Saltwater make up

[bamareef]

How long can I make up saltwater in a food grade bucket and leave circulating? I use reef crystals salt and it leaves a white film if i let it circulate for about a week. I usually wait 8 to 24 hours mixing before use. How long is it safe to stay in bucket before being added to tank? I am not looking for how long before adding, but how long is the water still good for tank?

 

[Eckolancer]

I have heard a few weeks based on how much O2 you can keep in there.

 

[JSB]

You know, I may be wrong, but it would appear to me to be good for the same amount of time before you put it into your tank as it is after you put it in your tank, so for quite some time. As long as salinity is adjusted to compensate for evaporation, it should be good for more time that you would ever need. Sure, there will probably be some precipitation of Calcium Carbonate, but is should be minimal, and the water should still be good for quite some time. This is just me spitballing here, but I have never given any consideration to how long I have stored water, and I have been doing this reasonably successfully for many, many, years..

 

[H@rry]

I agree with Scott. What happens to water once you add it to your tank that makes it last indefinately? Nothing. Mixed up salt water doesn't "go bad".

 

[bamareef]

Thanks for info.

 

[Eckolancer]

It can start a nitrogen cycle if left for to long. Then you are adding water that might be full of ammonia or nitrite to your tank. May not effect a cycled tank, but may have some sort of effect short term. Also ph may change if stored for a while but should only go down to say 7.8 and stay there.

 

[JSB]

It can start a nitrogen cycle if left for to long. Then you are adding water that might be full of ammonia or nitrite to your tank. May not effect a cycled tank, but may have some sort of effect short term. Also ph may change if stored for a while but should only go down to say 7.8 and stay there.

I am not sure I agree. The nitrogen cycle does not produce ammonia, but consumes it. A nitrogen cycle will need an ammonia source (decomposing organic material) in order to grow the necessary aerobic bacteria which begins the initial phase of the nitrogen cycle, thereby producing nitrite. So unless something crawls into your bucket and dies, there will be no fuel to begin the cycle. Freshly mixed saltwater should be free of ammonia.

 

[H@rry]

And if for some reason it is NOT free of ammonia (but I don't know how), then over a period of time it should begin to cycle and be less toxic than when it was first mixed.

 

[Eckolancer]

There is bacteria in the air that is absorbed by water. This bacteria dies and starts the cycle. But like I said it shouldn't have to much of an effect on water left out less then a few weeks.