Need Help: Accidentally raised salinity to 1.030 during water change

[TheWackyWiz]

Can't believe I made this rookie mistake but I just did a ~50% water change on my 20g and despite testing the salinity a number of times before filling it back up, I just tested the tank and am measuring 1.030 when I almost always keep it at a stable 1.025-1.027.

What is the best way to safely bring the salinity back to where it should be?

 

[LPS Bum]

Small, frequent water changes (say once each day) with a somewhat lower salinity.

With a 20 gal tank it shouldn’t take you too long to get it back down to where you want it.

 

[BanZI29]

do a 5 gal change with RODI water over about 1 hour, 1 gal at ta time. That should help. keep doing that till your salinity is where it needs to be.

 

[El Toro]

Id pull out 2-3% and replace with fresh RODI then test, repeat every 10 mimutes until you're at the number

 

[jsker]

I would suggest draining out a gallon of tank water at a time than re-test. repeat the process twice a day, until you are back to where you would like to be.

Fyi, this is not too bad

 

[Buckster]

Different thoughts but I would probably remove a couple of gallons of the aquarium water and replace it with RODI water. I would then check the new salinity and keep going from there. Another thought would be to remove 50% and have that measure 1.020. Looks like you would then have 1.025

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Can't believe I made this rookie mistake but I just did a ~50% water change on my 20g and despite testing the salinity a number of times before filling it back up, I just tested the tank and am measuring 1.030 when I almost always keep it at a stable 1.025-1.027.

What is the best way to safely bring the salinity back to where it should be?

If you really just did this 12 minutes ago, then start bailing out water a gallon at a time and replacing it with RO water until you are back down to where you want.

 

[MDAquatics]

Shouldnt be a big deal as other have said. Just pull saltwater out and put RODI back in until you get the numbers you are looking for. Good news is that its new so its nothing to panic about.

 

[Treefer32]

Also, keep in mind going down in salinity is much easier on livestock than going up. So the sudden change from 1.027 to 1.030 would have been harder for fish to adjust to than just bringing it back down as fast as possible to 1.027.

I've done hyposalinity treatments for fish and when I did I brought water from 1.026 to 1.015 in a single day and the fish were fine. Then down to 1.010 the next day. Bring them back up is a pain, took close to 3 weeks to raise salinity by .002 per day. from 1.010 to 1.026.

 

[TheWackyWiz]

Thank you everyone for the quick responses!! I did as you said and slowly replaces salt water with RODI over the course of ~30mins bringing the salinity back to 1.027

The Zoas clamped shut but are starting to reopen.

The GSP looks ticked but I am hoping it will bounce back

Some of the Coraline near the powerhead got bleached but I'm not too worried

My biggest concern is the mini-maxi and rockflower anemones which seem very angry. The mini-maxi (green) appears to have vomited its stomach if that makes any sense. Anything I can do to try to help them recover?

 

[exnisstech]

You said you made a rookie mistake yet you said you measured salinity several times before filling back up. If you measured several times how did it get the DT to 1.030? I'm just curious what the mistake really was that caused this

 

[MnFish1]

Can't believe I made this rookie mistake but I just did a ~50% water change on my 20g and despite testing the salinity a number of times before filling it back up, I just tested the tank and am measuring 1.030 when I almost always keep it at a stable 1.025-1.027.

What is the best way to safely bring the salinity back to where it should be?

First - I would make absolutely sure that it's really 1.030 (since you said you checked it multiple times before filling it up - it's hard to understand how it could have gone up.

Second - whatever damage thats going to be done - is probably done. I would take let's say a 2 quart pitcher of tank water, toss it out, and replace with RODI (no salt) until the SG is back into the correct range over 3-4 days

Third - there may be different recommendations depending on which livestock are in your tank - and is anything negatively affected.

 

[TheWackyWiz]

You said you made a rookie mistake yet you said you measured salinity several times before filling back up. If you measured several times how did it get the DT to 1.030? I'm just curious what the mistake really was that caused this

Long story short I was rushing and I didn't do a great job stirring/dissolving the last cup of salt. I think once I turned on the pump to start filling the excess dissolved and pushed the Salinity above where I wanted it to be.

 

[buruskeee]

Long story short I was rushing and I didn't do a great job stirring/dissolving the last cup of salt. I think once I turned on the pump to start filling the excess dissolved and pushed the Salinity above where I wanted it to be.

Never hand stir, use a $20 power head

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FYI, I changed the title to reflect the actual salinity.