Sigh... I used petco's sea water....

[tiepilot68]

... and disaster.

 

I'm sure this has been brought up before and I'm not one to complain about a product all over the internet, but 2 days after using Petco's 5 gallon box-o-sea water both of my Clownfish die and my tank has a horribly ugly brown diatom bloom.

 

My corals seem to be doing ok as is my clean up crew, but wow my 5 year old's heart nearly broke to watch his two beloved fish die.

 

A day after using the water I noticed them swimming near the bottom of the tank hardly moving, (yet would come to feed) and did an emergency 25% water change (5 gallons) but it was no use. They both died right next to each other in a small cave that night.

 

Buyer beware... there was something in that water. All parameters checked out good when I tested them (before I used it) but wow something happened to cause this and that is the only change I made in my tank that weekend.

[Euphyllia]

How long was the tank set up before you did the waterchange?

[Lawnman]

That stuff is crazy expensive as well.

[freemandnj973]

when i first started sw tanks 5 years ago i used that and nutri seawater and could never stop diatoms or hair algae for the first 3-4 months depending on which one i used. i thought that was normal until i switched to mixing my own salt with ro/di cause it is a hell of a lot cheaper. long story short 2 weeks of 50% water changes 3 times a week on my 2 1/2 and 10 gallon never saw anything after that...except bubble algae which is a completely different monster lol

[lucky38422]

How can you be sure that it was the water? I use the petco water all of the time, it's just sea water. Essentially when you mix your own it's synthetic sea water so maybe it was the stuff you were using before mixed with the natural sea water. Just a guess, but like I said I buy the water from petco and have had no issues. I did use reef crystals and the water had a yellow tint to it.

[tiepilot68]

Tanks been set up since 2004. So its pretty established. I do religious weekly 25% water changes as I dont run a protein skimmer. Live rock, sand and a good canister filter are my only filtration. I have used reef crystals and wal-mart's distilled water since 2004 with pretty decent results.

 

But like a dork I decided to try the stuff, it had good reviews.. etc. Didnt worry about the cost. Well it cost me my two buddies, (Merry and Pippin) so it was defiantly not worth it.

 

Back to salt mix and distilled for me!

[metrokat]

I've used Petco water in a buddy's tank and mine for a combined total of 1.5 years. I've actually referred to it as magic water, never lost a fish, never had bad params. You may have had a bad batch, some people reported a tank crash with a batch of red sea coral pro salt also - now that is high quality stuff. So it can happen but it could also be something else.

 

I'm sorry about your fish loss, perhaps the point to take away in this is that when changing up the chemistry of your water, changing salts or type of water, it is better to do a gradual change.

[Catbus]

i've heard of bad things happening when switching salt brands. (i.e io to red sea for example) maybe this has somthing to do with it?

[M&C]

If you're ever going to switch salts or your water source, you should do so gradually. Making the switch too quickly could cause problems, which is what I think may have happened.

[Builder Anthony]

you said there was a diatom outbreak maybe there were some nasty diatoms or something in there that just bred all crazy and attacked the fish?

[Captain Hook]

If you're ever going to switch salts or your water source, you should do so gradually. Making the switch too quickly could cause problems, which is what I think may have happened.

 

 

+1. A change in water parameters can cause a change in equilibrium and possibly create minute amounts of die-off/nutrient spikes while your tank adapts to the new water chemistry.

[slasher]

I use that water all the time, never had a problem.

[tiggs]

If you're ever going to switch salts or your water source, you should do so gradually. Making the switch too quickly could cause problems, which is what I think may have happened.

 

+1.

[tiepilot68]

Update: I talked to a friend who works at the petco I got the water from. They seem to of gotten a bad batch.

He uses it in his 250 gallon reef tank and a week and a half ago (about the same time I got mine) he used it for a weekly water change and lost 10 fish a day later! Over 400 bucks worth!

 

He's looking in to getting reimbursed but as you all know, in this hobby the risks you take are never guaranteed and getting any sort of reimbursement almost never happens.

 

Just glad I know the source now. I'm sure the product as a whole is decent, as hes used it for years but I think I will stick to my safer salt mix.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys.

[ReefTankForMe]

Update: I talked to a friend who works at the petco I got the water from. They seem to of gotten a bad batch.

He uses it in his 250 gallon reef tank and a week and a half ago (about the same time I got mine) he used it for a weekly water change and lost 10 fish a day later! Over 400 bucks worth!

 

He's looking in to getting reimbursed but as you all know, in this hobby the risks you take are never guaranteed and getting any sort of reimbursement almost never happens.

 

Just glad I know the source now. I'm sure the product as a whole is decent, as hes used it for years but I think I will stick to my safer salt mix.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys.

 

 

I wonder if there is any way to isolate the lot # that were bad? I use the stuff now, and have had good results, but this worries me

[bpb]

+1. A change in water parameters can cause a change in equilibrium and possibly create minute amounts of die-off/nutrient spikes while your tank adapts to the new water chemistry.

 

 

On this particular topic, not to hijack the thread. But I just bought a fully set up mature tank, and the owner had always used petco 5 gallon buckets of seawater. I will be mixing my own. He gave me a bag of instant ocean sea salt. The tank has a few tiny button polyps, mushroom corals, a brain coral, and a mini carpet anemone. I'd like to start using instant ocean reef salt once I'm finished with the sea salt. If it's a 55 gallon tank, would changing out 5 gallons every two weeks switching to the new salt be too ambitious or is that gradual enough? I haven't done a water chance since I set up the tank a week ago. I kept 100% of the water it came with and have only done top offs.

[cactuspat]

Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully petco steps up on this.

[malate]

your avatar is awesome. just had to say!

 

I use that water all the time, never had a problem.

 

sorry for the fish loss. could've been a bad batch as mentioned. this hobby is full of live and learns - even when we don't anything wrong.

[Genj]

Sorry for the loss of your clownfish.

 

Of note, have you ever considered getting your own RODI unit? At a price of ~$270 you can get yourself a super unit from spectrapure, and never have to worry again. They are super easy to setup. I'm thinking about the driving back and forth (at $3.50 a gallon this is even worse), the cost of the water, and the time involved for distilled water and I can't image it being very fun or very good for your pocket book in the long run.

[VGT]

That's a shame. It's the only water I use in my tank, never had an issue.

[Brewswithfish]

+1 my latest tank has been up for 6 months I only use PETCO water for WC's and this is the most successful reef tank I've ever had (been reefing on and off for 15 yrs) seems great so far!

[farkwar]

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