IO Salt
 

Got a hard time mixing IO. Always leave white residue behind. Is anybody have a same issue or just me?

sounds like you are adding it to the water to fast and it is precipitating out. i mix in a 25 gal container 4 cups at a time and never had a problem

How long between cups? I heard people can mix 25 gallons in ten minutes. Is that right?

1 cup at a time in a 5G pail and I've never had an issue. I wait till the water is clear and then add more to 1.025 and let mix over night.

I mix 37g at a time, I measure about a 4l bucket of salt and dump it in, and let it sit overnight with a heater and powerhead. Never had an issue.
I use rodi water.

I dissolve the magnesium chloride first, dump the salt and mix with 2 1400 gal powerheads. After the salt is fully dissolved, I add calcium as calcium chloride solution and keep mixing for at least 8 hours.

Are you talking loose residue or stuff that coats your mixing container? Also, how long are you waiting before use and what are you using to mix the batch? Batch size?

I generally mix close to 25 gals in a rectangular rubbermaid type container for my water changes. Have a powerhead running as I dump about 11 cups of IO into the RODI water. I don't wait, one cup after another. Once the salt is all in, I help the powerhead by using a wooden spoon to mix the salt that's collected on the bottom of the container. I'll then let the powerhead run & leave the mix for at least a day, usually two or three before the water change. Mixing container is in the relatively cool basement so a few hours before water change, I throw a couple of heaters in there to match tank temp & do a final SG check to ensure it's close if not bang on the same as the tank. Rarely add anything else like Ca or Mag, I'll dose those into the tank separately.

Been using the same container to mix for close to 3 years, so it has a good crust of residue all around. I don't sweat that, it's taken a long time to get to that state so I don't figure I'm losing that much in any particular batch that I'm mixing up. Last water change, after emptying the mixing container, I beat on it to knock some of the residue loose. Seems like mostly calcium, but just guessing there.

I'm doing the exact same thing.

No white scum?

I mix 40+ gal at a time I have a power head running and dump the salt in in about 2 min check in few hours and adjust no white scum mixes clear for me

The tub comes up nice and clean after mixed?

I mix 2 and a half cups into a 5 gal pail in one shot give it a stir with a spoon and after 20 min the water is crystal clear no residue in the pail ever.

Nothing scummy happening over here. It's working well for us. We are just careful to mix the IO buckets well before using it. Do you think it could be a buildup from not rinsing out the mixing containers between uses?

Are you using RO water? What temp is the water when you add salt?

Ro/Di and no heater when mixing.

Hi Kevin,
I've used IO for over 11 years now.
Always mix in either 5 gal bucket with either city of Edmonton water, Primed, (when I was still living in the city), or with RO water, not heated.

I don't wait pver night like most of you. I usually just mix really well, wait until water is clear, then using a smaller bucket, scoop and toss back in a few time to mix really well.

Then I use directly. No heating...the RO water is stored in 5 gal water jugs that bottled water comes in, so the water is not exactly very cold.

After water-change, I use a towel to wipe the buckets dry before storing until next use.

The only time that I get that cruddy-calcium-like deposits on the sides of the bucket is when I had some left over salt water made, and was storing it for a week or so...
Hope this helps.
Lenny.

do you roll your salt bucket before u use it? the different ingredients in the salt mixture are different sizes and can sepaerate during shipping (vibrations) ... test the water and see if there is an abundance of Ca or alk or MG that is causing the precip