CMS+B precipitates

[Super_Blueberry]

I mix my cms+b in a glass jar with distilled water. The powder dissolves when I mix it, but a small amount precipitates back out within the next 36 hours or so. If I drain the liquid and dump this crud, it will stay 'clear' until the next batch is mixed. I have been shaking the bottle before I dose to get some of the solids into the tank in case there is still some usefulness left to it.

Why am I getting this precipitation, do I need to be concerned , and how do I prevent this in the first place??

 

[flitabout]

Mine does the same thing. I haven't figured out yet how to make it not happen. I don't know if it's good stuff or not so I just make sure I get some of it in the syringe and dose it to the tank.

 

[Old Scales]

Hello Blueberry and Flitabout,
My traces bottle as the same stuff in it. Quite unexpected. I added 250 mL of glued to my 500 mL bottle to prevent mold as Rivercats suggested. But I think the white flakes are some form of metals precipitate. I think a lot of the minerals, because of being in high concentration, precipitate out into little crystals. I noticed that once I dose the tank with it, the crystals dissolve after a while. I am assuming that they need to be in there as they would be minerals. We need Aqua Chem to chime in here. Hint, hint. My degree is in engineering not chemistry. I did have my traces in a 1000 mL bottle but went to a 500 mL bottle so I would make fresh batches more often. And I flush the bottle out thoroughly before making up the next batch.
Take care, OS.

 

[aqua_chem]

That's peculiar. If you're using distilled water and CSM+B, there shouldn't be anything for the metals to react with beyond what's already in the CSM.

Could be a few things.

How much CSM are you adding, and to how much water?

Is the water warmer when you add the powder, and subsequently cools off?

What color is the precipitant? Any chance you can get a good picture of it?

 

[Old Scales]

Hello Aqua Chem,
Glad you made it in. I think we all use regular room temperature distilled water and on River's advise we had glut to avoid mold. What I see is little white flakes in the eyedropper that I dose with. You see these white flakes floating down when you add to the tank but after a while they dissolve and disappear. I'm wondering if the high concentration of the solution in the dosing bottle is causing some precipitate. I'm pretty sure it's not mold. I've never seen white mold.
I'm pretty sure we're making up the CSM to the instructions given by GLA. I am. It doesn't form in the bottle probably until one month later from initial makeup. OS.

 

[aqua_chem]

What I see is little white flakes in the eyedropper that I dose with. You see these white flakes floating down when you add to the tank but after a while they dissolve and disappear.

So you only see them initially, but later they go away? Or do you see nothing initially, and then they appear later (like what the OP described). Or bother? CSM+B will certainly start to grow stuff in it after 2-3 weeks (bacteria, mold, or otherwise, I don't know what it is)

I'm wondering if the high concentration of the solution in the dosing bottle is causing some precipitate. ..... I'm pretty sure we're making up the CSM to the instructions given by GLA.

Would that be the PPS-Pro directions listed on GLA's site?

 

[Super_Blueberry]

I don't remember the original gram-per-ml ratio, but I calculated it down to what my glass bottle holds: 28 grams in 350ml. I typically mix at night when I have the time, and I make sure all the powder dissolves as I shake it a few times in a half hour. Then the next morning there is the crud sitting on the bottom. No, it wasn't some undissolved residue suspended in the mix, I checked for that after the first couple times when I tried to figure it out it was.

I use room temp distilled water stored in the one gallon plastic jug it's sold in.

My mixture only lasts a month so I don't add glut/excel

This crud never dissolves in the bottle, and I never paid attention to what it does in the tank after it settles on the substrate. I just assumed the tank water dissolved it over time....

 

[Old Scales]

What I see is the white flakes are in the dosing bottle suspended in the solution. It could be several things that are stirred up when you shake the bottle. The white flakes enter into the tank when you dose, then drift to the bottom where they eventually dissolve.
I'm making up the CSM exactly to the instructions given in the GLA fertilizer packet. For me it looks to be about 20 or 30 tiny flakes in each 5 mL dropper full. OS.

 

[Old Scales]

Good picture Blueberry,
That makes me feel better as it appears to be insoluble particles from the manufacturing process. In many manufacturing processes is next to impossible to eliminate all insoluble's.
Looks like a good question to E-mail GLA about.
OS.

 

[aqua_chem]

That's PPS dosing right? That shouldn't be enough to cause a problem.


Is it yellow? Does it have a crunchy or soft consistency? It it a huge hunk of stuff in the bottom, or did it crystallize out in a huge chunk?

 

[Super_Blueberry]

I'd call it off white. It's a fine powder now, but it will turn into larger flakes over time, maybe 1-2mm in size. Never touched it to determine if it's crunchy, gooey , or anything else.

 

[Old Scales]

Mine is PBS Pro dosing.
I've never actually felt the flakes as they're so tiny. But they seem to be loosely floating around in the solution individually not clumped. They are not yellow they are pretty pure white. OS.

 

[aqua_chem]

When it first precipitates, is it like the stuff in a snow globe or caked onto the bottom?

 

[Super_Blueberry]

Snow globe. It never cakes or sticks to the bottom

 

[flitabout]

Definitely snow globe!