Cloudy Water ?

chrisb · 03-18-2007, 07:58 PM

Hello everyone,

I can't remember if this is normal or if I screwed up. I mixed 40gals of water up at a time in a 45 gal. drum. I put a large power head in the bottom of the drum and added 20 gallons of hot water,than salt and remaining 20 gals of room temp water. I stirred water for 10 mins and let the jet head run for about an hr. After an hr I put that water in my tank and repeated this all over. My concern is 15 hrs later my water was cloudy and a cloudy film over everthing,so I mixed water up again in the tank and got all the power looking film off the bottom.So my question is did I mix my water wrong,or is my salt to old to use (sealed bucket of instant ocean salt 7month old) or its just going to take a few days for the cloudy water to clear when salt fully dissolves?

JediReefer · 03-18-2007, 10:03 PM

You should mix salt for 24-48 hours before introducing it into the tank to let it fully dissolve and aerate.

chrisb · 03-18-2007, 10:54 PM

My tank only has water in it so i figure it wouldnt hurt.When my tank is all up and running ill keep my 45 gal drum full with a power head in it to keep the water mving till i do water changes. So I take it the cloudy water is from the salt and in due time it will clear.

JediReefer · 03-18-2007, 10:57 PM

Yep, and you will see it get cloudy again as the ammonia rises during the cycle.

glampka · 03-19-2007, 03:53 AM

I've used salt that was old & never had a problem. Was there any sand in the tank? If so, you may have stirred up sand dust. Also, I wouldn't use hot water. Hot water contains more copper from your plumbing pipes than cold water does. Ideally you should let the cold water run a few minutes to reduce the copper concentration.

sssnake · 03-19-2007, 05:26 AM

Hi Chrisb,

+1 on the above replies.

If there was no sand in the tank I would say it's the salt that's not fully dissolved, and in due time with your heater "ON" in the tank and a powerhead or two going the salt should dissolve in a couple of days max.

If there was sand in the tank it may be the sand dust as glampka mentioned or a combination of both (sand dust & undissolved salt). In any case the cloudiness should go away soon.

Normally, water is heated prior to adding any salt. This facilitates the salt dissolving properly. Once you mix your salt with the heated water you should still keep it in the bucket with heater and powerhead for 24-48 hours. Then it would be OK to be placed in the main tank.

chrisb · 03-19-2007, 06:44 PM

Sounds good, When I got off work this morning my water was crystal clear.
I figured since my tank was empty i would just put the mixed water in and run two powerheads and my return pump. But thanks for all the replies, I switched my 220 over from saltwater to fresh about 8 months ago and I couldn't remember. THANKS Again!!!

mm2002 · 03-19-2007, 07:39 PM

The best way to dissolve salt in new water is with water movement. "Hot" water is not necessary at all. If you put a heater in your mixing tank (to bring the water to normal aquarium temp only), and have some decent water movement, the salt will be in solution in as little as 6 hours. Granted I've only done 25 gallons max at a time, but I can turn on the RO valve in the morning, add the salt, turn on the power head and heater, and I can do a change that evening with crystal clear replacement water, and no problems at all.

djnzlab1 · 03-19-2007, 08:08 PM

HI,
If your using tap water you may be adding dilute phos to your system that may come back and mess up your water in the future,
Are you planning to measure CA, Kh, And Ph .
As a tank cycles every analyte moves around sometimes together sometimes not. Another porblem is trace copper as stated it can wreck havic on the inverts.
Doug

sssnake · 03-20-2007, 04:47 AM

Yes...you should invest in a RO/DI unit. They're fairly inexpensive and can save you allot of headaches down the road. You can pick them up on ebay.