Salt has gotten rock hard!

[miserkris]

Hi
I am gonna prepare saltwater for 1st time from my township water. I have the Tetra aquasafe and instant ocean salt bag. The instant ocean salt has gotten hard and I can feel tennis ball size hard balls of salt. Will it dissolve well ?

Thx...Kris

[indydog1]

it will take time, but yes it will. i have had this problem in the past, just put a power head in the water to help dissolve it.

[SuperNemo]

it will dissolve eventually. might take longer due to the size, but if you remember chem 101 where you seperate salt by heating water, the original salt grains you put in were a lot smaller than the pieces that were produced afterwards. can't beleive i remember that, senior moment there.

[Toddrtrex]

What type of tank do you have?

Some of the elements won't dissolve back into solution -- if memory serves calcium is one of the ones that won't.

[Vin7250]

was the salt bag totally sealed because if not the moisture that the salt dissolved to make it hard might carry certain elements you do not want in your tank.

[miserkris]

Its a sealed 15lb/50 gallon bag of instant ocean. Got cheap from CL from someone leaving hobby. I got other things too from her ..cheap. So do I use it or not? Would hate to throw it..... Is it too much risk?

[IPowderBlueTang]

I have had my salt go hard and used a chisel and a hammer and broke it down to little chunks and powder. I used a whole 220 gal bucket of salt and had no problems with my corals or fish so far. I have also used 3 year old salt, I bought 10 buckets super cheap on sale and sealed, some buckets of salt got hard and solid.

[PensFan05]

I have used salt that hardened with no problems at all.

[jtrasap]

I've busted up some rock hard salt mix with a hammer and used it with no problems. Everything tested the same once it was dissolved.

[miserkris]

Ah NOW I am happy , one problem solved , 1000 more to go

[Frick-n-Frags]

after the fact, but pound that stuff back to a pulp right in the bag before you open it.

airborne humidity type moisture is not too risky regarding alien chemistry being introduced. probably some pinholes were in the bag.....

[wsz594]

Originally Posted by toddrtrex

what type of tank do you have?

Some of the elements won't dissolve back into solution -- if memory serves calcium is one of the ones that won't.

+1

[wsz594]

Some of the elements have changed now

[wsz594]

i would just get some new salt better safe then sorry

[Frick-n-Frags]

the salt is fine. a couple chunks is meaningless. you really have to half dissolve the salt to get it to screw up chemically. some partial sticking due to moisture is not that extreme


if you are going to worry about anything, you should know what quality your township water is. there can be dissolved solids/nutrients/heavy metals/chloramines etc in it that could cause real problems, and you may have to ro or ro/di it first

[miserkris]

Well my whole 15lb Inst ocean bag is rock hard ! I am gonna break it up t'row.

Someone said use hot water and they'll dissolve faster and fully...is it ok? If so when do I add the aquasafe conditioner - before or after the salt has been dissolved?

[escaudio]

Perfectly fine!

[Frick-n-Frags]

so, where does your township water come from?

if this is a fish only deal, it probably doesnt matter much. if this will be a reef type deal, you may have serious algae and/or ailing coral problems if your local townshp water is less than pristine, and you don't address the further purification needs.

if downingtown gets its water from lake erie, you may be good. local landlocked runoff type water can be more loaded up with bad stuff.

of course, based on the info given, this may just be for a footsoak for all we know
i heard epsom salts are good for a foot soak too.

ps a little chlorine wont hurt your piggies.

[capnfritz]

IMO Lake Erie water needs to go through a good RODI unit,
my cartridges are used up in less than 3 mos.

[Chiefsurfer]

Fish only, hot water is fine. It may have some copper, because most-likely your water tank has a lot of copper in it, but if it is fish only, it should not hurt them too bad.

Hot water MAY help it dissolve faster, but I am not sure. If you have any white particles(look like regular table salt) that have not dissolved after 24 hours with powerheads, stirring, heating, etc. DITCH THAT SALT. It can be OK, and it can be bad. Only way to tell is to try it.

[jtrasap]

If you are planning on a reef tank, I would invest in an RO/DI filter system and ditch the aquasafe and township water.

[jtrasap]

Also, if you get an RO/DI unit, don't run hot water through it, it will ruin the RO membrane.

[Chiefsurfer]

^I believe that we have already discussed this with miserKris, and seems the choice of tap water has been made already.

[jtrasap]

I'm guessing that conversation is in another thread? I noted mention by the OP to the tune of "I am gonna prepare saltwater for 1st time from my township water", beyond that I don't see any mention of the use of township water being set in stone. I think most people would recommend against it without filtering through an RO/DI unit first.

[Chiefsurfer]

yeah another thread. Yes, I agree entirely on ro/di.