Precipitate?

Noticed an interesting precipitate in my salt water. Have mixed salt (instant ocean) in a 55 gal. blue barrel of fresh ro/di water. The TDS reading in the barrel was 0 prior to mixing. The mix ended with a SG of 1.023. The water has sat for about 5 days being aerated as well as circulated with a power head. When I went to remove the power head, air stone and heater I noticed a light tan precipitate on all the equipment including the cords. No smell to it at all. The barrel walls look clear as well as the water which I can see clear to the bottom of the barrel. The precipitate is stuck to the heater but washes off the other equipment. I did notice a larger amount on the power head. Any ideas what this is and if it is safe to add to my new tank? All the equipment was new except for the airstone and whisper air supply. I had another 55 gal barrel which didn't have this precipitate but stored for the same amount of time only aerated though for 24 hours. Any suggestions would be helpful. TIA

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/noticed-what-looks-like-algae-my-mix-barrel-148677.html

Take a look at this thread.

 

Thanks for the thread Corailline. Seems to be what it is. Going to move forward with using it and follow up if there are any other issues.

 

For what it's worth, I have found that dissolving Reef Crystals causes an exothermic reaction which aids in the precipitation of dissolved organics. While experimenting with a 32G Brute container, I found the least precipitation when adding RC to cold water, 1 scoop at a time, at 1 hour intervals. For me that equals 11 scoops to reach 1.0235SG but since I don't generally have 11 hours to wait around for salt mixing, I mix across a 24 hour period. This method generally allows the salt to mix and aerate for 48 hours before being added to the tanks. Also I do not heat the water beyond the heat produced by a Mag5.

Adding 11 scoops of RC to 80 degree water (without waiting) precipitated quarter sized floating blobs of dissolve organics and the water temp rose to 92 degrees over the course of one hour. This was the worst result of all of the tests.

 

I used to get lots of precipitate when using red sea coral pro. Now i follow the directions provided to the T. Aerate RO/DI water overnight before adding salt. Add salt slowly. Heat only after correct salinity found and only heat until temp matches the tank. Double check salinity and change water. All mixing done with a koralia evo 1400. I never get precipitate now and clean up is a piece of cake