Letting salt water sit?

gfox · Dec 31, 2014

Always wondered if after mixing a new batch of salt water and bringing it up to heat and salintity can you turn the heat and pump off and reuse it weeks later?

Jc_ellis · Dec 31, 2014

Yes, if you keep it sealed. I leave mine sitting with heater and pump on for a week or two before I have the time to actually do the change, and I have left the extra water after a change on my larger tanks sitting in the bucket with everything off for a couple of weeks before doing a small water change on my nano tank.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 31, 2014

I store mine for weeks, but it depends a bit on whether your brand adds organics like vitamins that won't be stable in solution.

What salt mix do you use?

gfox · Dec 31, 2014

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I store mine for weeks, but it depends a bit on whether your brand adds organics like vitamins that won't be stable in solution.

What salt mix do you use?

I use IO RC.I have a 105 DT with a 100 sump.I have been using a 50 gallon bag of RC for water changes monthly.Just wondering if i used half every 2 weeks would the system be better off?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 31, 2014

RC is one of the trickier salts to store without aeration.

The vitamins will certainly decay, but I'm not convinced they provide any benefit anyway.

Just make sure it doesn't become anaerobic from bacterial degradation of the vitamins and other organics that may be there. So if it smells bad (like hydrogen sulfide) you should not store it that way.

gfox · Dec 31, 2014

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
RC is one of the trickier salts to store without aeration.

The vitamins will certainly decay, but I'm not convinced they provide any benefit anyway.

Just make sure it doesn't become anaerobic from bacterial degradation of the vitamins and other organics that may be there. So if it smells bad (like hydrogen sulfide) you should not store it that way.

Thanks for the replys.What does hydrogen sulfide smell like?