Need help ASAP please

justjes45 · Jan 31, 2016

Did a water change before I went on vacation. Everything looked fine. I had reglued a couple of corals around the tank and I think that was making other corals unhappy, and I chalked the problem up to that.
Came back from vacation, less than a week later, and my tank is in what I see as an emergency situation.
A new green algae all of the front of the glass on all three sides. Three of my corals are crumpled up as tiny as they can be.
I am doing a water change as we speak. As I mix my salt in my water I check the salinity with my hydrometer.
The bag says every gallon of water, to use half of a cup of the salt.
I have done exactly that and I was I'm getting ready to put it in my tank the salt is only measuring 1.015.
I don't know if the cell takes a while to activate in the water, I don't know if I should put more salt in, I don't know if this is what caused my problem right before vacation – what do I do?
Right now my tank is sitting half full and I don't know whether to put this water in or not.

zwulfke · Jan 31, 2016

Did you celebrate the Facto also what salt are you using?

zwulfke · Jan 31, 2016

sounds like a nitrate spike did you test your water before you did anything ?? do you have parameters?

justjes45 · Jan 31, 2016

I thought about testing, but went into panic mode something was obviously wrong-
So I wanted to change it, but now I am more words to the salt I'm putting in is not OK –

justjes45 · Jan 31, 2016

I'm following the directions directly off of the bag, and I have done it this way for almost a year now.

justjes45 · Jan 31, 2016

Maybe it takes a minute for the salt to measure accurately once it's mixed? Has anybody heard of this?

shovelhead · Jan 31, 2016

Usually I mix my salt at least a couple hours to allow it to mix well and come up to temperature of tank.

zwulfke · Jan 31, 2016

depends on the salt I mix the red sea for about an hour to make sure it is right, clear and warm. The directions most likely get you to 1.022 most are set that way i use slightly more i keep my tank at 1.024

WVReefJunkie · Jan 31, 2016

Test your water, give us your parameters.

justjes45 · Jan 31, 2016

Really? I was never told to premix it that far in advance. As we speak my husband is installing an Aro system for me, but for this time I am using distilled water from the store.
I will try that next time – I love my reefing community thank you so much

WVReefJunkie · Jan 31, 2016

It depends on how you mix your salt. Mixing by hand, pump, dumping the distilled on top of salt. I use a pump in brute can while mixing the salt by hand in the bottom of the can. Usually is dissolved around ten minutes.

kevindo123 · Jan 31, 2016

best to get natural sea water (NSW) or premix salt water from your LFS if you need to do emergency water change. Mixing a new batch would usually take 12 hours to settle. You should purchase a good hydrometer to measure salinity. Did your ATO put too much water in or was it not working while you were away?

Pfisherman · Jan 31, 2016

So, if you are now using distilled water now what were you using before? I use reef crystals and it takes more than instructed to make good water, maybe your hydrometer needs to be replaced a with a refractometer.

nervousmonkey · Jan 31, 2016

Pfisherman said:
So, if you are now using distilled water now what were you using before? I use reef crystals and it takes more than instructed to make good water, maybe your hydrometer needs to be replaced a with a refractometer.

^^^^ to this. Get a refractometer. For an emergency water change, go to LFS if you can and get their water. If you can't do that then make sure you understand that the instructions for your salt mix only get you to 1.022 or so. You need more salt to get to 1.025.

justjes45 · Jan 31, 2016

Sorry- spell check- an RO system-[emoji5]

Anirban · Jan 31, 2016

Few questions,

Which salt you are using?
Did you test your nitrate and phosphate level?
Turn down your light.
You need to add more salt to bring up the salinity and if your salinity is 1.015 it will never reach 1.024 even if you leave it for next 6 hours or so. Just add a bit salt slowly and re-test it.

Bunnee911 · Jan 31, 2016

I add the half cup and mix for an hour then check to see how much more it needs. The powerhead i use warms the water slightly.

justjes45 · Jan 31, 2016

Wow, there is so much to learn here. Thank you. My local fish store is about an hour away I'm on my own here for the most part and nobody I know has a saltwater tank. Thank goodness for the site!
In the past, I would use water from my sink. I had tested it and it seemed fine and I had not had any problems with that. I got nervous though, and the more reading I had done really pointed me towards an RO system.
For this change I used distilled water because I'm determined not to use sink water until the system is working. My husband is at the plumbing store as we speak –
I have always told the directions on the bag, and mix by hand. This is the first I've heard about mixing it early. I will do that next time.
I absolutely love my tank, but I think I worry about it way too much. I finished the water change and I'm waiting for things to settle. I cleaned all the filters and the skimmers –
I have a Nuvo cube set up. All of the filter etc. is in the back of the tank. It is a 30 gallon. In a couple of hours I will test the water and see what I am at. Do you think that is enough time to let the levels settle?