210 Gallon Build

[Linus]

Hi all, first time posting and I have already got a lot of good information from everyone out there in reef land. Thks. Big problem I am having with cloudy water and salt/mineral buildup all over the tank. Originaly had the tank and sump running with freshwater only for about a week. I then added Aqua Plus water conditioner and brought the tank up to about 75 degrees F. I just added Instant Ocean salt. Now about a week later I have been topping off with RO water but the water in the tank is really cloudy and I am getting this white crust buildup on everything. Is the salt not disloved? The salenity is about 30 / 1.022 gravity so that seems fine. Is this calcium buildup because I didn't add enough water conditioner? Help? Getting a TDS Meter today to check RO but I can't see it being that.

ASM G4 skimmer, 1800 MAG return Pump, CS202 Overflow, two Kyrolia 4 powerheads, no lighting yet.

[Myka]

Is it salt creep? If so, that's normal. It's an annoying part of saltwater aquariums is that the water will slash or spray up all over the place, and when it evaporates it leaves the salt behind. I clean up around my tank weekly, getting all the salt creep. It's really annoying.

I have never used AquaPlus in a saltwater aquarium, and it is not popular to use in saltwater (try Prime next time, much better product), and I know that some products even though they say they are ok for saltwater end up causing either extra foam in the skimmer or cloudiness.

If you have sand in your tank, and it was dry when you added it, it can take 2-3 weeks to settle out and become crystal clear. If you add live rock it will decrease the time significantly. It takes awhile for a microscopic bacerial coating to get around each grain of sand, and this holds the dust down.

Also, you should raise your sg to 1.026 as the reefs around the world average 1.0264.

[Linus]

Thks for the pointers Myka. This definitely isn't salt creep. My heaters were so covered I couldn't even see the coils. I had to scrape it off with a scratch pad. The sponges on the overflow and return pump were also covered. When I cleaned everything in a bucket a brown sandy material settled to the bottom. I haven't added any sand yet it is just water. After I cleaned the glass and overflow the white stuff was left floating and it appeared like shreaded paper in the tank.

[sharuq1]

Just sounds like precipitate. Make sure you have a powerhead in there to keep mixing the water, keep it heated. It will likely correct itself. I had this happen after throwing in some salt for the first time on my 120 then heating up the water. After a week or so it went away. Alternatively, if you've added any sand, it could be the sand's fault, but also would likely self resolve in time.

[Myka]

Oh, ya then it does sound like precipitate. Check your alkalinity and calcium. It's always best to mix salt outside of the tank, then pour it in once the proper sg has been reached.

[Doug]

Agreed. Definitely sounds like precipitate. Had similar problems in my big tanks in the country. Well water was high in alk. And a ro will not lower it. If thats the problem, DI resin after the ro will take care of it. Nothing to do with tds.

Also my IO salt had a higher alk. level, which added to my problems. The sure fire fix for that is the addition of {chemmaster}, magnesium and a bit of calcium to the fresh water before mixing the salt. No precipitate. We haver several threads here on the correct additions of those products for IO salt.

Run a good filter wool in the sumo or somewhere to help remove it from the water. The rest on tank walls and equipment, needs to be scraped off or taken out and given a vinigar/water bath.