"Do not overmix salt" - Why?

[landlubber]

not sure if this applies here but i've been told before that certain salt brands that have a pro-biotic aspect to them activate when introduced to water and aren't meant to be stored long term in storage bins.
Aquaforest is the specific salt brand i was told this about.

 

[Miami Reef]

To be clear; that was AI's answer, not mine.

Yes. That’s a fact. :)

 

[Domreef15]

That seems weird. Once it goes into our tanks, don't the pumps constantly "mix" the water anyway. I wonder what would be the difference between leaving it in our mixing bucket with a pump running or putting it in the tank with a pump running.

great point

 

[Crabs McJones]

great point

I guess I didn't take into consideration, in our reefs, alk and calcium are being consumed whereas in a bucket it's not. Dont know if that factors in based off other replies.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

not sure if this applies here but i've been told before that certain salt brands that have a pro-biotic aspect to them activate when introduced to water and aren't meant to be stored long term in storage bins.
Aquaforest is the specific salt brand i was told this about.

That certainly is a reason to not store salt mixes with certain organics in them, but those are not present in Red Sea Coral Pro.

 

[Pennekampdream]

I do wonder if that plays a part... My water goes up to temp prior to adding any salt...

@rtparty - I've not had a chance to review your salt mix thread, but I am curious if you tested at a specific temperature, and if the results you noticed with the Red Sea precipitating were replicated both at a lower and average tank temp?

In my case with Red Sea I have mixed a batch in 67 degrees all the way to 77 degrees and haven’t noticed any difference in clarity.

 

[KrisReef]

Basically the title - why does some salt indicate to not "overmix"

No need to overthink these kinds of instructions. They make a lot of salt, some of it is ok and some may have been blended hastily.

The cryptic instructions allow them to blame you if a batch mixes up funny.

“You must have ‘Overmixed it.’” :face-with-tears-of-joy: :smiling-face-with-halo: :cool:

 

[charleydavis]

Basically the title - why does some salt indicate to not "overmix"

Isn't it functionally being perpetually "mixed" once it enters the tank following a water change? What would be the adverse side effect to leaving a pump mixing salt perpetually in a container, is this not fundamentally the same as when it's added to your tank and is constantly being turned over with the other 90% of water volume you combined it with?

This seems really silly to me. How could it be possible to overmix? Once the salt is completely dissolved it doesn't somehow "degrade" with additional mixing

 

[braaap]

Brightwell said or says the same thing. I haven’t read my bucket in a couple years. But I leave it mixing for weeks with no issues. I plan to do water changes. Then I never do. Buckets are still spotless clean. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[BeanAnimal]

not sure if this applies here but i've been told before that certain salt brands that have a pro-biotic aspect to them activate when introduced to water and aren't meant to be stored long term in storage bins.
Aquaforest is the specific salt brand i was told this about.

The question I would have is what probiotics, exactly and how are they proven to be of any benefit to to the reef, and for that matter what exactly do they benefit?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This seems really silly to me. How could it be possible to overmix? Once the salt is completely dissolved it doesn't somehow "degrade" with additional mixing

It can precipitate calcium carbonate, so yes, it does degrade.

What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Figure 1. The residue on the bottom of the plastic trash can that I use to mix Instant Ocean. I rarely clean it out. The solid is most likely calcium carbonate.​

 

[KStatefan]

Brightwell said or says the same thing. I haven’t read my bucket in a couple years. But I leave it mixing for weeks with no issues. I plan to do water changes. Then I never do. Buckets are still spotless clean. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

They also say to mix to "specific gravity of 1.025 g/cm3" so in my opinion nothing they say about mixing salt has any credibility

 

[themcnertney]

Hmm I've been mixing saltwater continuously for 20 years.

Pump and heater in a Brute can. Once empty, I do it all over again.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I think the point here is that some of the higher calcium salt mixes may precipitate under certain conditions (temperature and pH) and that vigorous mixing and the resulting CO2 equilibrium in some environments could be the cause. So instead of answers a million "my salt is bad, your product sucks" phone calls --- they tell you not to mix it that much before using it. As Randy and others have indicated, once the ions are mixed into a living system, they are much more stable.

 

[Amstar]

so what's the consensus? start with RO/DI water at /around 68 degrees -- mix for 20 minutes but no more than 2 hours -- bring up to temp of your tank and then water change?

Other as others have said -- keep doing it the way you have been doing it -- me brute trash can is 77 degrees - I dump in enough salt for a 5 gallon instant ocean bucket -- pump water into out -- stir/power head for 20 minutes -- then water change

 

[mjszos]

Sounds like, as with basically everything in this hobby, the method depends on who you ask…

As for me, this was a great discussion and I learned a lot. But I’m still going to do it exactly as I have been, and continue to not worry about storing mixed water longer term.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you have a low alk mix, it generally won’t matter how you mix it. Just add salt to water, not the other way.

Higher alk mixes are at more risk for precipitation. Colder temps reduce the chance for precipitation.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

and continue to not worry about storing mixed water longer term.

Which is fine. I stored normal IO for a month or two, unheated and unstirred.

 

[mjszos]

Which is fine. I stored normal IO for a month or two, unheated and unstirred.

Fair enough! I like to keep mine stirring and heated for more convenient water changes.

Eventually would love to invest into one of those 100G storage tanks, not having the ability to store enough premade water to mitigate an emergency makes me a bit uneasy.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Fair enough! I like to keep mine stirring and heated for more convenient water changes.

Eventually would love to invest into one of those 100G storage tanks, not having the ability to store enough premade water to mitigate an emergency makes me a bit uneasy.

Once mixed, stirring does nothing useful (except perhaps spread the heat around) unless it is a mix that contains organic matter that bacteria may consume, lowering O2. :)