Alk High Calcium Normal after water change

[cpandrewschmidt]

Here's the story. I did a water change like i always do. Did see readings before the change but water was fine and all corals in great shape. I changed it Saturday about 20 gallons on 90 gallons of water. Starting Sunday the tank started to produce a slime and started to get cloudy. Come Monday it's really bad and i can hardly see through it. I cant run my skimmer because it overflows immediately even set all the way down. I did a 20 gallon water change yesterday and another today. The water is looking better, skimmer is still going pretty nuts, but not as bad. Tested my new levels after the changes and Alk is at 10.9 and calcuim is at 390. My questions is before the change things were fine, after using Instant Ocean things went nuts. What could have happened? Could the change actually thrown the balance off?

Casuilties thus far, a 2 year old 6 inch blue tip acro, and a neon yellow hydronphria (sp?) And i'm afraid of more to come.

I've always done my changes like this and this is a first. What should I do to fix?

Thanks, Andrew

[Paintbug]

assuming your alk is 10.9 dKH, those levels are not high. the alk is on the high side of ok, and the calc is a little low(problem i had with IO salt). first thing i can think of is did you us RO water to mix the salt. second did you get the temp. of the new water close to the tanks temp.?

is this the first time you used IO salt? what salt did you use before?

[cpandrewschmidt]

Yep, use RO/DI and Instant Ocean since the start. Temp was a little low, i've never had a problem though because it didn't seem to throw the overall temp off that much. Perhaps this time it did. Would that explain some cloudniess?

[Paintbug]

hard to say what caused the cloudiness. could be calcium precipitation, which would cause the calc to drop. was this a new bucket/bag of salt? of have you used it before?

[cpandrewschmidt]

i have used it before, which is why this is driving me crazy. I really don't know what might have caused this :( Can salt go bad? Unfotunately this seems like some sort of weird thing. I'll have to suck it up and move on. I'm glad these were all frags and not from the ocean. Hopefully everything else recovers. Time will tell

Andrew

[Paintbug]

dont know what caused it if you have used the same bag before. i dont think that salt can go bad, atleast not quickly. i would mix a cup of SW with that salt, and test it. if its ok i dont know what it could be. you may want to talk with Randy in the chemistry forum.

[Craig Lambert]

This sounds like it might be a bacterial outbreak. How long has the tank been set up? I agree with Paintbug that it might also be calcium precip. How long did you allow the salt to mix before adding it to the tank? It might also be helpful if you posted additinal params...ie pH, Mag, A,N,N.

[cpandrewschmidt]

Never heard of a bacterial out break, what is that and what causes it? Other mesauments were in check. Salt mixed for a day before adding. I would have liked to thought of my self as pretty experienced. Been keeping all corals, sps and lps for 2 years and the tank is well established. But i know i have more to learn. Casualties are still mounting. At least another acro gone, one of my favoites red with neon yellow pollups :( Water still cloudy today, but slowly getting better. I can at least now run my skimmer again 24/7

I have a thought but am not a chemistry person. Say my levels before the water change were calcium 420 and alk on the high side but not bad, maybe 10. (i don't know becuase i didn't test for sure) Now, if i do the water change and calcium in the IO is low (about 350) and Alk on the high side (11 maybe) With a 20% change could that make things worse? Cause the precipitaion? Thoughts?

Andrew

[mg426]

I would like to know what your Mag is ?????

[cpandrewschmidt]

Just tested Mag, came in low about 1170 ppm. Now what can i do? Unfortunately i have to leave all weekend and no one will be here to dose any, plus i have to get more at the store I just ran out. ARGH this sucks.......two years down the tubes..........