Water Mixing Container Precipitate

[BobbyCline]

I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. My mixing “station” is a 40 gallon tote. I have a precipitate that begins to form at the bottom of the container. What is this and is there any concern? I usually clean it out every other month. The water column appears clean and clear. The salinity of my original mixture does not change and the material seems to be insoluble (when I stir the water the stuff just continues to settle on the bottom. The container seals pretty tight, so I I don’t believe it’s coming from the outside.

You can see where I wiped my fingers through it. It comes of relatively easy, but it takes a pretty good scrubbing to get all the material off.

Thanks,

Bobby

 

[Memisis]

Its probably calcium carbonate. I mix in a 60 gal pickle barrel and my red sea salt does not do this. I needed some salt for my QT which I'm constantly waterchamging to avoid burning the fish and ran out of salt. I went to petco and got the instant ocean reef crystals in a pinch. One bag later my barrel was Full of white sand precipitate. My theory is that there is not enough mag to keep the calc and caronate from precipitating. Or maybe the state they are in at mix which allows them to precipitate more easily than the red sea. Regardless ill stick with the red sea stuff as the barrel stays much cleaner.