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Krish

Krish

RF STAFF
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
Messages
25,288
Location
Nassau, Bahamas
So... I was going to order my Instant Ocean from Premium Aquatics (like I usually do), but needed some ASAP so I bought (2) 50 gal bags of it here which costed me almost $80! As usual, I mixed my batch of make up water and ran a powerhead in it for 24 hours before doing my water change. I did my 20% water change today and when I poured in the new make up water, it looked like I dumped a bag of sand in my tank!!!:eek: Alot of the salt didn't dissolve and was scattered everywhere like sand! :mad: So, I had to shut everything off, let the salt settle on the bottom, and siphon up what I could and seeing the salt was obviously crap, I had to replace what I removed with just fresh ro/di water. I always check my specific gravity before my water change which was 1.026 (normal) and after this disaster, it was sitting at 1.022! So I guess my corals will have a nice shock and hopefully, nothing dies...:doubt:

So...I'm going to open up the other bag and see if that salt isn't crap as well. If it is, I have to keep my fingers crossed that my buddy finally got some in at his LFS that I can get tomorrow or else I'd have to next day air in some from PA. I put some of the salt from the bad batch in a gallon jug with some water and shook it up a few times to see what would happen and if it would dissolve. I did this a few times (shaking it up) over the course of an hour and here's what it looked like when I just checked it. Bummer!

Lesson of the day...Check your specific gravity/salinity of your make-up water before adding it to the tank even if you are use to mixing "X" number of scoops to "X" amount of gallons.
 
Weird....I've never seen that happen before. I've seen it where it mixes but it's cloudy and will never clear up.

Good luck on the corals and hopefully they'll pull through...

and yes that is my motto as well - "Always Something"
 
Thanks guys...Definately a first for me. I took the container full of bad IO and tossed it in the yard! My wife said for me to take it back to the LFS where I got it, but I said screw that! I'm not into that kind of stuff...I rather count my losses than to get worked up dealing with people. :rolleyes:

So...I opened the other bag of IO, put 4 small drinking glasses full of water from my tank into my gallon jug with 1/2 a cup of the new IO (very strong mix) shook it up like crazy, opened the top and let it breath a sec, then I closed it up and shook the hell out of it again (which I did for a bit) and looked into the container and everything was basically dissolved except for a few grains of salt (about a tablespoons worth) and the water was cloudy which I would expect. So, I figured things couldn't get any worse so I tossed it right into the tank (except for the un-dissolved salt), then I repeated the same thing again with another 1/2 scoop of IO and waitied about 10 mins and then checked the specific gravity in the tank and it was at 1.024 so I guess this batch is good. So...I'm going to let the tank sit and adjust over the next few hours and re-check it later. I also mixed a regular batch of IO and have it airating now to toss in tomorrow if everything looks good by then and the salt seems to be fine which I'm thinking it is:)
 
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Man i'am sorry to hear that kirsh! it happens man but now i can monkey around with you,See what happens when you do water changes.Just kidding man.
moj1.png
 
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ROFL!!! Yeah, I should have listened to you on that other thread huh?:p Everything seems fine now...The water adjusted to 1.025 and the corals seem fine. I guess I am lucky for having hardy wild corals that are use to extreme changes. I think I need a bigger tank though...These little things are too easily influenced:shock:
 
krish why dont u just use natural sea water i do its great i dont see and adverse side affects and u know your coral is getting water with the right levels if u are worried about pathogens or anything eles that might be in the water just buy a pond uv filter and run it on ur 75 that way u could keep more water on hand for when u need it
 
Man once i figure it out every body will know,Oh it is reated to crazy bananas
One of these day's man.
Click to expand...

LOL! keep us updated then:p

krish why dont u just use natural sea water i do its great i dont see and adverse side affects and u know your coral is getting water with the right levels if u are worried about pathogens or anything eles that might be in the water just buy a pond uv filter and run it on ur 75 that way u could keep more water on hand for when u need it
Click to expand...

I could, but apart from not wanting to go through all of that with running a UV in a seperate container to kill anything bad in the water etc, it's too much of a hassle to get the water. I hate getting in the water this time of year. Infact, I don't. I only go in the water from about April till about October and that's it for me and I wouldn't want to get water off of the shoreline. Much easier for me to just mix my own water:)
 
How it looking today Krish, did you get everything cleared up & back to normal?
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Looking great Scooty! I'm sitting at 1.025, tank is clear, corals are all happy and I added in a bit more of the make-up water to bring the specific gravity back up to 1.026 this morning:)
 
i had that happen if it makes you feel any better i now always put my had at the bottom of whatever i mix and make sure i feel no salt at all its my only safety net
 
i had that happen if it makes you feel any better i now always put my had at the bottom of whatever i mix and make sure i feel no salt at all its my only safety net
Click to expand...

Yeah...That's something I'm going to have to do from now on or pour it in the tank through a fine mesh net or something:)


Just another update...Came home, the tank was cloudy and the specific gravity adjusted to 1.028 with that extra makeup water I added. I had to flush out some of the water and dilute it to see if I can get things back in order. This tank has been a roller coaster! It's too easily influenced...I'm going to probably have to add in a sump to increase the water volume some if I keep it up and running.
 
WOW that must have sucked!! Glad to here everything worked out for you.
I once used some Kent sea salt that I pre mixed, everything seemed good clear and dissolved. I went ahead with the water change the salinity was the same as the tank 56.4 "normal" After the water change I noticed my fish started to act strange so I decided to test the water I was using for the water change and this is what I got KH 2 CAL 220:eek: I ended up losing 2 fish the same day:cry: A lesson learned the hard way for me, now I fully test all new salt that I buy to make shure it is good.I was told by the fishstore that Cora Life bought Kent Marine and they had a bad batch. I got my money back but the fish were gone:( I find Most have low Magnesium levels I guess it is all about money to them:shock: .I am glad things are back to normal and you had no loss Krish.:)
Scott
 
kirsh u got all the equipment just set up one of the other very nice tanks u have
 
kirsh u got all the equipment just set up one of the other very nice tanks u have
Click to expand...

LOL! Sold them all:p


Well, the tank is back to normal! I'm sitting at 1.026 again and the water is crystal clear. Lesson definately learned with mixing and adding salt! We'll see how it goes from now on;)
 
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