What to do with left over water change water

Dr. Dendrostein

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So when you have a few gallons left in the mixing barrel do you dump it and wipe the insides down and then start over or just start putting RODI in and mix up a new batch?? I notice I have a little slime in my barrel after a bit... I have great flow in it and air stones.. still it gets a little slimy.. I hate wasting the water ... I guess I could bottle it? Does it store well? Using instant ocean reef crystals.
I add to nano tanks
 

ge4rhead

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Yeah its pricy but I get almost no precipitate. I used instant ocean in a pinch and it was like a white Christmas in the barrel. Recently bought the red sea coral pro 175 gallon bucket (unmixed look close to 5 gal) and my only regret was watching the UPS guy have to carry from the back of the truck to the door :)
I was really happy with my last bucket of coral pro I got. Got a free bottle of the new coral pro AB+. Opened up the bucket and it was packed along the side of the bucket.

2DFF2EA9-078E-4E24-942D-A5A2302261F5.jpeg
 

Dark_Knightt

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So when you have a few gallons left in the mixing barrel do you dump it and wipe the insides down and then start over or just start putting RODI in and mix up a new batch?? I notice I have a little slime in my barrel after a bit... I have great flow in it and air stones.. still it gets a little slimy.. I hate wasting the water ... I guess I could bottle it? Does it store well? Using instant ocean reef crystals.
I do the water change, but I make extra water. I top off my tank, and then put a lid on it so I have it for a future water change. I just test the water before putting it in again to top off later.
 

ReeferCrabness

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what the heck is the residual that forms on the sides of the bucket when using Instant Ocean? I usually mix the salt into the RODI water the day before my water change and aerate the heck out of it. I do not seem to get the funk on the sides of my mixing container if I do that. If I do not use it right away and it sets for 3+ days though, the funk starts to accumulate. What the funk is it?...
 
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revenant

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what the heck is the residual that forms on the sides of the bucket when using Instant Ocean? I usually mix the salt into the RODI water the day before my water change and aerate the heck out of it. I do not seem to get the funk on the sides of my mixing container if I do that. If I do not use it right away and it sets for 3+ days though, the funk starts to accumulate. What the funk is it?...
I have taken to aerating the crap out of my mixing barrel and now I get like no slime... that was a game changer....
 

ReeferCrabness

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I have taken to aerating the crap out of my mixing barrel and now I get like no slime... that was a game changer....


It really does help. Always made me nervous to add the water to my tank.
Never had any ill effects from what I can tell, nor does it seem to make my skimmer work harder.
 

canthony74

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When I built my salt water mixing station I made a few mistakes but the main one was non-Conical (full draining) barrels. As such each of my barrels ends up with probably 15 gallons that can't be taken out via normal use. Because I sized my barrels exactly to my salt bucket mix this means now every salt mix after the first comes out little stronger SG. I end up taking some of that stronger water into another barrel and add more RO to the mix until it's right. After some time I end up with half a full barrel of high SG water that I mix back down with more RO.

So I have reused that "left over" water with no issues that I am aware of. I do clean my barrels from time to time. The total mixing station I have is 3 150 gallon barrels, 1 for RO and the rest for Salt mix.

*Edit* - I do end up with white perception on the bottom of the barrels, this remains over multiple mixes. Because it settles so well at the bottom it's never taken out until I clean the barrel. I use neoMarine.
Easy fix to that problem is a stronger mixing pump moved so its creating more turbulence on the bottom of your bucket. The precipitation is happening during mixing because its not got enough turbulence in the mixing barrel to keep the salt suspended in the water until it can completely dissolve.
 

