1.025 to 1.022 Salinity

Fakegolfnews · Sep 10, 2019

I have a 10 gallon tank, no skimmer no dosing so i do big water changes. My usual salinity is 1.025. I missed a week on my weekly water change, things didnt look as good as usual, but nothing looked bad. Did a minor (for me) 40% water change. Things looked worse. 24 hrs layer tonight i do a 60% water change. When done i check salinity and its 1.022. The salinity of the water from my LFS is 1.021. I did find a snail dead and now it makes sense. Will it be ok until tomorrow when A DIFFERENT LFS opens? Yes, i know i should be testing before adding water. Im crazy busy and really trusted this LFS, been getting water there twice a month for 10 months. Whats the best way to get salinity back up to 1.025?

Fakegolfnews · Sep 10, 2019

Tank now vs tank before water changes

Terry Mattson · Sep 10, 2019

Do 20% a day water change at your 1.025 and rase it slowly. I am assuming you do not mix your own salt? Buy salt for these emergency situations. If the saltwater is low from your fish store than add salt, mix, and bring it up to your level. Then add it to tank during water change. If possible use same salt the store uses. 1.021 is common for many stores as the lower SG is believed to keep down parasites. Etc. My tank is 1.026, reef, LPS. That is the same as sea water and is easier to keep dkh, calcium, ph levels stable. You could raise your tank to 1.026. But 1.025 is ok. What is your current ph? Hope this helps.

jurgenph · Sep 10, 2019

i would just top off with salt water until you're back at your target salinity.
you already stressed everything once, no need to do that agin.

J.

Terry Mattson · Sep 10, 2019

Here are some pics of my tank. 9 months old

W1ngz · Sep 10, 2019

Sadly this is the 3rd thread in as many days I've seen where LFS provided water is the main suspect in an issue.

Consider the option of getting even a simple portable RODI unit to make your own water.

jurgenph · Sep 10, 2019

W1ngz said:
Sadly this is the 3rd thread in as many days I've seen where LFS provided water is the main suspect in an issue.

Consider the option of getting even a simple portable RODI unit to make your own water.

tank, rodi, ato, refractometer: the four must haves in reef keeping.

J.

Fakegolfnews · Sep 11, 2019

W1ngz said:
Sadly this is the 3rd thread in as many days I've seen where LFS provided water is the main suspect in an issue.

Consider the option of getting even a simple portable RODI unit to make your own water.

My water is 400+ tds. Not really sure what to get.

Fakegolfnews · Sep 11, 2019

Terry Mattson said:
Here are some pics of my tank. 9 months old

Nice coral, tank looks great. Love the rock structure

ReefMadScientist · Sep 11, 2019

Best thing for you to do is just let your tank rest.

When we make mistakes, we often tend to add a quick bandaid to try and attempt to get the parameters back to where we want them. The key to reefing is to do things SLOWLY. As others have said, slowly increase your salinity and ensure your other parameters are okay.

I would suggest you start making your own water. If you have very poor TDS, you can always get your water from a water & ice and make the water yourself. Please be aware that room temperature is where you should be checking your salinity.

Overall, do not panic. Your tank is fine. Changing things way too quickly will just make the situation worse.

W1ngz · Sep 11, 2019

Fakegolfnews said:
My water is 400+ tds. Not really sure what to get.

The BRS 6 or 7 stage systems for something that high. The small portable ones won't keep up.
Is that mostly sediment and mineral from well water? Any chlorine or chloramines that you know of?

If it's mostly sendiment and mineral, adding an extra sediment filter before the full RO system may take some load off your membrane. Call up BRS, they'll sort you out with exactly what you need based on as much information as you can give them.

Terry Mattson · Sep 11, 2019

Fakegolfnews said:
Nice coral, tank looks great. Love the rock structure

Thanks.

Terry Mattson · Sep 11, 2019

Fakegolfnews said:
My water is 400+ tds. Not really sure what to get.

You should make your own saltwater. I have a 5 stage that gives me 0 tbs. I have a mixing and fresh water ro/di 35 gallon tanks fed by the ro/di system.

LisaMarie · Sep 11, 2019

+1 on the RODI

vetteguy53081 · Sep 11, 2019

Crazy high TDS. Invest in RO unit but in mean time buy RO water from LFS as many sell it, and if not, 5 gal jugs of water from Walmart refill machine

Barnabie Mejia · Sep 11, 2019

+2 on the RODI, it is an investment, but you will never have to deal with this issue again. it is completely worth every penny, and at the end of the day, you will know exactly what your water is mixing to and you won't have a parameter swing like this. Also I always test the salinity before I begin draining water for the change as well as always testing the BIG 3 (Alk, Calc, and Mag) and if they are not what I currently have in my tank, I use the BRS calculator to dose the water for the change to bring them up to the current tank levels so there is no swing. I know it seems like a lot of work, but I like to make sure the tank is good. and I enjoy doing that with my boys anyway. I use IO purple bucket, so its typically lower than IO reef crystals.

The next salt I'm going to use is Tropic Marin or Red Sea. still researching to see what would benefit the tank more (I am running a 29 gal right now and I have a lot of salt to burn through still, so I have some time to think about it! haha)

Fakegolfnews · Sep 12, 2019

I got some Accurasea salt from two little fishes. Its nice because it comes in bags that make 5g of water, which is very convenient for my water changes. Would the brs 6 stage reef+drinking water model work for 400+ tds? Any thoughts on that system in general? Should i just get two separate units?
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/6-stage-75-gpd-drinking-reef-ro-di-system-brs.html

Fakegolfnews · Sep 12, 2019

W1ngz said:
The BRS 6 or 7 stage systems for something that high. The small portable ones won't keep up.
Is that mostly sediment and mineral from well water? Any chlorine or chloramines that you know of?

If it's mostly sendiment and mineral, adding an extra sediment filter before the full RO system may take some load off your membrane. Call up BRS, they'll sort you out with exactly what you need based on as much information as you can give them.

I don't know how to tell. Sure seems like too much arsenic tho

jurgenph · Sep 12, 2019

Fakegolfnews said:
My water is 400+ tds. Not really sure what to get.

i'm lucky if i see TDS below 400
any RODI system will be fine. the most important part are the filters inside the canisters.

FWIW... this has been working great for me, and i'm getting great lifetime out of everything.
(i have a sprectrapure unit)

- spectrapure 0.2 micron sediment
- BRS 1 micron carbon block
- spectrapure 90gpd RO membrane
- spectrapure maxcap DI
- spectrapure silicabuster DI

once my current DI is exhausted, i will more than likely replace them with their newest Mega maxcap and Enduro DI, which are supposed to be even better.

J.

Chewbacca · Sep 13, 2019

My tds from tap water is reading 375, I run a 4stage culligan ro and get tds of 3. I do not use RoDi for the fact of constant dosing. But we all have Our own ways of running reefs or mixed tanks. IMO