Cloudy RO DI Water + Salt mix in New Brute Trashbin

Its my first time mixing salt mix. My salt mix is still cloudy after 48 hours in the 50 gal trashbin with the powerhead on. This is exacly what i did.

I had about 5 gallons of RO/Di water in the trashbin and then added the full "50 gal salt mix" to the trash bin. turned on the powerhead and then left the RO/DI unit running till it filled up the remaining 45 gallons. 48hrs later the mix looks "semi-milky" kinda whitish/cloudy and i cant seem past 6 inches from the top of the trashbin. Should i try another batch or can i fix this one? or did i mix it wrong??

 

Water temperature will affect how quickly any salt mix mixes thoroughly. It can take 50g quite a while to warm up without a heater. The brand of salt will have it's own effect, as well. You should be ok- just give it more time to warm and clear up.

 

lol! yeah ya did it wrong! It should be fixable though! i was looking for a link i saw today from i think Dowtish or vinnyboombatz! But it was a lik to a mrsaltwater on youtube!
the gist!
have 1 tank for your rodi water to test using a TDS meter!
then trasfer that water to another tank for mixing!
in that tank insert heater and powerhead and THEN slowoly add the salt!
then after 3 hours minimum, test using a refractometer to match your tank! 24 hours is better! always have some on standby!

But you probably created a slduge in the bottom! try adding a heater, then stirring uo anythig on the bottom and let the powerhead run another day!

 

i cleaned my hands/arms and reached down there, i didnt feel any "sludge" or salt down there at the botton of the (new) trashcan (yes i rinsed trashcan first). its been at room temp around 60-65F at night and 75-85F during day so i skipped the heater. From what ive been reading i might have caused a chemical imbalance by first pouring the salt and then the water causing calcium / pH crash in the water....grrrr...i dunno if i can fix it, im thinking of starting over. Oh and by the way the salt i used was about 2 years old in the bag, does instant salt go bad? ANY IDEAS?

 

well salt absorbs anything it can! maybe a good idea to start over and go slower this time! with newer unopened salt!

 

drsfosters&smith a full bucket of salt free shipping! much cheaper than a lfs

 

<--------SIGHS , i guess i live and learn again (the hard way) :-( start over it is, grrrrr!!! thanks guys for the input

Lessons leared: Fill trash can with water FIRST...then SLOWLY pour salt ACCORDINGLY!!!

 

lol bro no worries! we all did similar things to start! just wait bfore every decision and ask/read before enacting! it will save ya cash and time and BS

 

Sounds like you've figured out what went wrong, and what you need to do.

But just to provide the rest of the story, what you were seeing was precipitation in the water. When you added all that salt to such little water, you exceeded the saturation capacity of the water and calcium carbonate precipitated out of the water column as a result. Hence the cloudiness. The problem with using it (without testing for the big 3: Alk, Ca, and Mg) is that all 3 of these will have decreased significantly from where there were originally, and far from the desirable ranges. They are something that could be dosed back and then nothing would be inherently wrong with the new water (besides the cloudy precipitation), but unless you have everything on hand to test/dose it's easier to dump it and start over.

Good luck.