Ocelaris

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I have 2x32gallon brutes, top for ro, bottom for saltwater. The instant ocean reef crystals has gunk, but I've never known it to cause any issues. I always leave a few gallons in the bottom depending on how the automatic water change system works. It's always a little different each time. I tried cleaning the gunk out once with hydrochloric acid, no dice. Since then I just skim the floating gunk out and the precipitate falls out and stays in the barrel. I make up for the cheaper salt with more water changes, and my corals thank me for it. I do about 30 gallons a week on a 250 gallon system. I don't like shipping salt and making my ups guy haul the salt to my house at the frequency I like doing water changes, and my lfs sells it cheap to get people into the store. If I had to ship salt, maybe I'd care about gunk, but my corals like water changes, and it's so easy with the water changing station, that this situation works for me.
 

excell007

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So when you have a few gallons left in the mixing barrel do you dump it and wipe the insides down and then start over or just start putting RODI in and mix up a new batch?? I notice I have a little slime in my barrel after a bit... I have great flow in it and air stones.. still it gets a little slimy.. I hate wasting the water ... I guess I could bottle it? Does it store well? Using instant ocean reef crystals.
The most I have leftover after a waterchange is less than 2 gallon, most of the time it is less than 1. just remove the same amount from the tank and pour the left over in. I keep a 5 gallon jug of RODI water for reservoir top off, but I don't keep saltwater. if I need to increase tank salinity, which is rare, it's easy enough to mix a gallon of high salinity mix.
 

oldbob50

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Like Mike550 said, "I try to target 3-5G of extra saltwater that I keep in a 5G jug, and then clean out my Brute. It’s nice to have spare saltwater “just in case”. I will also use the excess when I’m doing a water change in my QT or thawing frozen food.

When I make my next batch of water I just add any excess back into the Brute."

I do use IO Reef Crystals and there is a slight residue. Doesn't hurt anything in my tank and I just rinse it out between water changes.
 

wolfthefallen

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Water I have left over after my main water change, I keep in the brute with a pump to keep it moving. I found by keeping a pump, heater and lid, i get less precipitation build up.

With the left over water, I have something if I need an emergency water change. Also I tend to do several smaller changes through the week until it is gone. Then off to the next batch.. But I also tend to feed a little heavy so it all works out in the end.
 

Jen1978

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So when you have a few gallons left in the mixing barrel do you dump it and wipe the insides down and then start over or just start putting RODI in and mix up a new batch?? I notice I have a little slime in my barrel after a bit... I have great flow in it and air stones.. still it gets a little slimy.. I hate wasting the water ... I guess I could bottle it? Does it store well? Using instant ocean reef crystals.

I keep a brute garbage can filled and I use as much as I can before cleaning the can. If I have a few random gallons leftover, they can be put into a 5 gallon bucket while I clean the can for the next batch.
 

chaoticreefer

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I never have leftovers. I use 2 exact same brute barrels on dollies, one for mixing saltwater and other one for measuring waste water before pumping it into the toilet. I fill up the RODI in the fresh mixing barrel to a dent (the top of the handle dent) inside the barrel and use this same dent in the waste water barrel to tell me when to stop vacuuming out dirty water into that barrel. So I am removing and refilling exactly same volume.
 

Buckster

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I use instant ocean reef crystals and I do get the coating. I do periodically clean the 40 gallon container. I keep using the remainder and top it off after water changes.
 

Fish man

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So when you have a few gallons left in the mixing barrel do you dump it and wipe the insides down and then start over or just start putting RODI in and mix up a new batch?? I notice I have a little slime in my barrel after a bit... I have great flow in it and air stones.. still it gets a little slimy.. I hate wasting the water ... I guess I could bottle it? Does it store well? Using instant ocean reef crystals.
I've been using Reef Crystals for years. I have heard others say they had the smell and slime but I have not experienced that. BTW about that slime. Some water borne algae develop a slime coat over themselves to protect itself. Although you may not see it yet that slime is the start of algae. I store any excess in a 5 gallon bucket in a dark closet to eliminate light for possible algae/slime and use it the next time. I also marked my brute at 5 gallon intervals so I know how much I'm making. My Rodi membrane is 75g in 24 hrs at 50psi so I know in 8 hours it makes right at 25 gallons. I use 15 for water change and remove 10 for my auto top off before I add salt , also stored in the dark in 5 gallon buckets. Usually have less than a gallon left over. I also dry and then wipe down my brute with alcohol after every use. Drying the brute does not kill/eliminate algae spores. They will reconstitute when they get wet again. That's why I do the alcohol wipe down.
Brute.jpg
 
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