Not enough salt

Did I make the right move dumping her

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    25

Lostinthesouth

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Ok my girlfriend and I had a fight. I'm big on everclear dosing 6ml per day no algae and nitrate/phosphate levels probably too low but that's not my problem. Arguing with my now ex-girlfriend she walked over grabbed my everclear and started dumping the bottle in my tank. My guess 500ml of a 750ml bottle now that didnt immediately kill anything but I have a bacterial bloom and cloudy water. Time for water change. I had RO ready but I guessed wrong dumped all my salt in and salinity is too low. Can I simmer a pot on the stove to evaporate water or will that harm the mix. I should ad broke till Friday. I have 50 gal at 1.019 I usually maintain 1.025 thanks in advance
 

Crabs McJones

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Welcome to R2R! Sorry about your troubles. I'm unsure if boiling saltwater would do any harm. I'm going to call in a group of great users that we've code nammed #reefsquad to hopefully get an answer for you :)
 

jsker

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Ok my girlfriend and I had a fight. I'm big on everclear dosing 6ml per day no algae and nitrate/phosphate levels probably too low but that's not my problem. Arguing with my now ex-girlfriend she walked over grabbed my everclear and started dumping the bottle in my tank. My guess 500ml of a 750ml bottle now that didnt immediately kill anything but I have a bacterial bloom and cloudy water. Time for water change. I had RO ready but I guessed wrong dumped all my salt in and salinity is too low. Can I simmer a pot on the stove to evaporate water or will that harm the mix. I should ad broke till Friday. I have 50 gal at 1.019 I usually maintain 1.025 thanks in advance
Take out some tank water and mix up the amount you need to bring up to the salinity you need. I have a sump with filter socks and I will dump small amounts of salt into the filter socks to adjust up my salinity
 

vetteguy53081

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Do a 50% water change and add carbon or better yet Chemipure Blue to your system and even some liquid bacteria such as Bacter 7 or Fritz zyme

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Brew12

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Ok my girlfriend and I had a fight. I'm big on everclear dosing 6ml per day no algae and nitrate/phosphate levels probably too low but that's not my problem. Arguing with my now ex-girlfriend she walked over grabbed my everclear and started dumping the bottle in my tank. My guess 500ml of a 750ml bottle now that didnt immediately kill anything but I have a bacterial bloom and cloudy water. Time for water change. I had RO ready but I guessed wrong dumped all my salt in and salinity is too low. Can I simmer a pot on the stove to evaporate water or will that harm the mix. I should ad broke till Friday. I have 50 gal at 1.019 I usually maintain 1.025 thanks in advance
Wow, tough situation.

I wouldn't evaporate the water via boiling. In my opinion the biggest threat is oxygen deprivation. Otherwise, the cloudy water shouldn't cause much harm. It may even feed any coral in your system.
In your situation I would skim heavily and use the 1.019 as make up water. Your salinity may drop a little doing this, but it shouldn't be too much.
 

Billdogg

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My wife and I have had this "what if" discussion before concerning other similar posts. We are in 100% agreement on the only correct answer. If she was my GF/SO, her crap would be in the yard on fire. There really is no excuse whatsoever.

As to what your actions for the tank should be now. I'm with WVNed - increase surface agitation to offset the oxygen depletion, run a boatload of carbon, and try not to stress too much. Although the corals won't be happy with a decrease in salinity, they will handle it much better than they would a sudden increase. The fish won't really care. I would do a water change with what you have and then retest. Bring your salinity back up to spec over a week or so once you can get your hands on more salt. If you are on good terms with a reputable LFS, they may very well let you "borrow" a bag of salt until payday if you explain the situation.

If you happen to be near me (Columbus, Ohio) I've got about 8 cases of IORC that I'd be happy to help out with. I'm sure there are local reefers in your area who would do the same.

Good Luck and keep us updated!
 
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Reefs and Geeks

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Attempting to kill your pets should never be acceptable.

+1 oxygen depletion will be your biggest enemy with a huge overdose of vodka. Aim all powerheads at the surface of the water and blow a fan across the top. Keep your skimmer running and empty the cup often. That may help remove some of the bacteria that are consuming the waters' oxygen.

If you have an air pump put it right in the display in front of a powerhead to get as much air in the water as possible. open windows in the house to get fresh air in

large water changes would be best if possible. A LFS may spot you some water or salt for an emergency. Maybe offer to drop off something as collateral if needed.
 

Hemmdog

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Why is this not treated as animal abuse the same as beating dogs and cats. This stuff is so messed up. She should be legally punished, and have this on her record forever so she can never get a job for doing something so stupid and evil. Seriously.
 

Salps

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I dumped a 5th into my 90 gallon and went on vacation for 10 days. I could do nothing to correct it... Long story short everything was fine. Do the water changes, it will help reduce the carbon available for the bacterial blooms. Be ready for a few small blooms as the bacteria die, decompose and then regrow with the nutrients. In the long run you tank should be just fine.
 

SeaDweller

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Why is this not treated as animal abuse the same as beating dogs and cats. This stuff is so messed up. She should be legally punished, and have this on her record forever so she can never get a job for doing something so stupid and evil. Seriously.
I agree, but most people would probably “value” a dog or cat over a fish or coral, unfortunately.

But I agree with you, cruelty is cruelty. I feel it’s just not viewed the same.
 

Dom

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This is too aggravating for me to even comment on.
 

MnFish1

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Wow, tough situation.

I wouldn't evaporate the water via boiling. In my opinion the biggest threat is oxygen deprivation. Otherwise, the cloudy water shouldn't cause much harm. It may even feed any coral in your system.
In your situation I would skim heavily and use the 1.019 as make up water. Your salinity may drop a little doing this, but it shouldn't be too much.

I do not think you can boil seawater without affecting other gasses (i.e.CO2, O2) - I guess theoretically you could try it - but you also risk problems with whatever pot you used to boil it in, etc etc.

Suggestion - go to your LFS and ask them to take mercy on you and give you some salt. Then take your GF to small claims court for the rest of the damage she caused. Its also probably a crime of some sort to intentionally try to damage a tank/etc due to animal cruelty laws - depending on where you live.
 
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