Water Change: residue and pH holding me up

So I have my bucket of water ready for a change. It's been swirling for over a week and there's still a LOT of residue from the salt. I am using IO Reef Crystals. The bucket has 2 power heads, an air stone, and a heater in it. I've got the water to 85 degrees and still have lots of residue... does that sound normal for IO/RC? When i set the tank up I didn't get residue like I am now....

Second problem holding back my WC... the pH in the bucket will not get above 7.9 and my tank runs at 8.15-8.20 will this be a problem with a 30% WC? I added some "Reef Carbonate" from Seachem to the new water, it raised the pH a tiny fraction, but I didn't want to over do it. it went from 7.90 to 7.95...


So should I be ok to change my water, or should I dump this and start over? (it's about 30g of water, so $20 or so spilled on the parking lot if I have to dump it)

Thanks!

-Doug

 

By "residue" do you mean stuff sticking to the sides, or floating on top?

The pH shouldn't be a huge factor in a small WC, it will balance out.

 

Sticking to the sides and sinking to the bottom, yeah.

 

If you don't already have a power head at or near the bottom then do so. Other than that I'd say you're ok. Test the salinity before doing the change, but your pH shouldn't be a problem with so little water (the larger amount in the tank should balance everything pretty quickly, but check it after the change).

 

As a side note, the pH of my change water is never spot on. But hasn't been an issue yet (93 gallon tank, 20 gallon sump/fuge, 10-15% water changes).

 

If you are using ro/di water the ph will be low.

 

Don't worry about the ph it will iron itself out as long as your alkalinity levels and aeration in the tank room are OK.

I've heard Reef Crystals can produce a lot of sediment/precipitates, especially if left for a while. That is the reason I don't use it because if you leave it sit there are some additives to it that supposedly can precipitate out. I believe there is sort of a "sweet spot" for using RC. Not that it's bad if left too long, you just won't be getting all of the nice trace stuff that they add to it. AFAIK anyway.

Also, if 30gallons of saltwater costs you $20 I would look into getting larger buckets of salt or an RODI unit, that's pricey!

 

RC are ~$0.41/g after mixing. ($66.99 / 5g bucket to make 160g)
RO/DI water = cheap but not free... $0.05-.10 / gallon?

so I have about 25g in the bucket.... ok that's more like 12.75... bad math, still it's a lot of money to pur on the ground if I don't have to