I really screwed up

[jlmawp]

Hey all,

I was doing a little maintenace/cleaning with a 2-gallon water change (9-gallon tank), and realized after about 5-10 minutes that I had poured two gallons of rodi freshwater into the tank, without the salt. I quickly mixed a full cup of salt with the water from in the tank in a separate bowl and re-introduced it over the span of a few minutes.

What tipped me off was the the cleaner shrimp basically went dormant and wasn't responding to food. He has since started moving around again a little, but man am I worried I really screwed stuff up to a large degree. It's been about 10 minutes since I re-added the salt. Just tested, and I'm at 1.025 on the mark.

I have to leave to attend an event I can't miss, and won't be back until later tonight, so I'm hoping some of you can provide me with at least a little peace of mind that I won't come back to a half-dead tank.

No fish, a few inverts, and a handful of softies and LPS.

Over 2 years with this tank and I have never done something so absent-minded. Ugh!

[Uncle99]

Happens, I am thinking that the difference in salinity is not to great, but next time, I would raise it back slowly, especially if yo get fish, they can't take a fast increase in salinity more than .002 per day...the higher the salinity, the harder it is for fish to respirate....iam thinking your OK...

[jlmawp]

I'll keep that in mind. I wasn't thinking clearly and was in pure fix-it mode.

[Indymann99]

Fish can tolerate a rapid DECREASE in salinity. However you should RAISE the sg slowly over many hours/days.

[BrettDS]

I think you’re fine, and frankly, I think that since it had only been 5-10 minutes since you added the freshwater then bringing the salinity back up quickly was the right move. If it had been some time and the livestock had time to acclimate to the lower salinity then I think raising it slowly would be better. But people do freshwater dips putting fish in pure freshwater for 10 or 15 minutes then right back in straight saltwater and the fish tolerate this.

Additionally, low salinity usually isn’t an issue for fish, but it can be a bigger problem for inverts and that was low enough that I would be concerned about keeping your inverts in that low salinity for an extended time.

I think it’s very good that you caught it so quickly and I think in this case bringing it back up quickly was the right thing to do. I suspect you won’t see any problems, but do keep a close eye on your inverts over the next few days as I think that if anything has problems it would be them.

[jlmawp]

I think you’re fine, and frankly, I think that since it had only been 5-10 minutes since you added the freshwater then bringing the salinity back up quickly was the right move. If it had been some time and the livestock had time to acclimate to the lower salinity then I think raising it slowly would be better. But people do freshwater dips putting fish in pure freshwater for 10 or 15 minutes then right back in straight saltwater and the fish tolerate this.

Additionally, low salinity usually isn’t an issue for fish, but it can be a bigger problem for inverts and that was low enough that I would be concerned about keeping your inverts in that low salinity for an extended time.

I think it’s very good that you caught it so quickly and I think in this case bringing it back up quickly was the right thing to do. I suspect you won’t see any problems, but do keep a close eye on your inverts over the next few days as I think that if anything has problems it would be them.

Thanks for the reply.

You're spot-on. Today, the shrimp is right back to his usual self, annoying the hell out of the corals, which are all also perfectly fine.

Gotta love those panic moments!