How to store saltwater

[Mark Derail]

IMO, matching pH in new salt water is not needed or useful, and adding soda ash will boost alkalinity. IO already has plenty of alk, too much for many people.

From two different batches of Instant Ocean Sea Salt (purple), once from the bucket, once from the box with 4 bags, I've had wild results. Yes, on average, the Alk was high. Always with 1ppm RODI, mixed with air stone & heater a full day beforehand.

FWIW, I often have a brown scum floating on top, I scoop it out.

Once, the new SW (from the bottom of the bucket) had calcium off the scale, over 500ppm. This last time, from a bag, I didn't test anything. I have a PH meter on order.
I did the manual test for PH in the DT and it was lower than expected, so assuming it came from the 50% WC.
Even my chaeto slowed growth dramatically.

Lesson learned, I will always test my new SW and refrain from doing big WCs, now that the tank is well cycled. Too bad, it's easier for me to do 50g than to do 20g.

 

[Haggisman14]

I'm still getting mine from my LFS. I"ve got 3, 5 gallon containers that I get filled up, and do a 5 gallon change every week. Longest I'm sitting on it is for 3 weeks...so far, have not had any issues at all.

I believe my LFS uses Red Sea salt

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

From two different batches of Instant Ocean Sea Salt (purple), once from the bucket, once from the box with 4 bags, I've had wild results. Yes, on average, the Alk was high. Always with 1ppm RODI, mixed with air stone & heater a full day beforehand.

FWIW, I often have a brown scum floating on top, I scoop it out.

Once, the new SW (from the bottom of the bucket) had calcium off the scale, over 500ppm. This last time, from a bag, I didn't test anything. I have a PH meter on order.
I did the manual test for PH in the DT and it was lower than expected, so assuming it came from the 50% WC.
Even my chaeto slowed growth dramatically.

Lesson learned, I will always test my new SW and refrain from doing big WCs, now that the tank is well cycled. Too bad, it's easier for me to do 50g than to do 20g.

IMO, when people see off results (such as 500 ppm calcium from a batch of a mix like normal IO), it is much more likely to be faulty testing than an actual batch that has so much more calcium in it. Such faulty testing is easily verified in many cases (two kits that disagree, unexplainable rapid drops or rises in parameters, etc.), while off batches of high quality salt mixes are not that frequent.

FWIW, pH is determined solely by the alkalinity in the mix and the CO2 level in the air it is aerated with. So every time you mix a batch of salt water you may get a different pH if the air around it is changing in CO2 level.

 

[anit77]

From two different batches of Instant Ocean Sea Salt (purple), once from the bucket, once from the box with 4 bags, I've had wild results.

I don't know how much you're making at a time but with the bucket you need to mix it around by rolling it at different angles. This will help with settling, it's also the same for any salt mix that's in a bucket.
If you're not using a whole bag at one time mixing it is a good idea too.

FWIW, I often have a brown scum floating on top, I scoop it out.

Try making a batch that is room temp or colder and then heating it after it clears up. Also add the salt to the water slowly and don't just dump it in, if that's what you're doing, this will help with precip in the mixing container.

Once, the new SW (from the bottom of the bucket) had calcium off the scale, over 500ppm. This last time, from a bag, I didn't test anything.

This goes back to what I said at the top. Rolling the bucket around will help keep the salt thoroughly mixed in the bucket before use.

 

[S.O.MLemos]

I’m still not a salt water professional but I know when installing/setting up storage tanks for house/gardens that the white containers allow light to penetrate and they always get a film or turn green unless UV filtration is used but the solid black ones always stay much cleaner because no light penetrates. With that being said I use a brute trash can with lid for a couple weeks at a time and I haven’t had any issues yet. Just my input

 

[LesPaulPlayer]

The reef Crystals?

Regular cheap purple box Instant Ocean.