rick4him Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 I need some quick help. I made a water change today, and something is WAY off..I have no idea how this happened....It is a 34 gallon tank...lots of great corals...great fish, etc...what should I do? Should I start replacing saltwater with rodi water to get the SG to 1.025..? Is everything going to die? Here are my stats - SG - 1.034 ph - 7.4 dh 6.72 kh - 120 Link to comment
rick4him Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 is this a joke?! No! I have no idea how my water stats got so high. I'm thinking I'm in emergency mode. Should I get that SG down asap?? Link to comment
reefer4ever Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 lower ur salinity by .01. is there anything in the tank? Link to comment
rick4him Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 lower ur salinity by .01. is there anything in the tank? LOTS OF STUFF IN THE TANK! Very expensive stuff. I did a water change today, and something may have been off with my Refractometer....YIKES! Is everything going to die? Can I start lowering it? I know it will be raid, but I'm not sure what to do...that SG is SUPER high... Link to comment
sae647 Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 seriously theres no way this isnt a joke. if this is not a joke then you're beyond help. Link to comment
rick4him Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 seriously theres no way this isnt a joke. if this is not a joke then you're beyond help. how about some actually advice..? Link to comment
reefer4ever Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 they say nothing good happens fast in a reef but this might not be the case here. its less stressful to lower the salinity than it is to raise it. if ur refractometer is off thats not good. i use the plastic floaty needle hydrometers and im sure its not as accurate, but they last forever. i dont know what KH is but i know PH is soposed to be about 8.3 and dH is soposed to be 8-12 Link to comment
sae647 Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 how could you possibly see that your salinity is 1.034 and then have to ask if thats good? i just dont get it. Link to comment
rick4him Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 how could you possibly see that your salinity is 1.034 and then have to ask if thats good? i just dont get it. That was a "typo".... Link to comment
reefer4ever Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 there is no hope for u if this is real and it does seem faked to screw with us. im done posting here... Link to comment
sae647 Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 That was a "typo".... lol yes i see that your "typo" was fixed by an edit. now at least people will believe you. i agree with reefer4ever. but you need to be darn sure that your salinity measuring device is accurate. checking your refractometer with RO or even tap water is a good idea at this point. if its way off of 1.000, calibrate to 1.000 and then re-measure your tank. ideally you calibrate with a standard 1.026 solution, but using plain water is just fine for an emergency and i bet most people do it all the time. Link to comment
reefer4ever Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 biggest typo if ive ever seen one. Link to comment
rick4him Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 lol yes i see that your "typo" was fixed by an edit. now at least people will believe you. i agree with reefer4ever. but you need to be darn sure that your salinity measuring device is accurate. checking your refractometer with RO or even tap water is a good idea at this point. if its way off of 1.000, calibrate to 1.000 and then re-measure your tank. ideally you calibrate with a standard 1.026 solution, but using plain water is just fine for an emergency and i bet most people do it all the time. Ok...I just calbriated it, and it is at zero with rodi water..I have NO IDEA how this happend... what do you think is going to happen? I am replacing water now....I'm dropping it .01...is this going to be super shock to everything? Am I going to loose EVERYTHING? biggest typo if ive ever seen one. I thought you were "done".... Link to comment
reefer4ever Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 i dont know how to use a refractometer but if u put water in it, u might not have rinsed out the saltwater so it gave a faulty reading. does it still say the water is 1.034? like i said, its ALOT less stressful to lower the salinity than it is to raise it. if its not that salty lower it all the way to destination salinity. if very salty, lower a bit tonight, and the rest tomorrow. I thought you were "done".... TOO BAD!!! Link to comment
sae647 Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 any updates? have you done anything? I would slowly drop the salinity over a period of at least a couple of hours. if everything is still alive thus far, a couple more hours will not be as bad as the possible shock you could cause by doing it rapidly. Link to comment
amnestia Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Do 5 gallon water change every day with correct salinity saltwater from your LFS. This will help lower salinity and balance out all parameters. After the 5th day then start replacing 1/2 of saltwater with pure ro/di water until your salinity is back to 1.025 After that do a few more 5 gallon water changes and you should be alright. If everyone didn't die overnight from a shock and it was a gradual rise and they are still alive then you'll prob be fine. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted August 21, 2010 Share Posted August 21, 2010 It's a good idea to calibrate your refractometer not only with RO/DI but with another calibration standard. Also, does your refractometer have automatic temperature correction (ATC)? http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php What are your test kit brands/models? Link to comment
rick4him Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 Ok, few days later and all the fish, corals, etc seem to be doing ok. Here are my most recent water stats - ph - 7.9 dh - 10.64 kh - 190 sg - 1.026 What are you thoughts now? Things seem much better? anything standing out to you that's really off? Should I add some dkh super buffer? Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 When you write "DH", you mean units of "dKH" (degrees of carbonate hardness). "KH" probably is referring to units of "ppm CaCO₃" (parts per million of calcium carbonate). Both of these units describe alkalinity. 1 degree of carbonate hardness is roughly the 17.9 ppm CaCO₃. To get a better answer, please try to answer my questions. In the meantime, read this article below to know why all of your parameters are in their normal ranges. Don't add any buffers; your alkalinity is close to the upper limit of the normal range. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php Link to comment
rick4him Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 When you write "DH", you mean units of "dKH" (degrees of carbonate hardness). "KH" probably is referring to units of "ppm CaCO₃" (parts per million of calcium carbonate). Both of these units describe alkalinity. 1 degree of carbonate hardness is roughly the 17.9 ppm CaCO₃. To get a better answer, please try to answer my questions. In the meantime, read this article below to know why all of your parameters are in their normal ranges. Don't add any buffers; your alkalinity is close to the upper limit of the normal range. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php Yes, Dh is DhK Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.