1st saltwater tank. 1st batch of saltwater stored in 44g brute trash bin. Bin is new, I rinsed it out when I bought them but didn't scrub or use soap out of fear of leaving some contaminants. HW-Marinemix Reefer Salt Mix. Current batch has been in the bin ~8 days. When I open the lid, there is a bad smell, not room clearing but noticeable bad, I don't know what to relate it to. Any one else experience this? Anything to fear, toss the water? Did I miss some prep step for those bins?
Stored saltwater - Brute trash bin - horrible smell?
- Thread starter bill.mccrary42
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Yes 2 powerheads + 1 heater running 24/7
Is the water visibly “gunky”? Once the water is mixed you don’t need to stir it 24x7 or keep it at temp (until needed). You can have the powerheads come on 1-2x a day for 10-30min definitely want to stir it but not necessarily constantly. Also was the water used RO or RODI? Curious if you know the TDS of the water before the salt was added.
Thats weird, not familiar with that salt brand but I dont think any of them should stink.
do not ever cap off stored reef tank water, solved. myriad reasons why-organics complexed in all salts plus common bacteria contamination robbing all your oxygen is prime reason. bioslicks of living bacteria coating the walls, sloughing off into the water column via that pump, secondary reasons
your holding water must breathe
don't cap off stored saltwater, top it off as needed or just let it go higher salinity during holding and top it off right before water change for the drawn off portion, it's what I do.
your water holding vessel is a living water system like your reef, only less surface area. it isn't devoid of aerobic bacteria just because you haven't fed them. if you cap off a reef for eight days, it'll smell just the same.
your holding water must breathe
don't cap off stored saltwater, top it off as needed or just let it go higher salinity during holding and top it off right before water change for the drawn off portion, it's what I do.
your water holding vessel is a living water system like your reef, only less surface area. it isn't devoid of aerobic bacteria just because you haven't fed them. if you cap off a reef for eight days, it'll smell just the same.
RO/DI - I went overboard and got the 7 stage filter w/ TDS meter from BRS so yeah 0 TDS before salt. I see zero gunk or crust, perfectly clear just the smell. 10-4 on not needing to run the pumps 24/7 just being extra cautious - is there any downside to running them 24/7 vs a couple times a day (other than my power bill?)?
brandon are you busy for the next hour or so
This makes the most sense - I have had the lid on completely. There is a little room for cords and things so I maybe assumed it could breathe, but maybe not enough. I'll do that, and just top off w/ RO/DI.
Question - do I need to toss this water now? Or is it fine, just smelly?
I mix up 40g of regular IO once a month in a 44g Brute. I keep it covered (lid) with a powerhead running 24/7 and only heat it up right before water changes. I’ve never had an issue with smell. IMO it’s the salt brand or something else going on.
I bet if you leave the top off with pumps running the smell will cease. If it doesn't chuck it and try again. I also keep a lid on my brute.
you might draw some off as a test, put animals in it to see if normal/some kind of shrimp
I almost killed my reef using capped water, when I input it into my little pico all my brittle stars and pods crawled to the very top lip of the setup, unable to breathe I assume. that was about fourteen years ago, since then + never capping saltwater the issue stopped and it stopped for all new pico reefers I was able to train before they began.
we do 100% water changes, large tankers rarely do, so inputting some poison water isn't that harmful on a 10% change run.
I almost killed my reef using capped water, when I input it into my little pico all my brittle stars and pods crawled to the very top lip of the setup, unable to breathe I assume. that was about fourteen years ago, since then + never capping saltwater the issue stopped and it stopped for all new pico reefers I was able to train before they began.
we do 100% water changes, large tankers rarely do, so inputting some poison water isn't that harmful on a 10% change run.
even though others cap the reef water and state it doesn't harm, that's inviting variation since it doesn't work for 100% of readers, exactly like skipping fish disease preps discussions turn out.
don't cap off stored saltwater, the risk stops for everyone. if we kept our holding containers constantly clean like we do potable water containers, not an issue
any RO drinking water owner knows those tanks under the sink start to smell bad if not cleaned/changed out sometimes. the lines inside the RO feed system get fouled by the same means we're discussing for reef water.
somewhere out there, someone has never cleaned their RO drinking water system in eight years and it doesn't smell, but that's not a hospital or a lab touting that mode it's just a hobbyist with cruddy lines accustomed to the smell and taste
don't cap off stored saltwater, the risk stops for everyone. if we kept our holding containers constantly clean like we do potable water containers, not an issue
any RO drinking water owner knows those tanks under the sink start to smell bad if not cleaned/changed out sometimes. the lines inside the RO feed system get fouled by the same means we're discussing for reef water.
somewhere out there, someone has never cleaned their RO drinking water system in eight years and it doesn't smell, but that's not a hospital or a lab touting that mode it's just a hobbyist with cruddy lines accustomed to the smell and taste
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Out of curiosity, is the smell a "cat pee" (ammonia) type smell?
Only ask because that seems fairly common with NEW Brute containers, even when just storing RO/DI water. (If so, I never worried about it and cleaning out the Brute container with Vinegar and rinse well solved it for me,,, and others have posted same on here)
Only ask because that seems fairly common with NEW Brute containers, even when just storing RO/DI water. (If so, I never worried about it and cleaning out the Brute container with Vinegar and rinse well solved it for me,,, and others have posted same on here)
Eric that's a good call, there could be chemistry smells during the plastic curing alongside any biological ones/reasonable for sure
Not cat pee (I don't think, I don't have cats tho) - hard to describe, take the smell of the new bin and just make that smell BAD, doesn't smell like anything I ever experienced.
I ran it for ~2 hour before collecting water for the tank.
Oh - to note, the other bin w/ RO/DI doesn't have this smell, only the bin with saltwater - the RO/DI bin just has the light smell of new plastic, but not smelly or anything bad.
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