note to self

[cdub]

do not add salt directly to display tank!

i got some salinity calibration fluid and checked my refractometer today and found out it was slightly off. my dt was actually running at 1.023 instead of the 1.026 that i thought it was set at. i figured i would add a cup of salt a day to my tank(150 gals water volume) to help raise it up to where i wanted it. so i added half the cup very slowly to my sump in a high flow area and then the other half very slowly in front of my vortech.

bad idea, all of my acros instantly slimed up as well as some of my acans! the polyps seem to be coming back out now, but talk about a nervous few minutes.

 

[weaglereefer]

Freshly mixed salt water can be highly caustic. Best bet is to mix for 12-24 hours before adding it. If everything was fine, you could slowly up the salinity with regular water changes. Just make the new water a little higher SG than the stuff in the tank, and over time it'll come up.

Other thing is to figure out where the salt went (salt creep, etc).

 

[cdub]

the salinity was out of wack b/c my refractometer was slightly off. who knew half a cup of salt in 120 gal. of water was such a big deal.

 

[weaglereefer]

You can make your own calibration solution. I did, and use my hydrometer *gasp*. It works fine.