2 quick questions??

1) i made ro/di water and mixed it with salt on thursday night (12 gallons), i was going to do my water change saturday but i had to work, then this morning but i had to work again,
is it bad to let your saltwater mix for too long, could it start to cycle, and raise unwanted levels, ammonia, ect..?

or would there need to be the addition of a large ammonia source first.?

stupid question i know!



2) whats the best test kit to buy for calcium? saliferts?

 

As long as you leave the water covered then it will last months. If you let contaminants get in it then a lot less..
Salifert , or Elos is a good test kit.

 

thanks otty!

 

If you let water get warm then it will start somthing if you have contaminates in bucket with water. Reason I said this is I have had premade mix so when I did water changes it would be quick and easy but I used same bucket over and over and soon had a black film form on bottom of bucket and after one week of sitting it was thrown into a cycle. So more of story is clean buckets.

 

I have noticed a brown film on the container when i was just IO but now I am trying H2Ocean Pro: Premium Aquatics

 

I like Tropic Marin for Ca, but those stated by otty are great too. The film issue w/ IO and RC was a major reason for the batch codes now, along with the low levels of the big three!! Odd thing is I have never heard of the brown, odiferous slime in any other salt. The company never did say what was causing it...

Happy reefing

 

Water is very absorbent of ambient, environmental elements around it, so unless you have a seal tight lid/container, your water will pick up many of these which could alter your water parameters!

 

all this was exactly what i was thinking. i guess i should check the ammonia, ect... also to make sure. ughh

and i had the post a few days ago about mix salt and RC having extremely low levels of "the big three".

levels at 1.025 SG 78.9 degrees KH 8-9 cal 380 mag 1080-1100... thats bull. what the heck am i paying for.... table salt?.

 

Its STILL that low? Does your bucket have a batch number on it? It would be a little white sticker on the side with numbers on it. Also what test kits are you using?

Happy reefing

 

Having not yet seen the batch code you are referring to (I use IO as well, I simply haven't looked yet), how do you interpret it (or is it just a 'use by' date)?