What’s growing in my mix tank?

[MONTANTK]

I don’t always keep water in it therefore there’s always a little amount that sits stagnant for up to a week, sometimes a little more. Any idea what it is? Should I clean it out and put new water in?

 

[DFR]

Could look like bacterial film.

 

[MONTANTK]

Could look like bacterial film.

Think it would transfer to my tank?

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Stagnant water is no good, either keep it fully running or totally dry. I would not let that little bit of water into my tank

 

[MONTANTK]

Stagnant water is no good, either keep it fully running or totally dry. I would not let that little bit of water into my tank

Yeah I’m going to start refilling it after I use it. I’ll clean it

 

[DFR]

It’s fine to use the water. With any established system, your bacterial balance will not be off affected. Plus if I remember correctly, that is caused by excess silicates (but I could be wrong).

 

[xxkenny90xx]

It’s fine to use the water. With any established system, your bacterial balance will not be off affected. Plus if I remember correctly, that is caused by excess silicates (but I could be wrong).

Disagree that it's fine. I cant remember the exact reason but I've seen randy question whether a small amount of water that sits stangant for even an hour is safe to use.

 

[DFR]

If you find it please send me the link. I’ve been doing this forever

 

[xxkenny90xx]

If you find it please send me the link. I’ve been doing this forever

I'm not saying it's catastrophic but we were discussing whether it's ok to have a reactor running for 1 hour off, 1 hour on all day and randy questioned if that's long enough for the water to become stagnant and unsafe

 

[DFR]

Read post #13:

Leftover in salt mixing tank?

I was just wondering if left overs in a mixing tank for salt water is an issue? Haven't done any water changes yet, as my tank is cycling, but I can see I would obviously have some saltwater left in my mixing tank after a water change. The tap on the tank is an inch or two above the bottom, so...

www.reef2reef.com

Randy also stated it’s okay!

I just typed in stagnant water, I didn’t do much research though.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Read post #13:

Leftover in salt mixing tank?

I was just wondering if left overs in a mixing tank for salt water is an issue? Haven't done any water changes yet, as my tank is cycling, but I can see I would obviously have some saltwater left in my mixing tank after a water change. The tap on the tank is an inch or two above the bottom, so...

www.reef2reef.com

Randy also stated it’s okay!

I just typed in stagnant water, I didn’t do much research though.

That's clean water though. In that post randy said if it contains organic matter then its no good. I imagine the ops tank wasn't full of brand new clean saltwater

 

[DFR]

The growth shown here is minimal, nothing reminiscent of a mix that contain organic (ie.. Tropic Marin Bio Actif).

You are right, the aforementioned post is concerned with oxygen depletion. Whether there is movement or not, there will still be bacterial growth in some sort providing that the requirements are met. Since he’ll be using the same container, same water, and same salt mix, those requirements will still be met. The only thing flow will do is create surface agitation which will “add oxygen” back to the water.

Maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley can shed some insight here.

 

[MONTANTK]

I ended up cleaning the mixing tank just to be safe. Going to try and refill the mix tank as soon as I use the water to avoid leaving stagnant water in there. Probably a best practice to periodically clean it out anyway