did not get it clean, any ideas would be great

 

[samnaz]

I scrub my buckets and cans with white vinegar, works great.

What kind of container are you using for storage?

 

[scott11106]

I scrub my buckets and cans with white vinegar, works great.

What kind of container are you using for storage?

 

[Arabyps]

Citric acid solution works great. Also perfect for cleaning pumps, power heads, filter socks, etc.

 

[anth]

I watched a brstv episode the other day and apparently its just minor contaminates in the salt that causes this
Higher grade salt = less contaminates

 

[Uncle99]

Normal.
I never mix warm.
I mix cold.
I only do 10%, so no value to heating.
Fill the bucket with tap water and a liter of vinegar, mix for 24, rinse.
I only use vinegar for bucket cleaning, citric acid easier on pumps and mechanisms.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I was talking to an old time the other day about this issue and he mentioned ESV salt he ihas used for 20 years does not create the brown build up, I use red Sea pro Coral salt and it's a true natural salt so you get that brown stained build up but I haven't seen any issues. And I deal with some very delicate corals. Here's some pictures of my children of the sea

 

[scott11106]

the vinegar was the answer, when i used bleach it did not do much but a gallon of vinegar and a bit of scrubbing and it was almost clean. some stains did not come out but by the time i was almost done the vinegar-water mix was so brown i think i was adding more stain back when scrubbing.

thanks