Left lit tight on Brute container while mag 7 was mixing the water… opened itback up and there was a distinct pea smell… is this bad. I was trying to think of what could cause it… and i was thinking it may have to do with the gas exchange…
is it bad? why does it have that smell…
what salt mix, is it dated, was it agitated before use?
What was the bucket used for before it became your salt bucket? Was it cleaned? How long from mix to removing the lid and finding the smell
IO reef crystals, 2 months old…
Umm i dissolved it all, then 1 day after mixing i put the top on with mag 7 in there…
Used only for water
… and wow i cant believe i spelled pee, like pea wow im stupid…
Oh - it smelled like pee? not pea? That’s COMPLETELY different!!! ;D
What type of container are you mixing your SW in? Did you have a heater in the container as well?
lol, peas dont have smells… brute and the mag 7 makes the thing boil, not really prob keeps it around85-86
[quote=“Marchingbandjs, post:6, topic:2219”]
lol, peas dont have smells… brute and the mag 7 makes the thing boil, not really prob keeps it around85-86[/quote]
My best guess is that’s the problem. There is no way unless that mag is burning up that it should heat the water to 85 degrees. It may also be leaching something or melting the case of the pump. Dump the water and clean the barrel with bleach. In a 5 gallon pail with tap water put the mag in the bucket and give it 24 hours; my guess it will smell like pee. At the same time fill the brute with tap water and let it sit for 24 hours with only a heater to get the temp to 85. If it smells then replace the brute (Its defiantly a brute trashcan? If it is a knockoff brute can it may be leaching into the water. The gray brute trashcans are water safe (potable) and doesn’t leach into water
Its not knockoff, and if so it was and exp knockoff… i have had the smell before when i used a small k1 power head in a small bucket… left the lid on. When the lid is left off the smell goes away… im still going to rinse the tub and all that… but i think it has to do with gas exchange thats the only logical thing… and aren’t mags known for the friction they produce and the heat they can cause…
Yes they produce heat but a brute can is 45 gallons and if a mag 7 can heat the water to 85 degrees imagine what it would do to a tank when the lights are on. 85 degrees without a heater is too hot; probably a problem with the mag 7. I had a mag 7 on my 75 and still had 2 heaters to keep the temp stable. I would guesstimate the pump would add a max of 2 degrees to the water.
wooopsies, forgot i had a heater in there cranked all the way up… took it out, and the water reads 76, which without the mag it reads 71 so i can see that… pump seems to be fine… it smells like the salt does undissolved a little, my guess is gas exchange, and the chemical reaction with the oxygen and something in the mixture, that gives off a gas of some sort. thus with the lid on it concentrates… dosent seem to harm anything…
Just read it all and I would say be careful w/ the heaters and such… If they get too hot, and they are left on the bottom or the side of a bucket, they have potential to burn a whole through the bucket. The heater might have just melted some of the plastic from there and that in turn was released into the water. Thats just my two sense 
when i mixed it in a small bucket, it didnt have a heater and it smelled the same with the lid on. I think i know what not to do, thanks everyone.
Just out of curiosity… have you thought about testing the parameters of that water? I believe u are getting the smell when the lid is on because the smell can’t escape the container, then when u open the lid, u are getting a blast of the smell to the face. I believe that ammonia has the tendency to put off a ‘pee’ like smell, depending on what you think ‘pee’ smells like…
I have a feeling this conversation is going to foster TMI (Too Much Information) remarks…
I was going to ask what his pee smells like but didn’t want to sound gay or eccentric. I think the fresh made water I make smells nice and fresh but then again I have not smelled my pee 
its probably the plastic trash can.
thats what i thought, but same thing in 3 diff containers now… when i mix normal salt its fine and smells good, when i mix reef i get pungent smell… o well my tank seems to like it…
The reef salt is supposed to have extra minerals like calcium and mag but that should not add a smell
ahh well, just cleaned them again we will see with the next batch