Red Sea Coral Pro Salt hard as a rock!!!

[Ariel110G]

So I got a free bucket of Red Sea Coral Pro Salt Mix 175gal from a friend that left the hobby, he used just for not more then 5 cups of salt, the thing is he kept it out side in his back yard, the salt is in a bag in the bucket but it?s all hard as a rock!!!! It?s my 1st time using this salt, is this normal or it?s because he kept it out. Is it safe to use if I break it up?

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

Buy new salt. Use that for salting the driveway this winter. Obviously moisture got into the bucket. Did anything else get in there? You can never know. Did the salt being wet for months react in such a way that it no longer has the right chemistry. You'll never know that either.
In the long run, salt is cheap

 

[Ariel110G]

For me salt is not cheap, this hobby is not cheap!!!

it is moisture that got into the bucket but nothing else.

 

[duke62]

Really he just gave you the best advise. Its garbage now. Rain water is dirty water why put what could be contaminated salt in your tank You think this hobby is expensive what if it is bad and you kill your livestock now it just got more expensive

 

[annanymous]

i had similar experience with I/O salt in a bucket that never let the house but still became hard and I had to dig at it with a pair of scissors for every water change. just saying...if its a brand new set up, maybe mix a little water and test it. see if partameters are spot on (salinity, alk, cal and mag). if they good maybe use it to start a tank and then get fresh salt once you have corals in. If not a new set up then *be warned*

 

[duke62]

Its different when its just humidity hardens it up. When you have rain water,maybe squirrels thought it was a bathroom who knows. I would not trust it

 

[cmantis]

You can try to break up a ceramic flower pot and put the pieces in there to absorb the moisture but in my experience you are going to have to break it into chunks and dissolve.

 

[Ariel110G]

The salt was in the bag in the bucket closed, so no Rain water or squirrels pee in it. I did send an email to red sea I?ll see what they have to say

 

[Ariel110G]

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/bucket-of-salt-hard-as-a-rock-101079.html

this guy knows his stuff!!!

 

[Ariel110G]

I did call red sea they told me to be on the safe side just to make a small amount of water & test it, and they told me that if the salt was in the bucket closed than they don?t see that it can cause a problem.

 

[Aquadicted]

you know this hobby is all about lowering your risk of something going wrong. If this is your approach to keeping an eco system that is our aquarium, then you will have a hard time and waste a lot of money. Do things right and do it once.

 

[Ariel110G]

so last night a did some water testing on my 75g tank, with 2 different test kits, and I tested for calcium twice and for phosphate, and this was done a week after I did a water using that's salt.
All the tests came out perfect.
but what I will do next time is ill test the SW before I'll use it,

 

[jaBX1]

For such a high end brand I don't understand why Red Sea salt has such a cheap bucket. IO salt has a tight fitting lid w rubber o ring to at least try and keep moisture out.

What I do b/c my room is so humid is put those silica packs (from new packages or prescriptions) inside the bucket. I usually tape them to the underside of lid and/or walls of bucket.

I would still like to see a better bucket w an o ring though..

 

[Ariel110G]

I agree on that, my Red sea salt is on a IO bucket now.

 

[e.muehlbauer]

I have seen major changes in alkalinity with old clumped salt. Once really screwed up my tank by using some old (even though I had bought it as "new") Reef Crystals. The company sent me a free 50 gal bag when I reported it.

 

[Montaquelaveist]

the best thing i ever did was to buy a container with lid on it i then take the salt from the bag it came in and place it in my bucket which has i nice thick garbage bag and rubberband it sealed and then close the lid which snaps closed i use red sea and have never had a problem with it and I've actually had the salt for months on end in my garage and it has never hardened up on me just my little trick

 

[pecan2phat]

The problem with hardened/clumped salt IME is that it will no longer fully dissolve. The make up water had fine crystals even after mixing for a few days.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

I wouldn't use it either for the reasons(all of them) stated above.

I don't understand the no frills, cheap as you can go reefing habits that seem to have become mainstream.

I'm going to sound like a **** right now but I've always spoke my mind:<<- really? You can't type j e r k anymore?! Lmao. Come on now.

If you're really that hard up to save money that you would risk using old, hardened by WHATEVER you know or don't know what got in the salt to save possibly 70 bucks or so I hope you're livestock is all cheap- both fish and corals, because if it causes any major issues you're gone watch $ after $ after $ waste away.

Hey you may be perfectly fine using it BUT you may not also. Why chance it. I've serviced some tanks that people did similar stuff and the tank turned into a disaster that got worse with each water change. Then when it got real bad they call to have you be a miracle worker sent from god to fix it with a 1 hour service.

Good luck, I hope you don't need it and it works out for you.