Seriously confused

KLS1993

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
20
Reaction score
42
Location
Milwalkee
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So my salinity started dropping like a rock around 8:00 p.m. tonight... I use Aquaforest balling method (components 1 2 3) I've never had an issue with them... I use Neptune equipment... The ATK is working fine and has not overdosed the tank with fresh water... The salinity is currently still dropping & about to hit 30ppt, at which point I'm going to move my favorite fish to my small quarantine tank to save them.... There is no leak as far as I can tell everything outside the tank is bone dry... Totally baffled as to what is causing this... If anybody has any tips on emergency fish saving that would be greatly appreciated
 

SPR1968

No, it wasn’t expensive dear....
View Badges
Joined
Feb 21, 2017
Messages
20,028
Reaction score
124,588
Location
Nottinghamshire England
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Before doing anything, if your relying on the Apex salinity probe, double check the salinity with something else like a basic refractometer before deciding what to do.

I use the probe as a monitor and that’s it. If it needs cleaning that will affect things, mine was reading 49 2 weeks ago. It needed cleaning
 
OP
OP
KLS1993

KLS1993

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
20
Reaction score
42
Location
Milwalkee
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Before doing anything, if your relying on the Apex salinity probe, double check the salinity with something else like a basic refractometer before deciding what to do.

I use the probe as a monitor and that’s it. If it needs cleaning that will affect things, mine was reading 49 2 weeks ago. It needed cleaning
Thanks for the response, I've triple-checked it with my (freshly calibrated) reflectometer... The apex is right.... This is seriously crazy... I consider myself pretty seasoned in the reef hobby and I've never had this happen before
 

Auquanut

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2018
Messages
5,275
Reaction score
24,934
Location
Mexico, Mo
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Salinity doesn't drop on it's own. There's either a serious evacuation of salt water from the tank that is being compensated by the ATO, or your monitoring system has a problem. Have you noticed the ATO reservoir being depleted more than expected?
 
OP
OP
KLS1993

KLS1993

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
20
Reaction score
42
Location
Milwalkee
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Salinity doesn't drop on it's own. There's either a serious evacuation of salt water from the tank that is being compensated by the ATO, or your monitoring system has a problem. Have you noticed the ATO reservoir being depleted more than expected?
The ATO reservoir doesn't appear to be using any more than it usually is... I'm looking everywhere for a leak because common sense says that's what it has to be... But there's not a drop of water anywhere... I should say earlier today I added KH+ ( an alkalinity booster) to the tank... Could that be throwing off the salinity somehow?
 

xxkenny90xx

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 2, 2019
Messages
4,654
Reaction score
6,040
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Salinity doesn't drop on it's own. There's either a serious evacuation of salt water from the tank that is being compensated by the ATO, or your monitoring system has a problem. Have you noticed the ATO reservoir being depleted more than expected?
+1
 
OP
OP
KLS1993

KLS1993

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
20
Reaction score
42
Location
Milwalkee
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Just a heads up, I'm dead tired.... I got my favorite clowns (that I've had for 7 years) safe in quarantine tank, they are just as confused as I am lol.... Currently mixing up enough water to do a 50% water change... After that I'm probably going to crash in bed... I'll be sure to check back here first thing in the morning though, goodnight everybody
 

Auquanut

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2018
Messages
5,275
Reaction score
24,934
Location
Mexico, Mo
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
If the KH booster caused precipitation in the system, it could bind a certain amount of salt as well, but I can't imagine you would see that kind of drop. Do you have an AWC system? If so, maybe that's where the problem lies. Of course, you'd still see an increase in ATO consumption. Good night.
 

mermaid_life

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 31, 2018
Messages
761
Reaction score
603
Location
San Diego
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
What about temp?

My heater recently went out and temp dropped with salinity on apex. Obviously actual salinity didn't change.... Just the temp which affected the way the neptune probe reads salinity.
 

Reef.

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 12, 2019
Messages
4,599
Reaction score
3,441
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How did you calibrate the refractometer? Double and triple check it’s correct, even make your own solution to check the refractometer is reading correctly.
 
OP
OP
KLS1993

KLS1993

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
20
Reaction score
42
Location
Milwalkee
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thank you so much to everybody offering help, you all are going to think I'm such a doof lol.... After double checking and triple checking that the salinity was indeed falling I was totally convinced there was a leak somewhere... Earlier in the day I had done some maintenance on the tank and forgot to wash my hands... Apparently the lotion on my hands caused my skimmer to go absolutely crazy, I didn't notice it because my skimmer drains out into a collection reservoir that can hold up to 3 gallons....The reservoir was completely full and starting to back up the line....I guess the moral of the story is always wash your hands before you work on your reef or you're going to be doing a water changes at 3:00 in the morning and your significant other is going to think you're crazy
 

Auquanut

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2018
Messages
5,275
Reaction score
24,934
Location
Mexico, Mo
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Okay. I would have never thought of that.
 

snorklr

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Messages
752
Reaction score
1,256
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
gloves are a wonderful thing...especially with all the hand sanitizer being used lately...that crap should have a msds sheet on the dispensers
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 71 37.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 63 33.5%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.3%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 0.5%
Back
Top