Lunker October 30, 2009 Share October 30, 2009 I thought that I had a high salinity problem. I kept doing water changes to see if I could drop the salinity down. I have a 120g DT. After abt a month with about three - 20 gal water changes I notice another jump in salinity 1.031. I started to worry even more. Now I was more agressive by taken out about 5 gallons out and adding about 5 gallons of straight RO/DI water about twice a day. Still no changes to the readings (1.031). Oh no, corals appear to be in trouble. So I stopped what I was doing and asked John out at BRK for help. He said to bring in the Refractometer and some water. Some of you might have already suspected what I'm about to tell you. Somehow the adjustment knob on the Refractometer had been moved. John recalibrated my meter. My water sample tested was somewhere about 1.012. John suggested the following of which I was surprise of the magnitude. First he ask me to leave BRK and get home to start the following process. Once home, measure your new baseline salinity reading. Take a 5g bucket and add 10 cups of salt. Wow Mix it well with a power head and add about 2.5gal to the DT. Take a reading in one hour. He suggested that the recommended salinity increase per hour of .001 would be acceptable. That is precisely what happened. So every hour or so I would remove water from the DT when necessary and replace it with additional SUPER saturated salt water. This morning my 120g DT is still quite cloudy but the salinity is right at 1.026. The fish are doing fine but most of the corals at this point look like a lost cause. Most on my criters have also been lost. To say the least I am very disapointed as it appears that I have lost just about all of my inverts. $$$$ I'm not sure if I'm quoting anybody specific but a quote such as "A wise man shouldn't ever repeat his mistakes, but a wiser man shouldn't repeat the mistake of others". I hope that the above situation never happens to any of you and if it does you'll remember this post. Thanks again to John Bianchi at BRK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate October 30, 2009 Share October 30, 2009 (edited) Did your refractometer come with some calibration fluid? If not then I strongly advise you buy some. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/Test-Kits-Re...oduct_info.html Edited October 30, 2009 by Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind October 30, 2009 Share October 30, 2009 Yeah, a couple sentences in and I figured out what had happened. Don't worry, you are not the first person that has made that mistake. Last weekend I had a friend bring me some corals to look at because everything was STNing and he thought he might have some flatworms or something. I tested his salinity and it was at 1.019. Keep us updated on the recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunker October 30, 2009 Author Share October 30, 2009 Did your refractometer come with some calibration fluid? If not then I strongly advise you buy some.http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/Test-Kits-Re...oduct_info.html Nate, I didn't have the solution but I sure do have it now thanks to BRK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami October 30, 2009 Share October 30, 2009 I'm really sorry, Ron. Get things stabilized (you may have some invert die-off so watch your ammonia levels very carefully or pull your fish now if you can) and I'm sure we'll all be happy to get you going again. For the future, here's a link to a recipe for making a home made salinity calibration standard: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php I keep some commercially available calibration standard at home and check my refractometer periodically. In a pinch, though, one could DIY. (For purposes like this, I personally prefer to keep a jewelers scale handy that has a resolution of 1/100 gram. You can get affordable ones (<$20) on ebay.) From the article: This 3.65 weight percent sodium chloride solution can be made by dissolving 3.65 grams of sodium chloride in 96.35 grams (mL) of purified freshwater. For a rougher measurement in the absence of an accurate water volume or weight measurement: 1. Measure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onux20 October 31, 2009 Share October 31, 2009 Did your refractometer come with some calibration fluid? If not then I strongly advise you buy some.http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/Test-Kits-Re...oduct_info.html Sorry about your losses. Calibration fluid? I just base line with RO/DI on ocassion. Is that wrong? Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami October 31, 2009 Share October 31, 2009 Sorry about your losses. Calibration fluid? I just base line with RO/DI on ocassion. Is that wrong? Ron If the refractometer has a slope-error, then calibration with RO/DI will not correct for that error. It's best to calibrate it with a reference close to where you intend to measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st9z October 31, 2009 Share October 31, 2009 Sorry for your lost Ron. If you want I have some pretty big blue leg hermit crabs I've been trying to get rid of. Shoot me a pm and they are all urs once ur tank stabilizes. Best of luck! Niki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunker October 31, 2009 Author Share October 31, 2009 Sorry for your lost Ron. If you want I have some pretty big blue leg hermit crabs I've been trying to get rid of. Shoot me a pm and they are all urs once ur tank stabilizes. Best of luck! Niki I will keep your offer in mind. I will have to see how the next couple of days turn out. The tank is only partly cloudy this evening. As Tom said, I need to pay attention to my current amonia levels. Thank You very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman October 31, 2009 Share October 31, 2009 Tom - the one thing you didn't mention; that solution should read 1.064 Specific Gravity, when you're calibrating a refractometer that reads out in SG. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman October 31, 2009 Share October 31, 2009 Okay... I just had to try it. Mixed up the solution as described (using a gram scale, and a milligram scale). My refractometer was pretty close - reading 1.0260 vs. the standard of 1.0264 Guess I can't blame anything on THAT... bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite October 31, 2009 Share October 31, 2009 I'm sorry to hear of the losses. It was interesting to read this about a refractometer.... at first I thought you were going to say you were using a hydrometer. Calibration fluid doesn't ensure accuracy if there are big differences in temperature, which was a concern I had until I won the temperature adjusting refractometer from the raffle at last meeting. I reccomend to folks to get a refractometer that has that feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami November 1, 2009 Share November 1, 2009 Tom - the one thing you didn't mention; that solution should read 1.064 Specific Gravity, when you're calibrating a refractometer that reads out in SG. bob Yes. 35 ppt = 1.0264 sg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnybv November 1, 2009 Share November 1, 2009 spend 10 bucks on a referance solution ang be done with it, You should calibrade everything with a fluid that is close to what you are measureing IE 1.026 vs zero on RO water and ph 7 and 10 vs 7 and 4 for a tank thay you plan to keep at 8.3 or so john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoutlaw November 1, 2009 Share November 1, 2009 Ron- I have about 20 SPS frags that I can get you going with once your tank stablizes. Also, I would wait before declaring your corals a total loss........I've had some corals come back after some really bad (dumb) mistakes. Plus, you know that you can't kill that purple digi!! Let me know when your tank is ready. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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