Salinity reading off the charts for 1 night

[dpsa98]

I had to add about a 1/2 gallon of water to my tank and I guess I added too much salt and the salinity reading was off the charts overnight. I found out the next morning and immediately siphoned out some water and added distilled water and now the salinity is at 1.023 . I have 2 pieces of live rock (15lbs worth) and live sand. The tank is less than a week old and has not started to cycle yet all of my other readings are normal except the amonia dosent even register a .0 according to the color chart the test shows it kind of a clowdy white,yellow look. and my nitrites and nitrates read normal levels acording to the test chart. Should everything be ok?

[jerehmy]

takes longer than a week, have you added anything to the tank? If not then you should put food in there every few days so it can make some ammonia and start to cycle the tank faster.

You will have spikes of Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate before you are "cycled"

good Luck :)

[dpsa98]

I have not added anything else yet I just have to get some more LR then I was going to add a piece of shrimp from the store or something like that to get the cycle started . I just was worried about the high salinity I had overnight.

[jerehmy]

that shouldn't affect the tank too much and shrimp would be good but the LR will also help with the cycle if it is UnCured.

[dpsa98]

Thanks Jerehmy I appreciate your helpl. The LR I have is cured. I just need to purchase another 20 lbs in a few weeks before I add the shrimp. I want it to do the cycle all together with all of the rock in place.

[meco65]

I always mix my water in a five gal bucket and let it set over night than add to tank. That way you can make shure that this dose not happen it can kill fish fast. It helps to have the water the same temp and salinity as tank before adding it to the tank. And you may have an ammonia spike as it may have killed some of the life in the rock, worms and such but with it being a new tank all should be ok.