Pszemol wrote on 9/2/2007 10:46 PM:
"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message:
I have left sal****er for a couple of weeks without
movement, in the white plastic buckets left from
IO salt and I see salt/calcium deposit on the
bottom.
When stirred it was like white milk.

One thing it could be the problem that I left
the heater
in the bucket set for 80F... maybe heat has
done it??

High heat can precipitate calcium, but 80F is
not hot.

Heater is set for 80F but the glass surface might
get much hotter than that, obviously...

It was definitely not salt deposits.
I assume you were using RO water?

Whatever it is, it comes from the salt...
I am using RO water and water is clear after mixing.
It starts depositing white dust over time...

When I took the cover loosely left over the bucket
after two weeks I saw white deposits on the bucket
walls, on the bottom and on the heater...
Interestingly, heater had hard to wash deposits
which came off when wiped with vinegear...

That would be calcium.



One thing that does show up in the salts, is
clay. This clay can be
white, or brown. With a good salt this is hardly
noticeable, until
many batches have been made, and it starts
building up.

The clay does not hurt anything, but it does not
look good.

If it was clay, than I would never see clear water.
Water stays clear for a time, than deposits
start forming.

The other idea I have is that in the summer time,
when intense A/C and less air circulation causes
bigger CO2 content in the air and this might
cause Ca precipitation from the mixture somehow
amplified with the heater...
But this is only guessing since I have not done
any chemical tests...

BTW - I have used such old water in a reef tank
and made it very milky for a day but water cleared
up nicely next day or so... The effect is kind of
similar to overdosing kalkwasser - white snow.

Maybe the salt that you are using has an excess of
calcium. Have you tested newly made water for
calcium, and KH?

What brand of salt are you using?

Have you tested your ro to make sure that it's nice
an pure. Tap water will do that.

Wayne Sallee