ok i did a normal water change and all the fish are acting weird?????

[jnsnams]

i did a normal water change except that i did 20 gal insted of 15 like normal...and the fish are acting weird?? what could this be...i changed to a new buff last week and everything was awsome and no problems and now this week they started acting weird like something was wrong...my tang is just like sitting there?? and all me clowns are swimming back and forth like the tang normally does...and weirdest of all all my star fish are acting weird too?? got new lights this week, went with vhos and got rid of normal lights since iam going to start doing corals... any of this sound weird to anyone? i got my water from my normal place..and the salt is the normal salt..the salt in the tank is at 1.022, thats normal also? is it possible to change to much water and stress the fish really bad...i have a 100 gal tank and doing about 20 gal every 2 weeks?

[Serra]

The amount of water you changed is fine. Did the temp. and the pH of both waters match? How does the livestock look this morning?

Where is the normal place you get water? Do use buffer in the new water?

[MFULKERSIN]

How are you testing your salt? With a hydrometer? Do you rinse it out after each use?
We used a hydrometer and it wasnt accurate, we tried another hydrometer and still the salt was all over the place...corals would be peeved and it fluctuated all the time stressing the fish and the corals.......
so we bought a refractometer from ebay for like 30 bucks and it is right on!

But we run our salt like 1.024 - 1.025 and all are happy

[MFULKERSIN]

starfish dont handle salt fluctuation well.

We have done a 25 gallon change before on a 90 gal and it didnt seem to bother anyone.....

but if its not the salt level then it could be buffer (ph)

[jnsnams]

the temp and ph matched as the tank...livestock this morning is great...iam not sure what that was abut but it scared me..i get water from edmond...my hydrometer is in the tank and works great...in fact its new as of a week ago also. my buffer was new as of last week and the tank was ok than also..

[bigB]

another vote for refractometers. mine was $35 and fully worth it :)

[Lytehouse]

I'm with you BigB.

If your upgrade was a big change in light, it may have stressed the fish for a day or so, like walking out of a dark movie theatre to the outside on a sunny day. Really hurts your eyes. If you put in new lights and bulbs, the fish may be reacting.

[jnsnams]

ok that did happen the same day...so if thats the case might be why they went south for a little bit...never lost any of my guys and dont want to over something little...all of them are doing good now so hopefully thats all it was now.

[peaceinusa]

Ditto on the refractometer...ditch the hydrometer.

I bet its the combination of all the changes-additions you did in such a short amount of time. Changing buffer, lights and doing a larger water change than normal has probably peeved your stock. How long are you running the new lights?

[jnsnams]

iam running the new lights on a timer of 8 hours...