new saltwater
 

Hey guys im now doing 15 gal waterchanges in a rubbermaid roughneck. I started mixing the saltwater maybe 4 or 5 days ago and didnt have the time to change it out until today. Looking at it now it appears the roughneck is starting to get a coating on the inside of the container as well as on the pump and the pump cord. I can rub it off with my hands and looks sort of greyish. Should I do a water change as normal or is this "grey slime or coating" going to be an issue?

Sounds like scale buildup I have it in my brute I don't think its anything to worry about

ive been browsing the web looking for answers and it sounds like some people have left it for alot longer. Thats the perfect description of it actually, scale.. had a hard time describing it, Thanks. Ill go ahead with the w/c.

It's fine. My last barrel sat for a month and looked like I had an oil spill :)

Do you use RO?

weird! I do, after draining the water the roughneck has a crystallized scale that could possibly be calcium. I made magnesium and calcium additions after the salt was added and dissolved.

You will get residual salt crystals, but the brown sludge, I found, comes from a dirty RO membrane. I did a flush of mine and the next barrel was very clean.

The normal back flush doesn't get much of the crud out, I did a "special" version of back flush and washed mud out of my membrane.

What's the secret to a "special" version ?

Take out all the prefilters, hook it to the water and blast it. The air kicks all the sludge out.

That would make sense, I dont have a tds meter but my RO membrane is at least a couple years old and I havent flushed it that much. I picked a new membrane up from blue world but it was the wrong size for my puratek 75gpd unit. Mine is alot smaller and sits horizontal above the prefilter/carbon. Id like to try the "secret flush", Im just taking out the the pre/carbon filter and flushing as usual? I dont quite understand?

Ya, take out all the stuff in the chambers, put them back. Hook the water into the membrane and flush. Put the output in a cup and see what comes out. Mine was disgusting, and I backflush every other week. And my membrane is less than 6 months old.