Water Change Procedure

I always prepare my water at the same time i did my last water change so the Water is sitting for the week, I have a powerhead and my transfer pump always running in the mixing container. My mixing container definitely has some calcium percipitating out in it. The powerhead is almost white from the calcium.

I have heard if you add magnesium to the mixing tank you wont get all the calcium percipitation. Maybe someone else can confirm this?

I always add my new water into the sump and not the tank and add it slowly through the transfer pumps so I dont shock my tank with the waterchange.

I have definitely seen the cloudiness when adding PH Buffer to the tank but not so much with new saltwater.

[mark]

Run the ro/di until I get 20g, add heater and pump plus salt, supplementing (Ca and Mg) as necessary. Used to keep it in the barrel for about a week before a water change, lately will do the day after mixing.

[Baldy]

mark, do you find the calcium precipitates out of the water while in the barrel? im thinking the salt im using is really high in calcium or i didnt roll it enough.

[mattdean]

How do you start mixing? Do you just dump the salt in and expect the powerhead to do the work? I think you need a more powerful powerhead - or additional powerheads would be even better. i mix my saltwater in 5 gallon pails and use Maxijet 1200's in each pail to mix, once I mix it by hand to get it started.

I used H2Ocean for a year and NEVER had could water, even after 10 minutes, it was crystal clear. Also, never had slime or residue or anything else but clear saltwater.

So try throwing 2 or 3 more powerheads in there and see if that helps.

[mark]

Find I'll get a little pcp in the mixing barrel, never noticed once added to the tank. I don't roll the salt pails but will test each pail when I open it then again 1/2 way down. Never seen any difference in Ca or Mg with IO mix.

With adding salt I just dump it in then let the 300gph PH do the mixing.

[Baldy]

i find that even if i slowly pour the salt in, it will start collecting on the bottom instead of dissolving. i have a couple koralia 750s that i might try next time. i also stirred a couple times over the last day, so the only thing i could think of was that something (calcium?) became saturated.

this is also my first wc =S. so its not like its happened on a regular basis, and this didnt happen when i mixed the salt in the tank the first time.

[mark]

since I dump in the salt as quick as I scoop it out of the pail it collects as well on the bottom but still dissolves probably within a hour and definitely by the time I'll do the next day water change.