Messed up salinity and I am in trouble. What did I do wrong?

[cngh]

if you haven't already, check out the reef2reef tank of the month for an example of a pretty simply run nano AIO, similar to your tank. in the post, he describes his methodology, his equipment, etc.

here's the link:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r...brandon-mchenrys-amazing-aio-sps-reef.808947/

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I have reminders going off almost every day to check parameters and stuff. I am going to upgrade to a larger tank in the next couple of weeks just haven’t landed on a size 90, 150, 200 or 220 gallons and with that I know for sure I want to get the Apex controller with all the bells and whistles. That way my tank will tell me what’s going on in there

Do yourself a favor and get a digital Milwaukee 887 salt checker. It is expensive like 130 $ but I will never use another tool for salt again. A hydrometer can get dirty and bubbles can throw off readings. A refractor was hard for me to read as I get older and sight is getting worse fading a refractor was almost like a guessing game is it 34,35,36 hard to tell. Now with the Milwaukee I put a few drips on it and press the button and it reads me out a digital reading of exactly what it is no guessing no looking through a scope trying to catch the light right no cleaning of a Hydrometer making sure no bubbles in it or anything. I’ve read how people wanna say that it goes out of calibration that is BS I’ve had mine for a year and have never calibrated it but I do check it with the reference fluid every couple months and it’s dead spot on I trust it more than anything and if I don’t trust it I just check it with the reference fluid before doing a test no big deal but it gives me accurate precise readings every time no hassles

 

[Chelymay]

I’ve been fighting that myth for ages LOL... it malarkey ...total malarkey

I can say this unequivocally and with confidence: adjust the color to what you like and just leave it... Believe me, if I know nothing else it that corals can adapt to a wide range of color temps so long as you leave it that way and it has enough blue ....
Don’t worry about white light making algae, you fight algae with water quality not light adjustments

I love that advice. It fits with the stability theme I’ve been learning about
A little white and a lot of blue is what I like. I have changed it 3 times in the past week trying to adjust to what everyone else is doing
I’m going to stick with what makes me happy and hopefully the fish and coral will too.
Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Dom]

So changing salt will not help whatever is going on? I was kinda hoping that it would help with stability in the long run.

I am open to your thoughts

Changing salt mix, dosing, bottled solutions. In my view, these are all bad ideas at his time.

Many different changes are being proposed. And I am not saying that the proposed changes are wrong. I am saying that with so many changes all at the same time, if you are lucky enough to get the results you want, you have no way of knowing which of the changes are responsible for the results, good or bad.

You need to do one thing at a time. None of the proposed changes you make will give you the results you want overnight. It is more likely that you will see very gradual changes over time and not see the kind of results you want for several weeks.

I have been using Reef Crystals for 15 years. My tank was thriving. And then one day, I decided to fix what wasn't broken and switched over to Red Sea Pro. Great salt, but, it created problems for me that took months to reverse.

If I am in your place, I stop adding everything to my tank. Stick to FAITHFUL weekly 20% water changes for the next 8 weeks to stabilize the tank. THEN reevaluate and make changes from there.

 

[terraincognita]

My phosphates are high at .5 but everything else looks good today. How do I safely bring the phosphates down? Do I need to do a water change and if so how much water?

Here’s the great thing my salinity is stable at 1.026. Win!

Funny I’m myself trying to fine tune my phosphate right now

but .5 is def super high. But it was .25 recently right?

what GFO are you running? I think you took the chemipure out? Put it back, or just carbon with PhoGuard would work.

a .25 phosphate spike is a lot though, what’s you’re feeding schedule? You may be over feeding for this young tank.

 

[terraincognita]

Changing salt mix, dosing, bottled solutions. In my view, these are all bad ideas at his time.

Many different changes are being proposed. And I am not saying that the proposed changes are wrong. I am saying that with so many changes all at the same time, if you are lucky enough to get the results you want, you have no way of knowing which of the changes are responsible for the results, good or bad.

You need to do one thing at a time. None of the proposed changes you make will give you the results you want overnight. It is more likely that you will see very gradual changes over time and not see the kind of results you want for several weeks.

I have been using Reef Crystals for 15 years. My tank was thriving. And then one day, I decided to fix what wasn't broken and switched over to Red Sea Pro. Great salt, but, it created problems for me that took months to reverse.

