Junk at bottom of bucket in newly made water

So, this weird thing has been happening every time I do a water change and it's really driving me crazy. I can't figure out what is going on, so maybe someone else can!

When I do my water changes, I fill up a 5 gallon bucket with RO water from my LFS, put in a power head and add the salt. Then I add a heater and thermometer and let the water prep for a day; covered by a lid.

The next day, when I get ready to pour the newly made water into my tank I notice all this junk in the bottom of the water bucket. It's brown and sort of looks like super fine play sand. It's gross and I don't want to put it into my tank - so I end up wasting about a gallon of new water.

Does anyone have any idea where this crud could be coming from? It's not in the water when I pour it out, or the salt, or the power head. It doesn't appear to be, anyways.

I'm lost and it's really irritating. Thanks!!

 

which brand of salt mix are you using KC?

I used Red Sea and as its natural sea salt, I often did get a bit of sand in the mix, you just cant see it in the dry form

Steve

 

I use Oceanic. Maybe that is it. I'm so worried it's something that's going to hurt the fish, but if it's just sand that doesn't sound too scary.

Thanks!

 

Sounds like it could be dirt/debris from refining the salt, depending on how they process it. I would grab another container of the same brand(in case you got a bad batch) or slowly switch to another. You could probably email/call the company and complain about the issue and see what they can do. Most companies willingly send you a new batch free of charge if they want to keep you as a customer

 

That is strange..I use Oceanic, and never have experienced that. I have heard of that with Instant Ocean, and they said it was the clay they use while refining it.

 

Okay, well as long as I know where it's coming from I feel better. I thought I was going crazy! I'm almost at the bottom of the jug, so I will be buying a new one very soon. If it happens with the next jug I'll slowly switch to a different brand - but that scares me. I do not want to do anything to upset my tank.

Thanks for the feedback!!

 

It's clay. It's from the sodium chloride mining process.

 

Is it anything to worry about?

 

Nope....even if you poured it into your tank, it's inert.

 

Okay, thanks a lot!! I will change my water tomorrow, worry free.