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White crystals on media

This may sound strange but recently I have been noticing some white crystal looking substance growing on the very top surface of some of my media. It almost looks like salt crystals. Is this normal? Does anyone know what this is? I have been using a lot of PH down trying to get my system PH lower. The system is just starting out and I only have a few lettuce/spinach sprouting and 14 ruby red minnows.

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Permalink Reply by TCLynx on February 23, 2012 at 6:09am

Minerals precipitating out of the water. Pretty normal with hard water, think of lime scale or the white buildup around the top of an aquarium. Basically hard water stains.

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Permalink Reply by Justin on February 23, 2012 at 6:21am

Is this good or bad? Should I worry about it?

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Permalink Reply by TCLynx on February 23, 2012 at 6:58am

You might want to collect rain water for top ups so you can reduce the need for acid to adjust pH seeing as your water is so hard (alternating tap water with rain or RO water) but no the minerals crystalizing out are not a problem in and of themselves.