dennism

First SW tank.. I have a 75 gallon take with about 50 gallons of water and reef salt in it... that's it at the moment. I added the reef salt directly to the tank from a brand new pail slowly, stirring and mixing as I went. It has been in there for about 10 days.. I have stirred up what settled out on the bottom of the tank and wiped down the inside of the tank several times, each time making the water so thick with what seems to be white salt that you can't see through it. After a couple days, some settles out, and the water clears quit a bit, but then I wipe down the inside and the bottom and its white again for 2-3 days.. There is less settling out each time, but is this normal? Even though it is an empty tank with nothing live in it, I have tested with all the tests in my API salt water test kit and my API reef test kit and the only item that is really high is the hardness (dKH of around 30 instead of the desired 8 to 12. I read around on forums and didn't really see anyone say a high KH was bad so... my spec gravity is only 1.019 - still just low, but I am afraid to add more salt because what is in there does not appear to be dissolving completely. I am planning on buying my live rock/sand in 5 days... I have three power heads running in the tank right now.. one brand new 400gph, and two older originally rated at 145 gph each.. (I am buying two more 400gph power heads in a couple days also). I am not running the protein skimmer yet as I only have the tank 3/4 full of water, so I have room to add sand and rock in 5 days..
Nitrate 0, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, Ca 480 mg/l dKH 30, ph 8.4. phosphate 0.. so the only rating high is dKH - is that causing a problem with the absorption of salt? What else could be wrong, or maybe nothing.. Maybe this is normal and I just don't know it??
Nitrate 0, nitrite 0, amonia 0, Ca 480 mg/l dKH 30, ph 8.4. phospate 0.. so the only rating high is dKH - is that causing a problem with the absorbtion of salt? What else could be wrong, or maybe nothing.. maybe this is normal and I just don't know it??

agsansoo

dKH 30 Are you sure ? What test kit are you using ?

dennism

API reef master test kit. I've done it twice.. it says one drop per kPH (17.9 ppm) and I put in about 30 drops before it changes color..... We have hard well water - untreated it turns red from rust in about 2 days - we have what is called an "iron curtain treatment system" that takes the iron out (3 tank system in the basement), and a water softner on top of that.. The water tastes fine after that (horrible before that) but must be still very hard apparently.. Anyone think this might be causing the salt I added to not disolve rapidly.. The water was pretty clear last night again (not perfect, but 90% clear) with much less salt that stuck to the inside and just a thin layer on the bottom this time. I stirred it again and wiped down the inside, and it truned back to a solid white water that I can't see through. Am I just being impatient or is there something wrong?

blossom112

It might be the salt .
I ran out one time and got some from my friend just downstairs and i had the same problem and it was like floating around the tank and setteling on everything .
So i got a bucket and changed it out and its fine now .
My best guess is the salt and it can happen , aparently they were using some kind of cheap reef salt .
I use instant ocean ,
Good luck!

defcon11

yeah, never had a prob with the instant ocean, been using it off again on again for over 10 years and it always works fine.

clinton1621

If your water is really that hard it could be causing the salt to dissolve slower... but it shouldnt affect it that much I wouldnt think, definitely go with the instant ocean brand salt as mentioned above, it dissolves much better than any other brand out there

Dojella

So I've never had a saltwater tank, but I have had white water. It seems like for 75 gallons, you've got a good amount of water circulation going on and with that you get lots of dissolved oxygen. I know that if the water is disturbed/slightly warmer, those tiny oxygen bubbles that you normally can't see fuse together/expand so that they cause the water to appear like diluted milk. This has happened with every tank I've started during the first week or so of adding water.