Stinky Water

[Killingtime]

Hey all, I wanted to ask an odd question.

I mixed up a batch of new salt water in my Brute can. I decided to make up twice as much as usually needed for my water change. I used what I needed 4 days ago. I went back to the Brute to use up the rest of the water for todays water change and it smells a little like ammonia??? Anyone else having this issue with the Brute cans? Is it even the Brute can causing the smell? I've stored some 1.018 water in a food grade 5 g bucket and it never smelled funny.

Big question....Is the water safe to use?

 

[Lavey29]

You can test the water or add some prime but it's probably just condensation from the sealed air tight lid and odor causing. But akways check if you suspect ammonia you never know what may have floated in the air and landed in your bucket.

 

[homer1475]

Completely normal for stored SW in brutes. Kind of smells like cat pee, and is perfectly harmless to use.

Out of curiosity, what salt are you using? Some have organics in them that would cause the odor to be stronger then it should be.

 

[Killingtime]

Thank you!! That's exactly what it smells like! I thought that the Brute might have been leeching something into the water while it was stored.
Everything tested out just fine, but I did toss the water out before I was able to read your reply. Live and learn.

I have another question if you don't mind. Is it proper practice to keep the stored water heated until used or reheated when needed?

Oh, and to answer your question, I'm using the Red Sea Coral Pro salt.

 

[homer1475]

I never heat my water. The small temperature difference doesn't hurt my reef one bit. Normal room temp water(my water sits around 65F) only drops my temps by about 5 degrees when I do a 10G WC, which doesn't hurt a thing.

The ocean goes through thermo cycles(ever been swimming and find a cold spot?), so it shouldn't hurt the tank one bit.

IMO some people take stability to literal.