Need help quick

[Sinsaint]

Not really new to the hobby but this is the first time I screwed up this bad. I was topping off my tank last night and decided to be lazy about it. I just ran my RO/DI tube right into the tank. I figured I would just shut it off in two hours. You guessed it. I forgot to turn it off. My salinity was at 1.023 and right now it's at 1.019. Don't worry.... I'm already telling myself from now on to use my old method of bucket feed.

From what I can see I lost a coral banded shrimp along with two turbos (the other three are still alive). I found a few peppermints that are still alive. I also lost some astreas but some are still alive. I have a brittle sea star who is still moving but I don't expect him to make it. I was already planning a large water change today. My system runs close to 215 gallons. I have 110 gallons ready to go. All the specs match tank with the exception of the salinity which I had already mixed at 1.023.

Should I go ahead and do the water change with the water? I'm worried if I don't do something quick I'm going to lose more but I'm afraid if I use the water I might kill everything with the sudden salinity change.

[Daimyo68]

I would go ahead and change maybe 10% of the water. Keep some powerheads running in the tank to mix the old with the new while your changing it, and add it slowly.

Then, instead use using RO/DI water for your top-off, use saltwater until you get back to your desired salinity level. Once back at an acceptable level, go back to RO/DI as usual.

As far as the livestock, if you have a QT tank around, you can set that up temporarily and acclimate the livestock back to 1.023, then re-introduce them back to the system when it's ready.

[jimnrose]

Sorry for your loss. I'm no expert but agree that doing nothing is the worst option. From what you said the system is 225gal & you plan a 110 gal change; drain off the 110 gallons but the make-up water would have to be higher than 1.023 (like1.026) but bring back the salinity slowly. I don 't know how slowly. Jim

[Chris27]

If you're doing a 110 Gal water change with water that is at 1.023, the final salinity will be roughly 1.021....if your goal is a final point of 1.023 then you may want to bump up the makeup water to 1.027.

Personally, I wouldn't do anything right now except top off daily with saltwater, vice freshwater. I imagine you will bring the salinity back up to 1.023 in just a few short days given that you probably evaporate 5-8 gallons a day. 1.019 isn't the end of the world anyhow, and quickly raising the salinity back up may do more harm then good.

[zigzag1]

If you're doing a 110 Gal water change with water that is at 1.023, the final salinity will be roughly 1.021....if your goal is a final point of 1.023 then you may want to bump up the makeup water to 1.027.

Personally, I wouldn't do anything right now except top off daily with saltwater, vice freshwater. I imagine you will bring the salinity back up to 1.023 in just a few short days given that you probably evaporate 5-8 gallons a day. 1.019 isn't the end of the world anyhow, and quickly raising the salinity back up may do more harm then good.

+1 to daily topoff with salt water, IMO. Hopefully you have an ATO that can do this slowly. The rapid change in salinity was likely the shock that was detremental to your livestock. Another big swing the other way might be even worse. GL!!

[TellyFish]

Oh, how many times I have left the RO/DI running and forgot about it, lol.

You must have left in on for a while to lower the salinity so low on 200gallons? Im able to forget about the RO/DI running for 12 hours and I will lose no more than .001. I think my RO/DI is pretty slow...

[windyridge]

Fish can take faster significant decreases in salinty then increases in salinity. You can go from 1.026 to 1.009 in 24-48 hours. You don't want to increase the salinity any more than .003 a day though. I have done this in hyposalinty treatments per the ich thread in this forum with no harm to the fish. Inverts are a different story.

[jimnrose]

When I was putting together my system, it was recommended (by Beananimal) to put the Ro/Di on a timer thereby limiting the maximum volume.
This protects against a jammed float valve or 'the I forgot' brain freeze. Jim