Salt not mixing?

Trying to make a fresh batch of saltwater... I'm using DI water and Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. Not sure how old the box is, but I've had it sitting in a closet for about 4 months and who knows how long it stayed on the shelf at the LFS.

I have a pump in each bucket to keep the water mixing, but there are small white particles floating around that looks like the salt isn't desolving. It could be sand but I rinsed each bucket fairly well before filling them up.

 

how long have they been mixing?Never had trouble with RC's not dissolving,but it did take a while,especially if the water was pretty cold to start with.

 

Might be salt but I doubt it if it is suspended in the water column. Most likely pieces from the bags the batch was made from.

 

Try to heat the water, sometimes that helps? My water coming out of my RODI is 60 degrees right now (in my basement) so I add one of the cheapy 5gal heaters that you get from the petstore for $10, works like a charm!

 

i'm assuming the salt is at room temp.. 70º

Its been 4 hours and still little white specs swirling around. Haven't had this issue in the past with this brand so not sure what to expect. I'm due for a WC but if all else false I can just dose the tank and wait to get better salt... which means dumping all this dang water.

I was intending on letting this stir for atleast 24hours to begin with but didn't expect white stuff that almost looks like shredded styrofoam instead of rocks or minerals form the salt but I doubt its anything harmful.

If it doesn't desolve should i still use the water?

 

i should also prob test my params, i never do this

 

Ca- 500
calcium hardness- 1250
dK-7.3

 

I'm having this problem with Oceanic when using 80+F water. Instead of dumping it, I recirculated it through a 10 micron filter bag. Within an hour it was completely clear. Only way I've found to avoid the problem is to add the salt very slow.

 

Sooo did it clear up? If not, I wonder if you got a bad batch... :-/

 

I think I have used a little of all of the above. I've found I got to drop a heater in with the pump to get the temp up, then over the course of a day add a cup every couple of when-ever, let it go for around another 24 then start adding or doing my WC.

I'm only using regular IO for now but will be transitioning to RC here before long.