What is this stuff?

[nickvc]

Using the purist possible silver in your electrolyte solution has a couple of benefits. 1 is that there's no copper in the starting solution so it lasts longer and is fairly easy to refresh (once) by simply adding a little more distilled water and/or electrolyte to the cell. 2nd is that your cell harvests will yield more silver of higher purity. And, depending upon the size of your cell, however much crystal you use for your electrolyte, none of it is ever lost. You always get it back and it just becomes a part of a cycle that is continually producing those improved yields. I lean toward not melting and pouring until there's a need or reason to spend the time and resources. A lot of people prefer the silver in crystal form once they see it.

That’s a two edged sword as the copper helps with the deposition of the silver but too much will co deposit with the silver , I never ever used fine silver for the electrolyte as for me dissolving sterling was another way to get high grade silver without wasting nitric which for many members is hard to come by and expensive and once the electrolyte gets too fouled you can create silver chloride for high grade silver or cement with copper to make more electrolyte.