Storing Salt Mix Help...

[miNiChher]

Hello, does anyone know if keeping my salt bucket outside during HOT summer days affects my salt?

I attempted to mix the salt with filtered water for a water change and the salt water mix looked SUPER MERKY??? Anyway, I chose to be safe over sorry because believe me I have been SORRY quite a few times already.... but I threw out the merky water and have started filtering more water. Does anyone have any idea if the salt could've been damaged by staying out in the sun?

In Southern Cali it gets to about 90 during the day... maybe it melted my salt?

Any help is greatly appreciated... or better yet any suggested readings are appreciated as well =)

[Jeremy Blaze]

Not sure what it would do, but it is probably not good. Store in a cool dry place.

[kuoka]

Your salt should be okay as long as you didn't get any moisture in it. Was it sealed securely?

[miNiChher]

well it was a bucket with a lid, u know those 200 gallon buckets... i do recall shutting it all after using it too... the only difference that i noticed the day i got merky results was that i had to break up the salt, it had almost turn into rock... of course it wasn't that hard but i did have to put some effort into breaking it up...

[miNiChher]

i mean is it ok to use Merky salt water?

[kuoka]

I'd guess it would be okay but I'd question what made it murky to begin with. I'd be worried that something could've been added to the container unknown to you. I'd test your water before adding it.

Another suggestion would be to contact the manufacturer too. Sometimes you can contact them using the "Contact us" link at their site. I'd also call someone like Marine Depot (they're in Anaheim) and very helpful. Good luck.

[Jeremy Blaze]

If it got hard, it absorbed moisture from the outside air.

[ahullsb]

What size bucket? I've never seen the water get murky but I have had a tough time getting it to dissolve 0nce it has a little moisture in it. Are you sure it's from the salt and not dirt or something else that got into the bucket? If I leave mine outside they are lined with dirt after a day or so.