Does salt dissolved in water settle?

[Anonymous]

Let's just say that I had a large (unused) plastic garbage can that I was planning to use to mixxor a fine salty brine in. Maybe it's ... 50 gallons or so, and my aquarium to fill is 30 gallons or so. This would be rather convenient, because then I could mix up enough salty water to last through a few weeks of water top-offs, dipping into the large pre-mixxored bin of salty water as needed.

Would the salt settle in that? So if, a week later, I scooped water off the top, would it have a lower salinity? Should I stir it up a bunch first?

 

[jandree22]

first of all, mixed up saltwater waiting to be used should be circulated via a small powerhead. this keeps the gas exchange goin plus you don't have to worry about this problem.

second of all, I hope you're not suggesting adding saltwater for your top-offs. Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but that'll slowly raise the salinity in your tank... add fresh water for top-offs. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

aha! i wasn't thinking clearly. top off water should indeed be freshwater.

*smacks self upside head, grumbles about friday*

 

[jandree22]

haha.... it's still not a bad idea though to have a large plastic trash can like that for pre-mixing saltwater for changes

 

[Anonymous]

Even a tiny little powerhead near the top to stir the surface layer will keep your water nice and aerated. Make sure you keep a top on the container.

 

[Anonymous]

*smacks self upside head, grumbles about friday*

What happened to your old avatar?

 

[Anonymous]

which one? i change it frequently

 

[Anonymous]

the one with a fellow punching his own face....

At any rate, about the question in the thread' title... "Does salt dissolved in water settle?" The fact that a chemical dissolved means that it will not settle. This is the definition of solution.

For comparison, look up terms like solution, suspension, and slurry in the context of mixture. Slurry (like mud and water) must be stirred constantly. In fact, there is a noticeable phase (liquid and solid) interface. For suspension, the time scale for separate is much longer, and in many instances, a centrifuge is used to separate the materials to speed up the settling time. Suspension can be easily decent from true solution by shining a beam of bright light thru the liquid. If the beam is visible sideway then it is a suspension. Solution, on the other hand, does not settle, and does not scatter light, but absorbe and interact with it.

 

[mountainbiker619]

Here is a pic of our water treatment plant. The water is processed via the Air Water and Ice 4 stage RO/DI and is placed into the white plastic 5 gallon containers. The water then goes into the clear container in the bottom right of the pic. There it is mixed with salt via a Rio800 power head. Once the salinity is at its proper level, it is then placed into the black plastic trashcan in which contains 80 lbs of live rock. At the bottom of the trashcan is a Rio2100 for circulation and a AquaC Remora Pro on the side. The water is tested fully before it is used for a water change.