what do you do when your salt doesnt desolve?

[good11s]

I am mixing about 30g of sw for a water change; it has been in a tub mixing for 24 hours and there is still salt swirling around. I have heated the water to the same temp as my tank 78, and I have a large ph mixing the water.

do I need to worry? The salt was a bit old and caked, but I broke it up when I mixed it.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I've never had that problem, but I'd think that if your specific gravity and pH are within the range you want, you'd be OK. Since it all didn't disolve though, I'd guess you're a little low on the specific gravity. You might have to either give it more time to disolve, or add more salt mix.

"Caked" salt mix to me implies that it's absorbed some moisture from somewhere. I'd probably be more concerned about what that moisture consists of, but wait for some other folks to chime in with their thoughts before you get too worried.

 

[roka64]

I agree, I haven't seen salt not dissolve, especially if it was premixed and heated for 24 hours. You can probably get away with it, just make sure you don't get the chunks of salt in your tank.
Are you sure it is salt and not something else?
What brand of salt are you using?

 

[Devilishturtles]

I agree. It's fine just try not to get any of it in the tank. It's just beacuse the salt water hard.

 

[good11s]

Are you sure it is salt and not something else?
What brand of salt are you using?

It is Instant Ocean. and the water was RO/DI in to a clean container.

 

[roka64]

Cool, I was just checking. I have well water and sometimes I get built up calcium that likes to float around.

 

[newfound77951]

I use reef crystals and mine almost never dissolves completely, even after days and days. As long as my SG is OK then I use it, but I don't pour the remaining undissolved salt into the tank. I don't know why it doesn't dissolve; I use DI water as well and a powerhead to mix.

 

[roka64]

I use reef crystals and mine almost never dissolves completely, even after days and days. As long as my SG is OK then I use it, but I don't pour the remaining undissolved salt into the tank. I don't know why it doesn't dissolve; I use DI water as well and a powerhead to mix.

Could be your tap water. Is it hard water, or are you on a well? I have a well, but I also have a water softener.

 

[Devilishturtles]

When I went to MACNA this past year, in their salt study done, one of the things that was noted was that many of the salts had that stuff that didn't dissolve. I think Borneman even said he tasted it and it definitley wasn't salt. They also said that they would study it to see exactly what it was. As far as I know, that study hasn't been released yet. But when it has, it should be quite interesting.

FWIW, I always had stuff leftover with IO salt. Now that I switched to Seachem, I don't have anything left over and the stuff mixes up so easily.

 

[melosu58]

Good while ago I had same problem with IO but last several yrs I`ve used Oceanic and not had that problem.

 

[newfound77951]

The DI water is actually from the lab where I work, but the tap water is very soft. Doesn't bother me as long as I know it's OK and don't pour any of it in the tank!

 

[pecan2phat]

I've also recently noticed that about Reef Crystals. Never had that problem with IO, Seachem & Oceanic.

 

[phishead]

This used to happen to me when I bought bags of salt. Humidity turned the salt into rocks and it took awhile for them to disolve. Since switching to the IO buket it never happened. Just switched to Oceanic and no problems either.

 

[good11s]

Thanks for all the help!