Bad Water For Phyto Culture Event

[rasthavis]

I have been mixing Corallife Bio Cube salt for months from a 50 gal bag, but just 5 gal water at a time. Everything was fine. Then when I got to 2" from the bottom the next batch of water that I mixed killed all my phyto cultures. Under the microscope I saw all the motile cells go immobile instantly when exposed to even a small amount of the water.
So the point of this post - always use the whole bag when mixing water for phyto plankton. I have since mixed a 15 gal bag of that brand, and the new phyto are happy.

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

Do you mix it thoroughly before adding each time? Or test Salinity on it before adding? Is it an open container or sealed?

 

[rasthavis]

5 gallon food service buckets. My mixing method was the same as I have been using for a long time. I never let the salinity go over 40 ppt while mixing. My post is really specific to phyto culture. The water that killed my phyto was also used for water change in my macro and fish tank, and caused no problems there.

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

5 gallon food service buckets. My mixing method was the same as I have been using for a long time. I never let the salinity go over 40 ppt while mixing. My post is really specific to phyto culture. The water that killed my phyto was also used for water change in my macro and fish tank, and caused no problems there.

If the buckets are open, I wonder if some kind of contaminant got in there such as a spray or dust etc that they dont like? And when it got to the bottom it was more heavily concentrated?

 

[rasthavis]

The unused salt was kept sealed in its original bag. The buckets are washed thoroughly between uses. I believe that some element of the salt mix settled in the bag. I did not shake the bag between uses, as I have read that it may cause settling of some element of the mix. I have also read that the bag should be shaken before use. So I was trying the no shake mode. From now on I am solving the issue by mixing the whole bag at one time.