So I recently did a water change with a new salt (Crystal Sea Marine Mix) and noticed all the brittle stars immediately went into spawning. neat. It was a bit longer than i should have gone since the last change, about 3 weeks. So i check and nitrates a bit higher (15) than Id like. Day after Star polyps dont open. odd. they have always been super fast growing. I decide to change more water using same salt. Things seem worse. Xenia no longer pulsing, one detached from rock. So Everything is the same but new salt mix. what gives. I won this in a raffle at hidden reef (thats why its different). Do I change more water? hurry up and buy more reef crystals (what i had been using) add stuff? I added a fresh bag of GAC this morning to maybe remove any contamination that may have inadvertently got in the system. This is the kicker: I leave for mexico for 2 weeks in 2 days. So now I am FREAKING OUT!!! >::: >::: >::: >::: PLEASE HELP!
You should first test all your water parameters and see what is out of balance, Salinity, Mag, Calcium Alk .
How much of a water change did you do?
Do you let the new water mix sit for 24 hrs before using?
Need more info,
[quote=“houndsbayman, post:2, topic:5213”]
You should first test all your water parameters and see what is out of balance, Salinity, Mag, Calcium Alk .
How much of a water change did you do?
Do you let the new water mix sit for 24 hrs before using?
Need more info,[/quote]
+1
do you match temp of w/c water? pre-mix and aerate so the ph is somewhat close? alkalinity is a big one that changes a lot from brand to brand of mixes.
It is a good habit to check the params of a new salt, just to make sure its not gonna shock the system. I had the same type of thing happen in the past. my culprit was a salt mix with a dkh of near 13, while my system had been running at 8-9.
I would check all the params of your dt and the new salt (freshly mixed the way you did it) and compare numbers to see what went wrong before you do anything else.
:TWOCENTS
quick update. tested ph 7.96- close to 8.05 it was. calcium now 340-360!!! was 430. gotta run to get some stuff, just realized i’m out! dkh 12 same. temp 79 same. nitrates 0-5, was 15. so all i see different is calcium. i guess not as advertised on package, i shoulda tested the new water before using it. lesson learned. ist this probably why things are going nutty?
ps. mixed salt sat 24 hrs at same temp as tank with powerhead running. no airstone. was about 15-18% change each time.
did you test the salinity in the mix? And what is the salinity reading in your tank? What about Mag?
are you using rodi? that is a huge calcium diff, but if it was me i would keep looking for something besides Ca. did you happen to check a fresh mix? according to how it changed your parameters that new stuff would be waaaay low :
:
whatever you do, i would take it slow and keep testing daily until you get it back to normal…
good luck
SAlinity was at 1.025 now at 1.026 on refractometer. yes rodi.
What about Alk?
You should retest your calcium
I have found that any time I have changed salt mix, there will be a noticeable side effect in my tank. With that being said, I now just say to myself, “self, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
What size is your tank? If your salinity went up by.01 due to a 15% change, your new water must have been mixed at a higher salinity than 1.026. I’d guess that is your culprit. If so, additional water changes only make it worse.
For future salt changes try to never change it all at once, when getting low on your old salt, mix your new salt into a couple of water changes a little at a time like, 1 cup new to 3 cups old, then 2 cups old 2 cups new, then 3 cups new 1 cup old, that will prevent any sudden changes and shock. I do that even staying with the same brand as things change from batch to batch
There is only one brand of salt I would urge people to never use and you found it. In the past there were several people in club used this brand, none of which really tested their tank. As soon as people started testing they dropped the brand. One person kept using claiming if the Mg was low they would just add Mg. The problem is there are a LOT more then 3-4 elements in a synthetic salt mixture. If they messed up on the simple ones we believe are critically important what else have they screwed up? What if the level of copper was super high?
Switch brands of salt, small frequent water changes to dilute that crap asap. It may be best to go back to what you were using before if you believe it was a reputable brand, then in the future do some research on other brands and slowly switch over as Hudzon had suggested.
For what it is worth Xenia is extremely sensitive, so if it was royal ticked off that doesn’t necessarily mean your system in general or your other animals have been significantly harmed.
Good luck!
