Need advice- Mixing salt with cold RODI

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Using RPM blue box. My RODI is in my garage, it’s unseasonably cold here. Actually, we got 9 inches of snow in Memphis yesterday, for a city with 1 plow. Well two of you call what the mayor did to his mistress, but that’s a different story. But, my RODI water is 57 degrees. My salt mixing bin that is filled with RODI is 250g, so getting it anywhere near temp won’t happen. My system is 475-500 gallons. I am out of saltwater. Worst case scenario I can fill a 55g brute in my house and heat that over 24 hours. Not ideal, but completely doable. What’s the downside if I try and mix with the water this chilly?

 

[Uncle99]

If your talking normal water change of say 10% should be fine.

Mines in the basement at 61 degrees.

I mix and change at this temp. I drop 1 degree on 10% change, from 78.3 to 78.2. Nobody seems to care.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

If your talking normal water change of say 10% should be fine.

Mines in the basement at 61 degrees.

I mix and change at this temp. I drop 1 degree on 10% change, from 78.3 to 78.2. Nobody seems to care.

I change water from my sump, I know how much 55 gallons is, that is when I shut my returns down. I empty and fill the sump then turn the returns back on, I leave my closed loops running so the display and my frag never skip a beat. I my sump is large (72x24x 16). I could leave the returns off, and just let the heaters in the sump heat for an hour.

 

[Uncle99]

I do exactly the same as you, just not as much.

I just need 10% every second week to maintain nutrient levels stable, without quickly fluxing the temp to much.

That of course, would be different for everyone

 

[Dragen Fiend]

I mix with chilly water all the time. My RODI comes out around 50F. I'll top off my ATO's with it.

I usually mix fresh salt and let it sit overnight. Ambient temp reaches around 68F, I do the final salinity check before water changing.

I just keep temperature drops to a 2F minimum when swapping water.

 

[PotatoPig]

A 10% water change would drop your temps about 2F, maybe slightly more if you run the tank in the 80s. Not great, not terrible.

One option: 5% water change to reduce impact.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I used to keep mine in the garage at about 60 degrees. That's what I would mix it at. Then transport some of it into the house and always had about 10g heated to 78 in the house. When I did a WC, I brought another 10g in. Rinse and repeat.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I kept the water in my sump for an hour and heated it in my sump. I closed the baffles where I have a ton of nano rubble, and it worked well. I just had to grab a pump to move water through out my sump.

Next question. I’m out of mixed salt in my salt mixing station. Can I mix RODI and salt (Blue RPM) when the water is 55?

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Thanks all!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

My water change heater broke last year and I haven't replaced it. I've been mixing water regular at about 55, and the tank temperature drops by 5-6 degrees when I change the water. Never had any issue, no snails or shrimps lost, no corals, no negative issue that I can see.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

My water change heater broke last year and I haven't replaced it. I've been mixing water regular at about 55, and the tank temperature drops by 5-6 degrees when I change the water. Never had any issue, no snails or shrimps lost, no corals, no negative issue that I can see.

Well, that gives me two pieces of sanity. This topic and the fact I turned my UV on yesterday (I only use it when I introduce new fish), with my consolidated system I must have miscalculated the amp load. Overnight I popped the breaker on the EB unit that one of my two heaters were on, tank dropped 4.5 degrees. This primarily was driven by me intentionally leaving the window open 4 inches (20 degrees out) to my fish room. I’m going to add a 3rd controller and heater to help prevent this again. My fish room hit 59 degrees. I’m going to move this to a new thread, this opens up a discussion point.

 

[BryanM]

I put a heater in the bucket