I am new here and my tank is about 3 months old and has cycled nicely. Have a pair of Clowns and a few Damsels which have survived but everything else I have added has died. Corals, Shrimp, Snails and a Hawkfish. My SG I kept an eye on daily. All other parameters are where they should be. I have checked for copper. Measured just about every test I could think of. Mag, Cal, Phos etc. I could not figure out why so many things would die, in some cases instantly when adding to my tank. With the Hawkfish he never made it past the drip acclimation.
Being new, I had not thought of testing the water in the bag from the LFS until recently and was surprised to see it as low as 1.010. I realized (from reading the forums here) that it would take a very long time to acclimate anything from .010 to .024 so I set up a QT to slowly over time raise the SG roughly 1 point a day. A couple Damsels made it but the coral frags never did. I was about to give up.
I had read somewhere here of the test solutions that came with refractometers being bad on occasion. I had calibrated twice using the supplied solution and trusted the readings.
I ordered a new digital refractometer to verify what I was reading. The day I expected the shipment I made the trip to a not so local FS which has a very good reputation and hoped for better results. When I got there I asked them about their SG and they tested it in front of me and got a reading of .024. Great, this is what I am at. Purchased a few corals and a Kole Tang. When I got home I tested the water from the store myself and got a reading of sub .010. Something was wrong. At this time the new refractometer showed up so I quickly tested the SG again from the store and it was .024. Now I tested my water.. . almost .040. Yeah.
I re-calibrated my original refractometer with the solution that came with the new one and it is now correct.
Anyway, went through the process of lowering the SG in my tank from high .030's to .024 (over a 30 min period) and everything in the tank survived. Eventually added the Tang and corals and a week later everything is thriving.
I know this was long but I was becoming really frustrated very early on and it was something so simple that almost destroyed my chance of enjoying this beautiful hobby. Figured I would type out my experience and just maybe it might help another avoid giving up like I almost did.
Short version.. the solution that came with my Refractometer was bad and cost me many livestock.
Being new, I had not thought of testing the water in the bag from the LFS until recently and was surprised to see it as low as 1.010. I realized (from reading the forums here) that it would take a very long time to acclimate anything from .010 to .024 so I set up a QT to slowly over time raise the SG roughly 1 point a day. A couple Damsels made it but the coral frags never did. I was about to give up.
I had read somewhere here of the test solutions that came with refractometers being bad on occasion. I had calibrated twice using the supplied solution and trusted the readings.
I ordered a new digital refractometer to verify what I was reading. The day I expected the shipment I made the trip to a not so local FS which has a very good reputation and hoped for better results. When I got there I asked them about their SG and they tested it in front of me and got a reading of .024. Great, this is what I am at. Purchased a few corals and a Kole Tang. When I got home I tested the water from the store myself and got a reading of sub .010. Something was wrong. At this time the new refractometer showed up so I quickly tested the SG again from the store and it was .024. Now I tested my water.. . almost .040. Yeah.
I re-calibrated my original refractometer with the solution that came with the new one and it is now correct.
Anyway, went through the process of lowering the SG in my tank from high .030's to .024 (over a 30 min period) and everything in the tank survived. Eventually added the Tang and corals and a week later everything is thriving.
I know this was long but I was becoming really frustrated very early on and it was something so simple that almost destroyed my chance of enjoying this beautiful hobby. Figured I would type out my experience and just maybe it might help another avoid giving up like I almost did.
Short version.. the solution that came with my Refractometer was bad and cost me many livestock.
