Water Change, need help Urgently Please

BigTomo003 · Jun 19, 2022

hi all, I've just been an absolute idiot and dropped my refractometer and its completely broken and I need to do a water change ASAP as there is traces of ammonia in the water and is due to be changed. I dont get paid until a week from now so I cant go out and buy another one until then. how can I change my water? I don't want to lose my fish. but the water needs changed. if i put to much or too little salt it can wipe the tank. any suggestions?

thanks

Rmckoy · Jun 19, 2022

There are other options ( less accurate ) hydrometers that will get salinity close to perfect.

Other option is mixing the salt by weight as most salt mix instructions . Again I’m not 100% sure how accurate that will be

a cheap swing arm could be better than blindly mixing .

Sebastiancrab · Jun 19, 2022

Go to the LFS with your water and salt, mix it there, and have them test it for you. Is your tank fully cycled?

Lbrdsoxfan · Jun 19, 2022

You can get close by mixing by measurement. What salt do you use?

Lavey29 · Jun 19, 2022

Plus fish can handle some salinity swing up or down a bit until you get it back on track. If you have ammonia in the water you can add a little Prime also.

Dav2996 · Jun 19, 2022

BigTomo003 said:
hi all, I've just been an absolute idiot and dropped my refractometer and its completely broken and I need to do a water change ASAP as there is traces of ammonia in the water and is due to be changed. I dont get paid until a week from now so I cant go out and buy another one until then. how can I change my water? I don't want to lose my fish. but the water needs changed. if i put to much or too little salt it can wipe the tank. any suggestions?

thanks

Dav2996 · Jun 19, 2022

BigTomo003 said:
hi all, I've just been an absolute idiot and dropped my refractometer and its completely broken and I need to do a water change ASAP as there is traces of ammonia in the water and is due to be changed. I dont get paid until a week from now so I cant go out and buy another one until then. how can I change my water? I don't want to lose my fish. but the water needs changed. if i put to much or too little salt it can wipe the tank. any suggestions?

thanks

The one I posted is from Amazon it is 20$ works great and been using it for a year with 0 issues and keep stuff accurate.

Torqu3d · Jun 19, 2022

Any local fish store worth its salt (BA DUM DING) should help you out no prob. Take your stuff and mix it there.

Lbrdsoxfan · Jun 19, 2022

Dav2996 said:
The one I posted is from Amazon it is 20$ works great and been using it for a year with 0 issues and keep stuff accurate.

They do OK, but you have to keep up on calibration, imho they are notorious for drift.

Apparently OP doesn't have the coin to buy one for a week.

Lbrdsoxfan · Jun 19, 2022

Side convo:

Everyone saying go to LFS to mix, how small are yall tanks? I'm typically doing 20+ gallons at a time on one of my tanks on water changes after making rodi at home. the feasibility ot dragging it to the store to mix salt and having it tested is crazy.

If you are in a bind like that, just buy premix from your LFS. Why drag around water to merely mix it?

Dav2996 · Jun 19, 2022

Lbrdsoxfan said:
They do OK, but you have to keep up on calibration, imho they are notorious for drift.

Apparently OP doesn't have the coin to buy one for a week.

I never calibrated mine haha and I had the shop last week check and it was on point I had it for year + it is even rusted.

flashsmith · Jun 19, 2022

For every 5 gallons use 2.5 cups of salt mix. Should get you close enough to get by. A total of 20.oz measured in a standard measuring cup.

BigTomo003 · Jun 19, 2022

Sebastiancrab said:
Go to the LFS with your water and salt, mix it there, and have them test it for you. Is your tank fully cycled?

closest lfs is over an hour away unfortunately, I did consider that. I dont drive. yea the tanks been running for over 2 years

BigTomo003 · Jun 19, 2022

Dav2996 said:
The one I posted is from Amazon it is 20$ works great and been using it for a year with 0 issues and keep stuff accurate.

thats the exact one I had, was great. I always have money in my bank but had to pay some additional bills, life stuff this week unfortunately and of course it had to break the week ive not got a penny in the bank

Dav2996 · Jun 19, 2022

BigTomo003 said:
thats the exact one I had, was great. I always have money in my bank but had to pay some additional bills, life stuff this week unfortunately and of course it had to break the week ive not got a penny in the bank

No credit on the credit card? Pay later? Just 20&

BigTomo003 · Jun 19, 2022

Lbrdsoxfan said:
They do OK, but you have to keep up on calibration, imho they are notorious for drift.

Apparently OP doesn't have the coin to buy one for a week.

yeah unfortunately not. im 19, have my own place, need to pay bills

Lbrdsoxfan said:
Side convo:

Everyone saying go to LFS to mix, how small are yall tanks? I'm typically doing 20+ gallons at a time on one of my tanks on water changes after making rodi at home. the feasibility ot dragging it to the store to mix salt and having it tested is crazy.

If you are in a bind like that, just buy premix from your LFS. Why drag around water to merely mix it?

I have 3 tanks, ones 5 foot i think its 600l? one 10gallon nano for my clowns and a 50g cube. this is why I'm having a problem with mixing salt as there's multiple tanks to change especially on the 5footer I need to mix at 2 buckets at a time..

BigTomo003 · Jun 19, 2022

Dav2996 said:
No credit on the credit card? Pay later? Just 20&

I dont have a credit card, im 19, have my own place, had alot of bills, food etc to pay and I work minimum wage (£9.50) in the uk which nets me around 600 a month after tax reduction, then at the same time you are all probably wondering, why have 3 tanks when you can't afford to run them? simply because I have had them since I was 16 and had fish all my life, usually 100 goes to the tanks a month not including electricity and running costs , just food for the fish, meds etc just short on cash this month unfortunately. happens rarley

BigTomo003 · Jun 19, 2022

flashsmith said:
For every 5 gallons use 2.5 cups of salt mix. Should get you close enough to get by. A total of 20.oz measured in a standard measuring cup.

thank you