Fastmarc":f8x2bkv7 said:
When I 1st put my 'aging bucket' together (20G Rubbermaird, 100W heater, Maxijet1200+air pump), I was using tapwater & mixing salt. This was before I realized how much silicates I was dosing my tank with & how this leads to brown algae. I used this for a few months this way & was building up quite a layer of crud along the sides of it. Once I realized what was going on, I took the thing out & scrubbed the bejeezus out of it & refilled it, & found I still had some silicates in it. So I took it out & scrubbed it out some more. Added RO but didn't mix salt yet & retested after heating & aerating it. Finally I was getting clean water! Then I mixed in my salt, let it sit a night & retested (phosphates, silicates, & nitrates)-- still clean. The I let it sit for a week & retested-- still clean.
I think when they're brandy-new they may leach some manufacturing oils into the water. I had cleaned it before I used it the 1st time but even then I could still see some oil floating on the top of the water. I sopped most of this off with paper towels & disposed of half the water & repeated this a couple times before I started using water from it. But after a point I don't think they have anything more to give up. I have had to clean out the bucket a couple more times since for some crud buildup but I think this is coming from my Instant Ocean salt. I retest my prepared water periodically because now I'm just nutrient-paranoid.
Officially 1 year in saltwater this month, & so far so good
