IO Reef Crystals leaving brown sludge

faisal629

faisal629

Member
I have a 40 gallon water-mixing station (2 - 20G containers) the system is 3ish months old and I was surprised to find it looking like this just after mixing around 200-240gallons of SW...

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The RO/DI container is as clean as new..

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I've read people saying IO RC leaves some residue but I'm not sure brown sludge is what they were referring to.

The corals and fish in my tank don't seem to mind and I don't see the water color being affected in any way (I do run the new SW through a filter sock when doing a water change)

My questions are
Is this normal? Safe?
After time will this sludge buildup become a problem when mixing a new batch? (Do I need to clean it ever so often?)

The water-mixing station is in a different room all together and drilled through the wall and the pipe is left in a closet near the tank & I live in a 2nd floor unit so cleaning the container out ever so often is not the route I want to go...


Any salt recommendations which leave minimal, or even better no "sludge" (or whatever you may call it?


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Last edited:
I had the same thing with RC salt, I believe my 1st tank got some bacterial from that salt. I made the change to RedSea pro best change Ive made.
 
yep and the brown will get a lot thicker if you let it. Once every 8 weeks or so i pour in 1/4-1/2 gallon of vinegar into my 44 gal miing brute, rub the inside down with my hand and it's like new.
 
Top Water said:
It's not a problem. I been using RC for years . If it isn't broke don't fix it .
Click to expand...

Captain said:
I had the same thing with RC salt, I believe my 1st tank got some bacterial from that salt. I made the change to RedSea pro best change Ive made.
Click to expand...

jrpark22000 said:
yep and the brown will get a lot thicker if you let it. Once every 8 weeks or so i pour in 1/4-1/2 gallon of vinegar into my 44 gal miing brute, rub the inside down with my hand and it's like new.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies!
Good to know it's kind of a normal thing, I'll give it a good rinse with plain RO and empty it out via pump into the sink....taking this apart is too much of a mission right now considering plumbing and location.


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I could be wrong but I remember reading somewhere or watching a video where they explained that the reside was some clay or additive that is used to bind with heavy metals that might possibly be in the water.

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I've been using reef crystals for over a year, the trick is to mix it at normal temperature and mix for several hours then i bring the water to match tank temp, never had sludge doing it this way
 
In my case, i thought perhaps i did not see the brown stuff, either because i use gray brutes, or that saltwater is never stored more than a week.
 
I am a big fan of Red Sea Coral Pro. i tired RC but my coral seemed to do much better with Red Sea Coral Pro. Not to mention RSCP dissolves very fast.
I love that stuff.
 
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