Lol...none taken but no I fill my 15 g holding container and add salt while the mixing pump is running, I'll let it mix at least 24hrs with a heater and then double check sg b4 I do the water change. Iv had the sg be way higher once the temp comes up.
Water changes equals death
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JoshKReef
Well-Known Member
Do you calibrate your refractometer?
Just a thought but do your sps get exposed to your lighting when doing a water change? In the wild this can trigger black band disease. If it’s really intense. Having higher nitrates and similar lighting exposure can make it worse.
Not to sound repetitive but. The further away the calibration point the lower the accuracy. If you calibrate it at 0, that’s 35 points away. That a huge swing. Mine says di is fine also but for 10$ or less you get a lot more security with some calibration solution. The bottle, of capped tight and in a cool space, last for ever.
Refractometer instructions | D-D The Aquarium Solution
www.theaquariumsolution.com
Hey it's cheap enough I'll give anything a try at this pointRefractometer instructions | D-D The Aquarium Solution
If all other parameters are on target it sounds like maybe to low nutrients for your higher dkh. Could just be that sps rtn on there own due to high alk and low nutrients. Stop the water changes and see if it still happens. 20 nitrate with 0 phos is not good, neither should ever bottom out. 20 nitrate with phos at maybe .1 or a little higher might match up a little better and that's obviously a little high but more inline with say 20 nitrate.
I'll let ya know how it turns out cause I'm done with water changes till I figure this out, it's doing more harm than good. But someone's gonna get an earful if it's way off cause those instructions are plain as day lol.
X-37B
Fight The Good Fight
Also get a tropic marine floating hydrometer as they can never be off.
I use one to verify my refractometer.
I would also lower alk to 8.
I run low nutrients p04 .02 no3 < 2 and 7 alk.
I feed alot and do no scheduled water changes and my tank is very stable.
I calibrate my refrac evwry time I use it with 35ppt solution
I use one to verify my refractometer.
I would also lower alk to 8.
I run low nutrients p04 .02 no3 < 2 and 7 alk.
I feed alot and do no scheduled water changes and my tank is very stable.
I calibrate my refrac evwry time I use it with 35ppt solution
bblumberg
Well-Known Member
Another possibility in many places, including southern California is chloramines in the water change water. You can get special chloramine removal cartridges but it might be worthwhile to dose some sodium thiosulfate into your rodi water and see if there are any changes.
jsvand5
Valuable Member
How large is the tank? I think it’s extremely unlikely that a one gal water change is the source of your problems.
I’d stop the carbon dosing permanently and let the Phosphate rise a bit (assuming the test results of zero are actually even accurate anyway). 20 on the nitrate is not an issue at all IMO.
My bet is your salinity is off. I had similar problems when I was unknowingly using calibration fluid that was way off for quite a while. When I finally was ready to give up on corals I took some water to the LFS and my salinity was 1.031. I confirmed it with a new batch of fluid from BRS. I felt really stupid that something so simple was the cause of all of my problems but all of the deaths stopped immediately after fixing the salinity.
I’d stop the carbon dosing permanently and let the Phosphate rise a bit (assuming the test results of zero are actually even accurate anyway). 20 on the nitrate is not an issue at all IMO.
My bet is your salinity is off. I had similar problems when I was unknowingly using calibration fluid that was way off for quite a while. When I finally was ready to give up on corals I took some water to the LFS and my salinity was 1.031. I confirmed it with a new batch of fluid from BRS. I felt really stupid that something so simple was the cause of all of my problems but all of the deaths stopped immediately after fixing the salinity.
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