SandNRocks
Community Member
Hi all,
I have a few specific questions about storing saltwater, and was curious if anyone had any input regarding the best way to go about my situation.
I have a ~2 gallon pico, and plan on mixing 4-5 gallons roughly every two weeks to do weekly 100% water changes.
I have a heater/inkbird and powerhead in a 5 gallon mixing bucket. It is stored with the lid on, in the dark, with just small hole for the wires to get through. The salt I use is Red Sea Blue Bucket.
Right now, I mix my water at room temp(68), heat it up(78), use what I need, and store the remaining ~2-3 gallons for the next week(unheated and uncirculated). The next week, I reheat/circulate again, use what I need, and the ~1 gal left sits another week and then has new water added on top. Every once in a while I'll clean out the mixing bucket and everything, and start fresh.
My questions/concerns are:
1. Are there any issues with heating/circulating the water for an hour each week, doing my water change, and allowing it to go back down to room temp without circulation? (as opposed to keeping it constantly heated/circulating)
I'm concerned that maybe this would encourage precipitation, or a drop in dkh or something over the course of several heating cycles. Maybe it doesn't really matter.
If anyone sees any issues with this, my alternative would be to keep the water heated/circulating constantly, but I really don't want to run the powerhead 24/7 due to noise. This leads to my next question:
2. Rather than running my powerhead 24/7, do you think it would work if I used a controller to turn the powerhead on for like 15 seconds every half hour/hour just to turn everything over and move water around the heater?
My thinking is it should pretty much accomplish the same thing as 24/7 circulation, but wanted to get some opinions before I potentially decided to go this route. One concern I have with this method is that heat rises, and my temp sensor in the mixing bucket is on the bottom. I noticed that when the heater is on, the hot water rises to the top, sits there, and doesn't contact the sensor. When I then turn the pump on, everything gets mixed together and the temp sensor goes up really quickly. I feel that this will lead to a lot of fluctuations in the mixing bucket throughout the day(not sure how much that matters). To combat this, I may need to increase the interval in which the powerhead turns on to like every 15 minutes(which may get annoying), OR put the inkbird on a schedule as well so that it isn't overheating standing water while waiting for the pump.
I know this is a little different than how everyone else does it but I am curious to see what everyone has to say.
Sorry if this has been discussed before in some capacity, Sorry if I am rambling a bit , and sorry If I am over thinking something so simple haha.
Thank you all for any input you may have.
I have a few specific questions about storing saltwater, and was curious if anyone had any input regarding the best way to go about my situation.
I have a ~2 gallon pico, and plan on mixing 4-5 gallons roughly every two weeks to do weekly 100% water changes.
I have a heater/inkbird and powerhead in a 5 gallon mixing bucket. It is stored with the lid on, in the dark, with just small hole for the wires to get through. The salt I use is Red Sea Blue Bucket.
Right now, I mix my water at room temp(68), heat it up(78), use what I need, and store the remaining ~2-3 gallons for the next week(unheated and uncirculated). The next week, I reheat/circulate again, use what I need, and the ~1 gal left sits another week and then has new water added on top. Every once in a while I'll clean out the mixing bucket and everything, and start fresh.
My questions/concerns are:
1. Are there any issues with heating/circulating the water for an hour each week, doing my water change, and allowing it to go back down to room temp without circulation? (as opposed to keeping it constantly heated/circulating)
I'm concerned that maybe this would encourage precipitation, or a drop in dkh or something over the course of several heating cycles. Maybe it doesn't really matter.
If anyone sees any issues with this, my alternative would be to keep the water heated/circulating constantly, but I really don't want to run the powerhead 24/7 due to noise. This leads to my next question:
2. Rather than running my powerhead 24/7, do you think it would work if I used a controller to turn the powerhead on for like 15 seconds every half hour/hour just to turn everything over and move water around the heater?
My thinking is it should pretty much accomplish the same thing as 24/7 circulation, but wanted to get some opinions before I potentially decided to go this route. One concern I have with this method is that heat rises, and my temp sensor in the mixing bucket is on the bottom. I noticed that when the heater is on, the hot water rises to the top, sits there, and doesn't contact the sensor. When I then turn the pump on, everything gets mixed together and the temp sensor goes up really quickly. I feel that this will lead to a lot of fluctuations in the mixing bucket throughout the day(not sure how much that matters). To combat this, I may need to increase the interval in which the powerhead turns on to like every 15 minutes(which may get annoying), OR put the inkbird on a schedule as well so that it isn't overheating standing water while waiting for the pump.
I know this is a little different than how everyone else does it but I am curious to see what everyone has to say.
Sorry if this has been discussed before in some capacity, Sorry if I am rambling a bit , and sorry If I am over thinking something so simple haha.
Thank you all for any input you may have.
