....and i'm an idiot

swninja

swninja

Reefing newb
so i thought i was doing good. hadn't killed any critters (besides a few crabs, cannibalistic little bastards). so i put a couple corals in. they look alright for a week or so and now they're not opening. at least the pipe organ isn't. now today the mushrooms look kinda weak. so i'm staring at my tank like a monkey doing a math problem and i realize something. I've been adding water every couple days because of the wonderfully dry climate we have here in tucson. and like an idiot i realize i've just been adding saltwater out of a premade batch of water that i keep in my garage. so yeah, i test and my salinity (specific gravity)... i know, i need to get something besides a hydrometer is like 1.030.

ok, so here's kinda a stupid question. obviously i should just be adding fresh water. however comma, all the salt buildup that i get around the top of the tank. is it cool to just scrape it and let it fall into the tank or should i be a little careful and try to collect it as i scrape it?
 
I would definitely try and collect it, I've heard that it can burn corals and damage your livestock if it's ingested before it is dissolved. When you reduce your sg do it slowly by around 0.001 per day.

and yes you are an idiot ;) but i'm sure we've all done something just as stupid. I sometimes forget to turn my auto top-up off when doing a water change, that's not particularly clever!
 
I agree,try to keep the salt creep from falling back into the tank.
And a good way to slowly bring the salanity down,is when your about to top the for the day,siphon an extra 1/2 gallon of water out.
 
yeah, i added some fresh and about to do a water change.... figured that'd bring it down a bit. guess i'll just start removing the creep and and watching the parameters a little better. oh yeah and thepipe organ started flowering again the day after i added some fresh water to the tank.

one problem solved

thanks
 
Glad to hear you caught your problem before it was too late. Thanks for sharing with us. This is a great thread that all should read. Good luck with your system.
 
Check your calcium too.
You may want to dose your FW with Kalk......but be careful not to add too much or your calcium will go through the roof and your dkH will drop.
 
Good to know you're on way to correcting your problem. I once had an electronic salinity tester which quite working properly. I kept wondering why everything was doing so poorly. I got a new hygrometer and tested the water only to find that it was way too low. So in a rage of panic (this is my "I'm an idiot moment") I mixed up salt with just enough water to dissolve it and poured it in. I had to do this several to get my salt level back up. The next few hours and then days I watch everything die. I DID NOT ACCLIMATE the process as I should have. Some of my fish looked as if their scales were melting off. Some time later I realized what I had done wrong! I TOO AM AN IDIOT! Welcome to the club.

Also hello from Tucson. Glad there's another one of us! :wave:
 
yep, us tucson people are multiplying. I already met biff, got a bunch of live rock from her to start my tank, saved me all kinds of time and headaches. only had one good cycle after i added 2 fish's on the same day. other than that this whole sw thing has been a pretty good experience.

and messiah, what is that kalk, is it just a calcium treatment or is it some kind of supplement. cause i'd prefer to just let everything balance out the way it will. (not only am i lazy) but i'd prefer not to tinker the tank into disaster. i'll fix something if it needs to be, but if it aint broke..... (i'm a mechanic, its the motto i live by)
 
Daugherty's got ya.
You may find it beneficial to mix Kalk with your freshwater....but ALWAYS monitor your levels because it's easy to add "too much".
 
Hey! I'm glad you figured out what was going on with your tank before you lost a bunch of animals. The corals will probably be just fine -- they are toughies. And what your levels at weren't astronomically high or anything, so I doubt there will be any permanent consequences of it.

Glad to hear my rock is doing well and is happy! You need to post pics of your set up.
 
i actually took pics the other day, but i need to find the instruction manual for my camera to figure out how i can manually control the zoom and aperature and all that crap . the pictures turned out like garbage. actually i was taking pics to try to ask about a few random things growing in the tank. not real worried about any of them, but figured i'd ask anyway. i think figuring out the camera might be my project tonight. (after the timer on the tank lights goes off)
 
Glad you have it under control ninja. I have seen your posts a few times but just realized that you are in Tucson. I am too. When you get up and running long enough to start adding more corals, let me know. I am always fragging and I can probably get you a couple of cool pieces. I look forward to seeing your pics when you get that camera figured out.
 
cool cool mng. my girls the interior decorator in the tank. i've about had to yell at her to quit trying to buy corals. everyday i come home to a list and a "will these work in our tank". but actually i was just up at southwest aquatics and they confirmed that my water is still all jacked up. apparently i have outrageously high alkalinity. so i just did another water change and scrubbed down all the powerheads and filters. see how the water looks tommorrow. but i won't be adding anything new to the tank till after i get back from florida at the end of june.
 

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