Newly mixed batch of salt very low in salinity

[tdyrkacz]

Something strange happened. I just mixed salt water using the same batch of salt from tropic marin i always use... and have used the same box before. I wanted to make this one a bit stronger so i added some extra salt to it. I wanted to make it about 45 ppm in order to bring up the overall salinity of my tank since it has deviated from 35 ppm a bit.

I started mixing about 2 hours ago and it looks like the salt has already dissolved but there is a layer on top of the water that looks a bit off and when i test the water it shows a very low reading of only a few ppm... even though i added enough salt to get it to about 45 ppm. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? I thought my refractometer might be off so i recalibrated it and still shows same reading. When i check my tank water it shows as 34 ppm as i expected so i don't think there is an issue with the refractometer.

 

[Pod_01]

Out of curiosity, did you pour all the salt in one go or slowly over some time like 15 minutes.

If you put it in fast maybe some of the elements precipitated out.

Just an idea, I use this salt and always add it in nice and slow.

I never tried to create saturated mix either so that might be part of the problem.

 

[tdyrkacz]

It seems there was a layer of water with low salinity at the top. One of the powerheads was stuck so all the salty water was at the bottom. Once I stirred or better it was fine.

 

[Retro Heat]

I usually mix up my salt slow, over the week so I have no answer. But, I do have a different way to deal with salinity drift. I keep my tank at 1.025. If it gets too high... I just take a cup out of the main tank to let the ato add fresh water. If It gets too low... I just add a cup of salt water to let it evap slowly to increase the salinity. That way I don't change the salinity too quickly either day.

 

[Nano_Man]

If you live near the sea . Then you don’t need to mix anymore I’ve been using nsw for the last 6 months and everything is going really good

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Glad this is resolved.

 

[miller75]

So glad I remembered reading this, I have just had the exact same thing happen to me. My pump (old Eheim 300lph) was working but in a strange position in the barrel, I repositioned it and the mix is fine now.

 

[tdyrkacz]

glad it helped. This is why i read random threads on R2R all the time.

 

[Opus]

I've never read of that happening. I do have to move my pump a time or two while mixing because there will be a spot on the bottom of the bucket that the undissolved salt settles. I also don't pout it in slowly, all at once. Been doing it like that for over 20 years. In the "good old days" I as mixing by hand.

 

[miller75]

I've never read of that happening. I do have to move my pump a time or two while mixing because there will be a spot on the bottom of the bucket that the undissolved salt settles. I also don't pout it in slowly, all at once. Been doing it like that for over 20 years. In the "good old days" I as mixing by hand.

I have never had it happen before and have always made my own salt water. When I tested and got zero I thought I must have forgotten to put it in, the only reason I didn't add more was because I only had just enough in the bucket to make this batch which is when I remembered this thread.

The salt was completely dissolved but just the top of the barrel hadn't mixed. I also use Tropic Marin Pro, I am not suggesting its an issue with the salt its defiantly user error on my part.

 

[Opus]

I have never had it happen before and have always made my own salt water. When I tested and got zero I thought I must have forgotten to put it in, the only reason I didn't add more was because I only had just enough in the bucket to make this batch which is when I remembered this thread.

The salt was completely dissolved but just the top of the barrel hadn't mixed. I also use Tropic Marin Pro, I am not suggesting its an issue with the salt its defiantly user error on my part.

Just seems strange. I guess because you are using a "barrel" it is more likely to happen. I assume most people are like me and do it in much smaller buckets, but maybe not. I unfortunately don't have the room for a barrel for mixing.