If I am in your place, I stop adding everything to my tank. Stick to FAITHFUL weekly 20% water changes for the next 8 weeks to stabilize the tank. THEN reevaluate and make changes from there.

I agree with this 100% with the added of making sure your BASICS are also in.

I.e.

Nutrient Import/Export needs to be balanced with your standard every reef has this at least type of set up.
Proper Lighting.
Proper Flow.

1. BioMedia (Live Rock, Sand, and ceramic rings or bio pure blocks/balls)
2. Carbon & some type of GFO. (Products like chemipure Elite act as both)
3. OPTIONAL additions , skimmer and or refugium. Not required but if you already have them make sure they’re working right .

4. Make sure you're lighting schedule and intensities are correct. You should be going for a 150-300Par Minimum tank wide with proper spread. Most "advanced reefers" are keeping 200-400 Par. But 150-300(300 being the peak) is totally enough to keep LPS, and even SPS if done right.

5. You should have at least a x10 Turn over rate of water flow. i.e. in a 50G tank it should have actual 500GPH of water flowing through the return. If you are using a 500GPH pump you won't achieve that, you need at least 800 taking into account the plumbing.

6. Your corals should be placed in the proper flow and lighting required for their care.

as long as those few things are in, doing 20% WC every day or every other day for 1-2 weeks with a good salt like RedSea, Fritz, or tropic Marin will get you there.

agreed also once you finally decide on a good salt don’t change it again.

can have huge negative effects after everything it’s establish and used to your current mix and params.

after 1-2 weeks then you can stop WC’s as your params will be in check, and then just daily monitor all the parameters.

Chose 1 or 2 parameters you want to adjust (most likely the ones dropping or spiking the most)

Then work out how you can fix those parameters without having to do daily WCs and start with expermenting what works for you to fix those 1 or 2 parameters either via dosing or changing import/export methods.

Keep up WC's 1-2 times a week while you do this though.

Once you get those 1-2 parameters down, move onto the next thing etc. You'll eventually be coming back here and schooling others on how to get stable reefs

 

[Chelymay]

Funny I’m myself trying to fine tune my phosphate right now

but .5 is def super high. But it was .25 recently right?

what GFO are you running? I think you took the chemipure out? Put it back, or just carbon with PhoGuard would work.

a .25 phosphate spike is a lot though, what’s you’re feeding schedule? You may be over feeding for this young tank.

I did a 30% water change and my parameters are all back on track. Phosphates are less than .25 today. Salinity is DOBA.

I also noticed during my water change that my zoas were shedding what looked like skin like crazy (they were pretty upset when the salinity dip happened which is what caused them to be stressed I’m thinking ).
It was floating everywhere like a blizzard. It was a total mess, and I used a net to remove as much as I could. I was wondering if that could be what contributed to the high phosphates and the general unhappiness of my other coral.

So I looked up fungus on zoas here on reef2reef and found a post about how to treat them with a Furan 2 dip which I did, followed by a rinse in clean saltwater with a couple drops of iodine.

It went really well! Plus I practiced safety first and used gloves and glasses. I didn’t realize how toxic some zoas can be. They didn’t mention that when I bought them.

I added some carbon to be on the safe side.

My zoas are starting to open a bit on my larger colony and the white cotton looking stuff at the base of my buttons is gone. Plus no more blizzard.

My other corals are looking better and my fishies seem like they have a little more wiggle in their tails

I know the consensus was not to do anything for a while but I couldn’t not do anything. So a water change, some carbon and a coral dip later and everything seems to be good and stable.
I am testing salinity, phosphates and nitrates in the morning and at night cuz now I am paranoid.

I am going to count this as a win for now.

Thank you everyone! Fingers crossed!!

 

[terraincognita]

Water changes are never ever ever a bad idea unless you’re mixing it wrong.

there’s zero instances where doing WCs would be a bad idea ever

so even if we say “stop tinkering” you can continue as much WCs as you want care free.

sounds like you’re getting the hang of things.

don’t stress palytoxin too much but safe is better than sorry in 99% of life

 

[terraincognita]

Actually the 1 instance to not WC is if your medicating But that’s a given. Lol