Salt water storage

Danny N · Jan 3, 2016

I've got a 25 gallon reserve of mixed salt water in a plastic Brute trash can. How long can I keep it? Should it remain at temp., agitated, should I add a piece of live rock to promote bacterial growth?
Or can I just leave it be and heat and stir prior to adding to tank at next water change?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 3, 2016

The answer depends on whether there are organics in the mix.

Which brand is it?

kevindo123 · Jan 3, 2016

I have powerhead running in there 24/7 and plug in the heater only the day I do the water change.

No liverock or anything else in there. You can have the saltwater stay in there for as long time if you want, just have power head to circulate the water. Some salts like IO reef crystals will form a brown hard crusting layer at the bottom of the brute can. I have since switched to a different salt now, hopefully it doesn't do that. The IO reef crystals is fine just I have to clean out the brute with vinegar every 100 gals of salt mixes.

I would recommend mixing your salt in a 3 gallon bucket until its clear and then dump in the brute container.

Danny N · Jan 3, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The answer depends on whether there are organics in the mix.

Which brand is it?

Brightwell Aquatics Reef Salt

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 4, 2016

Danny N said:
Brightwell Aquatics Reef Salt

Brightwell Neomarine Salt contains no organics (like vitamins) and can be stored for as long as you like. I store salt water made from IO for a month or more, unstirred and unheated. I make up 88 gallons at a time in two Brute cans plumbed together.

Note that there can be some precipitation of calcium carbonate in some salt mixes, especially when you heat them (even heating by a powerhead) if it is a mix with high alkalinity to begin with. However, the alk won't drop too low and the effect on calcium will be minimal. Neomarine is not usually very high in alkalinity so would suffer less from this.