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does too much salt cause sore like bumps on polyps and anemone?


genodesconte

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genodesconte

i was out of town for 5 days and when i came back the return pump to my cube tank was pumping in bubbles and i was out of fresh ro so i added salt which as you can imagine through my salinity way off. everything has looked perfectly healthy except some little bumps that look similar to a small blister or sore on a human except its the same color as the rest of the anemone and polyps(like the soft coral). the bumps are on the trunks if the ployps and anemone and they dont look terrible either im just not sure they should be there.  my salinity surpassed 40 and is down to around 34 now, tomorrow ill be able to get more ro from lfs and get it down to where it needs to be. everything is in hiding since its night but ill be posting pictures in the morning. could the salinity be causing these bumps? and what will too high of a salinity do? 

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Do you mean 1.040 or 40 ppt?

 

Salinity spikes and drops that are significant or change rapidly can have different effects on livestock.

 

When you say your return pump was pumping bubbles, do you mean it was running dry, no circulation/filtration of water or was this the ato pump?

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1 hour ago, genodesconte said:

i was out of town for 5 days and when i came back the return pump to my cube tank was pumping in bubbles and i was out of fresh ro so i added salt which as you can imagine through my salinity way off.

Evaporation caused the return chamber to run dry.  Salt doesn't evaporate, so you should have just topped off with freshwater (which should have restored the original salinity).

 

Adding more salt just made things worse.  Also, never add dry salt directly to your tank.  Normally if you want to increase the specific gravity, you would top off with saltwater instead of freshwater.

 

1 hour ago, genodesconte said:

everything has looked perfectly healthy except some little bumps that look similar to a small blister or sore on a human except its the same color as the rest of the anemone and polyps(like the soft coral).

Salt crystals will burn coral and anemones.  It should recover with time.

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genodesconte

im aware all i needed to do was add freshwater but as i stated i didnt have any at the time so i just added saltwater as that was all i had. i  buy the water premixed as well as ro from the lfs so they wouldnt  be caused by undissolved salt.

 

my pump was partially above water so it was still circulating but also pumping air into the water i also have a powerhead circulating water i was very concerned about this possibly breaking the pump so i added salt water even though i knew that itd throw my salinity way out of wack.

 

and i mean 40 ppt it is now 34 ppt and ill be removing salt water and replacing it with fresh ro later today.

 

my livestock is plants, polyps, a carpet anemone, a decorator crab, sea cucumber, and a clownfish. its my understanding these are some of the easier to care for reef animals so i was hoping the salinity changes wouldnt be super detrimental .

the polyps look dehydrated or something.

here are pictures of the polyps:

 

image.jpg

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3 minutes ago, genodesconte said:

i  buy the water premixed as well as ro from the lfs

If you need freshwater, you can always use distilled water.

 

In an emergency, I might even use tap water treated with a dechlorinator (like Seachem Prime).

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1 hour ago, genodesconte said:

im aware all i needed to do was add freshwater but as i stated i didnt have any at the time so i just added saltwater as that was all i had. i  buy the water premixed as well as ro from the lfs so they wouldnt  be caused by undissolved salt.

 

my pump was partially above water so it was still circulating but also pumping air into the water i also have a powerhead circulating water i was very concerned about this possibly breaking the pump so i added salt water even though i knew that itd throw my salinity way out of wack.

 

and i mean 40 ppt it is now 34 ppt and ill be removing salt water and replacing it with fresh ro later today.

 

my livestock is plants, polyps, a carpet anemone, a decorator crab, sea cucumber, and a clownfish. its my understanding these are some of the easier to care for reef animals so i was hoping the salinity changes wouldnt be super detrimental .

the polyps look dehydrated or something.

here are pictures of the polyps:

 

image.jpg

How low do you normally keep your salinity?

 

35 ppt is 1.026 so 34 ppt is 1.025 which is perfect.

 

Adding fresh water will lower it more

 

All livestock is sensitive to salinity swings which also alters other parameters

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genodesconte

i believe i was told to keep it at 25 ppt by lfs who was running the tank for two years or so before me. they told me between 24-29 ppt would be safe.

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44 minutes ago, genodesconte said:

i believe i was told to keep it at 25 ppt by lfs who was running the tank for two years or so before me. they told me between 24-29 ppt would be safe.

24-29 is very low not for reef tanks at all unless you are treating fish with hyposalinity

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