[quote=“Gordonious, post:12, topic:5213”]
There is only one brand of salt I would urge people to never use and you found it. In the past there were several people in club used this brand, none of which really tested their tank. As soon as people started testing they dropped the brand. One person kept using claiming if the Mg was low they would just add Mg. The problem is there are a LOT more then 3-4 elements in a synthetic salt mixture. If they messed up on the simple ones we believe are critically important what else have they screwed up? What if the level of copper was super high?
Switch brands of salt, small frequent water changes to dilute that crap asap. It may be best to go back to what you were using before if you believe it was a reputable brand, then in the future do some research on other brands and slowly switch over as Hudzon had suggested.
For what it is worth Xenia is extremely sensitive, so if it was royal ticked off that doesn’t necessarily mean your system in general or your other animals have been significantly harmed.
Good luck! [/quote]
Yeah thanks. I think that the salinity might be 1.027. so a big shift. I am very unhappy with the salt mix. So I only have 30 hours till I leave the country. Wait and see? I guess that is my best option right now. I may add rodi and take a little water out to try to drop it some since i am sure no one will check it while i am away. More nervous about the tank that being in a foreign country where i don’t speak the language.
NEW THREAD Market place— FS 3 bags Crystal Sea marine mix salt CHEAP!!! MAKE OFFER!!
p.s added calcium magnesium & strontium waiting to retest.
Water test update. KH 11.8 alkalinity 4.22 meq/l salifert test kit. ph 7.99 pinpoint probe. temp 79.6. salinity 1.026 refractometer. nitrate 5 api test kit. calcium 380 api test kit. These measurements were done about 8 hours after i added a good bit of seachem reef advantage calcium (with mag & stron) and carib sea buffer plus (which contains calcium). So i hope to add some tomorrow before leaving and mix up a drip to last 10 days. When i get a chance to call home all i’m going to want to know is how’s the tank? Great timing. Lesson of the day: when you find something that works well don’t mess with it especially when you are leaving the country!
Soft corals smallish looking today no gsp came out. lps mixed candy cane good 1 frogspawn good 1 shrunken. hammer so so. favia good. zoas 85% good. sps lower polyps retracted. tank looks better but not right by far.
what was the dkh before? or normally at. dkh swings seem to effect the most and even small ones. I have not once switched salt and never will unless it drastically changes or goes out of business. also with buckets of salt i found that the minerals settle so the top part of the bucked will have like 300 ca and 6 dkh but the bottom is 500 calc and 11 dkh so i shake and roll them now lol.
I used that salt mix for 10 years. it is historically low on Ca, and Mg. so i just always dosed it up with my snow melt calcium and magnesium salts. and some extra buffer when it needed. the Ca comes out low lik you said, about 360, and the Mg is usually about 1000 ppm, when it should be 1300-1350. i had a standard dose of Mag Flake ice melt to add to new salt water mix to bring it up to par. per the reef chemistry calculator.
Small water changes is the best thing you can do then leave it be.
11.8dKH is a bit high, but don’t adjust it. It is not wise to adjust the chemistry any more then you do on a typical basis right before you leave.
Ken did you ever check the copper levels? Strontium? Iron? Iodine? All of the above critically important in a reef aquarium. There are also many more elements that could have been off. If they can’t get the things right that we test for what else is screwed up?
[quote=“dunk, post:15, topic:5213”]
what was the dkh before? or normally at. dkh swings seem to effect the most and even small ones. I have not once switched salt and never will unless it drastically changes or goes out of business. also with buckets of salt i found that the minerals settle so the top part of the bucked will have like 300 ca and 6 dkh but the bottom is 500 calc and 11 dkh so i shake and roll them now lol.[/quote]
DKH is about the same as it was before about 11. Next freakout as i leave in a matter of hours:
These just showed up and seem to be attacking the LPS corals.
The brown spots on the frogspawn. Are they flatworms? how do I get rid of them? Will a 6 line wrasse eat them? Please post as i will have my girlfriend check the thread.
I can not see the brown spots in the picture but I do wish your tank the best of luck. I know its a nervous thing going on vacation for any length of time and worrying if the tank sitter is doing everything the way you do and what if something bad happens…
brown spots about 1/4 inch move very slow. on polyps of frogspawn, duncan & hairy mushroom. if it is flatworms will they significantly damage the corals? I know leaving sucks. in need a script of ChillPill ChillPill