My LFS sold FreshWater instead of SaltWater..Now I need help on Low Salinity..

[subaqua]

It is like nightmare.. Today my LFS put Fresh Water to my SaltWater Jar..And I changed the water (5 gallons) without controlling it.

My Salinity was below 200. I turn of the ATO and I went back immediately to the store and they told me to change 10 gallons with Salt Water and I did.
Now salinity reads only 200.
Please help what should I do? Do I need to change another 5 gallons tomorrow? I am afraid to change too much water to often since all other parameters might change?
Any suggestion please? My tank is 34 gallons.

Thank you.

 

[offshore357]

I am not sure what the 200 is but since you just did a 30 percent or so change. I would over fill the tank as much as you safely can and let it evaporate down. Keep topping off with SW until it is back to normal. Run cooling fans and whatever else will increase evaporation.

I don't think it is that bad. I also don't think that the 10 gallon water change did much to fix it unless it was higher then normal salinity.


If you started at 1.025 and changed 5 gals at 0 with a water volume of 30 gallons.

25 x .025 = .625
5 x 0 = 0
.625 / 30 = .020

Should have a salinity of 1.020
Then a 10 gallon water change with 1.025 .

20 x .020 = .4
10 x .025 = .25
.4 + .25 = .65
.65 / 30 = .021

Should leave a salinity of 1.021.

Well i think that kinda made sense to me. -JOHN

 

[DianaKay]

Sorry to hear that this could happen to anyone! :bugout: I agree it sounds like a nightmare.
I'm not sure what you are using to test your salinity to get a reading of 200.
I hope you can slowly increase your salinity back up to between 1.022 to 1.026 without a tank crash.
This could be a very expensive mistake, I hope it ends well. Update when you can...SORRY for your nightmare.
Wish I knew more how to help. Maybe you need to re-acclimate all your fish & corals. I just don't know, I feel bad for you

 

[subaqua]

Thank you for your reply and explanation.
I am sorry , I was trying to say 1.020 Not 200..

Right now the Salinity is 1.020. I will keep you posted.
thank you again..

 

[slakker]

I had a few instance where the salinity dropped... what I did was use salt mix (Instant Ocean) in a jug and mix it with the tank water, stir it slightly as it won't completely dissolve and pour it into the overflow... and re-dilute, stir, mix and do that slowly until all the salt is dissolved in the tank. This will quickly bump up salinity to "safe" levels... I don't think this is optimal, but in a pinch it works and I've never lost fish or coral... And usually a day or two later, I do a water change...

The amount I use is an estimate base on my experience of salt/water ratios...

 

[JoeCanada11]

I had a similar issue with salinity when I first got my tank going. THough it was my own fault. What I did thanks to the advice from others on here is I just left it alone and topped off with water at 1.025 instead of topping with fresh RO water. I tested the SG daily as I did this and over the course of about a week my SG was back to normal. I feel this would be a good option as it would be less "shocking" to your tank inhabitants.

I would also recommend mixing your own salt. If I can do it then anybody can and it saves you money and you have more control over what you are putting into your aquarium, at the very minimum always check the salinity of the water you purchase from your LFS, because if they make a bad batch or give you RO like what happened today you will catch it in time.

 

[goma]

I had a similar issue with salinity when I first got my tank going. THough it was my own fault. What I did thanks to the advice from others on here is I just left it alone and topped off with water at 1.025 instead of topping with fresh RO water. I tested the SG daily as I did this and over the course of about a week my SG was back to normal. I feel this would be a good option as it would be less "shocking" to your tank inhabitants.

I would also recommend mixing your own salt. If I can do it then anybody can and it saves you money and you have more control over what you are putting into your aquarium, at the very minimum always check the salinity of the water you purchase from your LFS, because if they make a bad batch or give you RO like what happened today you will catch it in time.

This is your answer ^^^^^^^^^^^

Will get you back to the right salinity, slowly and safely.

 

[DianaKay]

Good advice from others. Lesson learned that you should NOT trust the LFS...ALWAYS test the water before doing a WC at least once. I think I'd have totally panicked :bouncebox
This stayed on my mind much of last night. 1st thing I did this morning at 7am was to start myself a batch of change water. (& it's still a few days before I need to do this) I tested my DT SG with my refractometer. With the skimmer skimming wet & evaporation too, it's good to test at least every other day. It's a good thing you tested when you did at least.
I sure hope you update with good news.

 

[thedru13]

Agreed with all the above... I learned a hard lesson and was given good advice.. Nothing in Saltwater happens fast... So 1.020 isn't awful.. Slow and steady to increase you should be ok.

 

[BigAl07]

I had a few instance where the salinity dropped... what I did was use salt mix (Instant Ocean) in a jug and mix it with the tank water, stir it slightly as it won't completely dissolve and pour it into the overflow... and re-dilute, stir, mix and do that slowly until all the salt is dissolved in the tank. This will quickly bump up salinity to "safe" levels... I don't think this is optimal, but in a pinch it works and I've never lost fish or coral... And usually a day or two later, I do a water change...

I see a problem (or at least potential problem depending on how drastic the difference is) is where you admitted "this will quickly bump up salinity to "safe" levels". This could be potentially more harmful than a low SG in the first place. Our SW animals can't Osmoregulate enough to compensate for large swing in SG and it puts a HUGE amount of stress on the animals. Our gut instinct is to quickly as possible reverse the negative conditions but in some instances THAT is what can kill our livestock. They get stressed out by the first swing badly but they can tolerate a "fairly" low SG (keep in mind that low SG is a treatment for some ailments in our finned friends) but 2 sudden swings back to back can be more than they can tolerate sometimes. Unless it's something extremely toxic I would always suggest go slow and monitor. We like to see a change of SG take place over the course of a few days (unless the swing is drastically outside the liveable range of the animal) to allow the fish to hopefully avoid Osmotic Shock a second time through.

Any... absolutely ANY water you add to your tank should match the tank parameters as closely as possible. If you mix it yourself or if you pay to have it mixed doesn't matter you really must test at least Temp and SG before it's added to your tank. This is a rule not just a helpful suggestion. Many of us have had a similar situation happen and it usually only takes 1x to teach us the lesson at hand.

Topping off with 1.026 should slowly get you back up. Go slow and monitor it along the way. Hopefully everything will come out just fine in a few days time.

 

[slakker]

I hear ya, hence my caveat of "may not be optimal".

I'm still researching for papers on this topic as its a constant curiosity for me. There's 2 main stressors. One is the shock of a rapid change and the other is the constant pressure to regulate osmotic pressure. Obviously if the fish was put in water with SG of 1.000, then the shock of change is less important than easing it back to "survivable" levels... Ie; you can't wait days to ease the fish back to 1.025...

I'm not posting to defend a position, just want to get more views/feedback or if there's reference papers people may know of.

 

[BigAl07]

I hear ya, hence my caveat of "may not be optimal".

I'm still researching for papers on this topic as its a constant curiosity for me. There's 2 main stressors. One is the shock of a rapid change and the other is the constant pressure to regulate osmotic pressure. Obviously if the fish was put in water with SG of 1.000, then the shock of change is less important than easing it back to "survivable" levels... Ie; you can't wait days to ease the fish back to 1.025...

I'm not posting to defend a position, just want to get more views/feedback or if there's reference papers people may know of.

Very well said slakker I completely agree. It really comes down to "how bad is it" as to how to make the change.