MIXING STATION OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE PRACTICES

[THE_MAD_REEFER]

I put together my mixing station a couple months ago. It has really been a game changer to be able to change up to 80% (only for emergencies) of my tank water and have unlimited RO top off water on demand. I usually mix about forty gallons at a time and typically have to fill it back up every two weeks. I leave the pump running the water 24 hours a day and I have a heater in the tank keeping it at 78 degrees F. This last time I filled it up I noticed precipitate blowing off the bottom of the tank and when i netted some it is just white powdery calcium. I wanted to see peoples opinions on best practice when it comes to mixing stations and water storage.

Is the water in there safe to use after testing and verifying parameters? I was intending on just filling the buckets with a filter sock over the pipe to remove the excess particulate.

Do you keep your salt mixing 24 hours a day?

Do you keep your salt water heated before being used in your tank?

How long typically will saltwater keep in storage?

Thanks my reefers!!

 

[THE_MAD_REEFER]

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[Waters]

I put together my mixing station a couple months ago. It has really been a game changer to be able to change up to 80% (only for emergencies) of my tank water and have unlimited RO top off water on demand. I usually mix about forty gallons at a time and typically have to fill it back up every two weeks. I leave the pump running the water 24 hours a day and I have a heater in the tank keeping it at 78 degrees F. This last time I filled it up I noticed precipitate blowing off the bottom of the tank and when i netted some it is just white powdery calcium. I wanted to see peoples opinions on best practice when it comes to mixing stations and water storage.

Is the water in there safe to use after testing and verifying parameters? I was intending on just filling the buckets with a filter sock over the pipe to remove the excess particulate.

Do you keep your salt mixing 24 hours a day?

Do you keep your salt water heated before being used in your tank?

How long typically will saltwater keep in storage?

Thanks my reefers!!

To answer your questions, I mix my salt in Brute cans at the beginning of each week. It is used continuously throughout the week doing AWCs. I leave a pump in there circulating 24 hours a day. I do not use a heater....the pump (along with the covered container) provides enough heat to keep the water within a few degrees of my tank. I am not changing enough at one time to be concerned with temperature differences. If I was, I would probably use a heater.

 

[JTP424]

Most of those questions are directly related to the salt you use! Some say to only mix for a few hours and stop. I see you have Reef Crystals. I mix up a new batch about every month, keep it on a heater, bubbler and mixing pump. I've seen no issues.
Reef Crystals does seem to have some precipitate, which would explain your powder on the bottom. Comes off with some citric

 

[hoffmeyerz]

I mix up 50gal at a time in a blue barrel. I have a heater in it and plumbed with PVC pipe inside off a pan world pump for circulation. I heat up the ro/di water to 77F when I mix salt and let it circulate for the day but then turn everything off until I'm planning for a water change when I turn it all back on the night before.
I did cut in a screw top lid for a 5gal bucket to the top of the barrel so it's sealed up tight but I've never had any sediment or precipitation, using TM pro reef salt.
I've let water sit in there for weeks to a month or so with no issues.

 

[THE_MAD_REEFER]

Thanks for the input. I tested the new water last night before I did the water change and I noticed the magnesium and calcium were lower than before. I usually read around 1350 Mg and 440Ca but I read 1290 Mg and 420Ca. I think i am going to take it apart and clean it really well and see if that keeps it a little more stable.

 

[RocketEngineer]

What’s the difference between mixing and heating it 24/7 and what we do in the aquarium? I don’t get why it’s an issue since we do the same thing in our tanks and no one worries about those.

 

[THE_MAD_REEFER]

What’s the difference between mixing and heating it 24/7 and what we do in the aquarium? I don’t get why it’s an issue since we do the same thing in our tanks and no one worries about those.

I think the same way but I was just wondering if that had any affect on precipitation of calcium. Storage time or whatever. I dont know why this last batch didnt seem to stay clear of calcium particles.

 

[RocketEngineer]

If I understand the chemistry, it may be CO2 in the air reacting with the compounds in the water. Our tanks don’t have this issue because there’s so much growing, there’s very little CO2 and lots of places for anything that does react to settle out where we can’t see it. I could be wrong, I’m no chemist.

 

[Reef Wizard]

I really like mine I got for an excellent deal from another reefer turned fresh.

As long as its rated to meet FDA grade I think it should have long storage storage. I keep my pump running to keep it circulated and not stagnant

 

[THE_MAD_REEFER]

If I understand the chemistry, it may be CO2 in the air reacting with the compounds in the water. Our tanks don’t have this issue because there’s so much growing, there’s very little CO2 and lots of places for anything that does react to settle out where we can’t see it. I could be wrong, I’m no chemist.

So this is where my questioning came from. In our tanks that are warm and circulating there are many other processes going on changing chemical properties but in a tank sterile and dark I wondered if temp has any effect on ca/mg reaction

 

[THE_MAD_REEFER]

I really like mine I got for an excellent deal from another reefer turned fresh.

As long as its rated to meet FDA grade I think it should have long storage storage. I keep my pump running to keep it circulated and not stagnant

Yours is very similar to mine. I'll never have a tank without a station again. So convenient which in turn means I do more maintenance.

 

[drolmaeye]

As answers to the OP's questions . . .

I think your water is perfectly safe to use (or at least, the precipitate is not harmful).

I do not mix my salt constantly. I make sure it is well-mixed when making and then turn all pumps off. I turn on a small circulation pump when I start any aquarium maintenance (to "homogenize" it a bit before I pump it to my tanks).

I do not keep my saltwater heated. When using one popular brand of salt I noticed greater precipitation when keeping it heated. I change 10% weekly in my tanks and the temperature drops about 2 degrees in my tanks from using unheated water. If I am doing anything sort of maintenance that requires more water, or working with coral where I want water at normal temperature, I do throw a heater in 24 hrs. before.

Saltwater storage can depend on the brand (or more specifically, the parameters it mixes up to). I currently use Tropic Marin Pro Reef and I only completely drain/clean the the mixing container every 6-9 months. The rest of the time it always has some leftover water when I mix up new, like the gas tank on our cars.

DISCLAIMER: I'm just telling you what I do, not necessarily what one *should* do. But I don't think my husbandry suffers based on these practices.

 

[THE_MAD_REEFER]

As answers to the OP's questions . . .

I think your water is perfectly safe to use (or at least, the precipitate is not harmful).

I do not mix my salt constantly. I make sure it is well-mixed when making and then turn all pumps off. I turn on a small circulation pump when I start any aquarium maintenance (to "homogenize" it a bit before I pump it to my tanks).

I do not keep my saltwater heated. When using one popular brand of salt I noticed greater precipitation when keeping it heated. I change 10% weekly in my tanks and the temperature drops about 2 degrees in my tanks from using unheated water. If I am doing anything sort of maintenance that requires more water, or working with coral where I want water at normal temperature, I do throw a heater in 24 hrs. before.

Saltwater storage can depend on the brand (or more specifically, the parameters it mixes up to). I currently use Tropic Marin Pro Reef and I only completely drain/clean the the mixing container every 6-9 months. The rest of the time it always has some leftover water when I mix up new, like the gas tank on our cars.

DISCLAIMER: I'm just telling you what I do, not necessarily what one *should* do. But I don't think my husbandry suffers based on these practices.

That is good info. I like to just see the habits everyone else does. I took the heater out of mine and like you ill heat it a day before maintenance.thanks