No luck keeping corals alive

[TCfishie]

Please ignore anyone talking about your nitrates and phosphates at this point.

You're basically putting your corals in a freshwater tank. They are not starving.

If people don't understand this, you should be careful about the advice they are giving.

This was a bad mistake on my part, new to the hobby and misunderstood what I was seeing on the APEX

 

[TCfishie]

Do you have the apex reading in SpG or ppt?

What about th Hanna? Is it set for ppt or SpG?

It sounds like they are both reading ppt. In which case you need to raise that to 34-35ppt.

Hanna is set to PPT

 

[TCfishie]

Hanna is set to PPt

 

[TCfishie]

Please ignore anyone talking about your nitrates and phosphates at this point.

You're basically putting your corals in a freshwater tank. They are not starving.

If people don't understand this, you should be careful about the advice they are giving.

Chrisv thanks I have been reading the salt wrong from day one. Thanks so much for the help, and the patient advice.

 

[Karen00]

I would not do a concentrated salt mix in case you accidentally shock the system. What inhabitants are left in your tank? You would top off with saltwater instead of freshwater and do small daily water changes to get the level up to 35ppt but please confirm what is still in the tank.

 

[Pistondog]

What @Karen00 said, put saltwater, about 35 ppt, into the ato.
The exact salinity in the ato is not important. Monitor your tank salinity daily. Switch back to rodi when salinity in tank is 35 or 36 ppt, your choice.

 

[Jeeperz]

Adjust your salinity slowly by adding the correct salinity salt water to the top off

 

[Chrisv.]

I would not do a concentrated salt mix in case you accidentally shock the system. What inhabitants are left in your tank? You would top off with saltwater instead of freshwater and do small daily water changes to get the level up to 35ppt but please confirm what is still in the tank.

The other thing to keep in mind is that if one makes a concentrated salt solution, the calcium and alkalinity can come out of solution. I agree with you that OP should just do water changes with 35ppt water until this is resolved...or as other have suggested, add 35ppt water as top off.

This is also why one should add salt to fresh water, not water to salt. Your Ca/alk/trace elements can be be out of whack. I got this wrong for a LONG time.

 

[Lavey29]

If you have no corals or fish in the tank just do a few big water changes with the right salinity and bring it up to 1.025

 

[Woodyman]

If you go the water change route remember what I said about no more than a 2ppt increase per 24 hour period.

And if you notice any inhabitants being 'off' stop for a day and let everyone settle back down and then slow down your salinity increases going forward.

 

[Karen00]

The other thing to keep in mind is that if one makes a concentrated salt solution, the calcium and alkalinity can come out of solution. I agree with you that OP should just do water changes with 35ppt water until this is resolved...or as other have suggested, add 35ppt water as top off.

This is also why one should add salt to fresh water, not water to salt. Your Ca/alk/trace elements can be be out of whack. I got this wrong for a LONG time.

Totally agree on this. Everything gets thrown out of whack with a concentrated solution or if the salt is mixed incorrectly.

 

[TCfishie]

I would not do a concentrated salt mix in case you accidentally shock the system. What inhabitants are left in your tank? You would top off with saltwater instead of freshwater and do small daily water changes to get the level up to 35ppt but please confirm what is still in the tank.

Ok understand, I have a 10 gallon ATO should I mix that to the 34PPt.

If you have no corals or fish in the tank just do a few big water changes with the right salinity and bring it up to 1.025

If you have no corals or fish in the tank just do a few big water changes with the right salinity and bring it up to 1.025

I have 3 fish, 2 clowns and 1 Goby

 

[TCfishie]

Ok understand, I have a 10 gallon ATO should I mix that to the 34PPt.

I have 3 fish, 2 clowns and 1 Goby

 

[Pistondog]

Ok understand, I have a 10 gallon ATO should I mix that to the 34PPt.

I have 3 fish, 2 clowns and 1 Goby

The exact salinity in the ato does not matter (34ppt is fine). You are replacing evaporated water with salt water, which will slowly raise the salinity in the display tank.
You must monitor the display tank salinity and change back to rodi when you are at 34ppt.

 

[Karen00]

Ok understand, I have a 10 gallon ATO should I mix that to the 34PPt.

I have 3 fish, 2 clowns and 1 Goby

Let's bring in @Randy Holmes-Farley. Randy, the OP mistakenly thought the apex was reading in s.g when in fact it was reading in ppt. The OP thought 24ppt was 1.024sg. Now upon calibration the salinity is at 20ppt. There are some fish in the system. How many ppt can the OP do either per hour or per day to get up to 35ppt? Also should this be done via ATO (saltwater instead of freshwater) and small water changes?

 

[TCfishie]

The other thing to keep in mind is that if one makes a concentrated salt solution, the calcium and alkalinity can come out of solution. I agree with you that OP should just do water changes with 35ppt water until this is resolved...or as other have suggested, add 35ppt water as top off.

This is also why one should add salt to fresh water, not water to salt. Your Ca/alk/trace elements can be be out of whack. I got this wrong for a LONG time.

I have been dumping the 5 gallons on top of the salt, then mixing with a power head. In the process o building g a mixing station

 

[TCfishie]

The exact salinity in the ato does not matter (34ppt is fine). You are replacing evaporated water with salt water, which will slowly raise the salinity in the display tank.
You must monitor the display tank salinity and change back to rodi when you are at 34ppt.

 

[TCfishie]

Is that a typo on your salinity? That is really low as well. That's 1.018sg. Was that supposed to be 34ppt?

Karen, you were all over it from The start, Thanks!

 

[Karen00]

Mix the salt into the water NOT the water onto the salt. If you have any of that water left don't use it. Mix some fresh saltwater. Make sure you mix to the temperature of your tank. You can definitely start this process now by using your ATO to top off. Pick either 34ppt or 35ppt and stick with it. This will get the process going in a slow, methodical manner. You don't want to shock your fish or your live rock so go slow. Randy Holmes Farley can confirm how much you can safely raise it per day.

 

[Lyss]

A while back I had an accidental gradual salinity drop in my system that I didn’t catch for a while b/c I wasn’t checking my refractometer calibration (it was off). When I finally realized, after losing some corals, I did exactly what some are recommending—add 35ppt saltwater to the ATO and monitor daily. Now I always remember to periodically check my refractometer calibration!

I also thought I read that you’re using tap water? If so, once you get your salinity back to where it should be I would get on top of setting up an RODI so you can make clean water to mix your saltwater with.