H20 Help!

[Photosnowman]

I'm trying to maintain a coral only system with my 25 nano cube but haven't had any luck. I recently bought a nano remora skimmer thinking that would help a lot. Although it has made a difference I haven't seen much change with the coral. I have red mushroom and green star polyps in there right now. Neither one seems to open up like they did when I first bought them. I'm convinced it has something to do with the water I'm using. I have an R.O. filter that makes what I thought was good water to make water changes with. I've noticed when I mix the salt mixture with the R.O. water to get the level needed and make the water change the salt level sky rockets in the tank. Dose anyone have any tips on making your own water?

 

[dileggi]

I have a 29g biocube. I have some corals in there now and have not had any problems.

I've been using dionized water along with the Oceanic brand salt and have not had any issues.

I wonder if it's possible to have gotten a bad batch of salt? But, I can't see how the salt level in your tank would be higher than the water change water. The only way I would think that would happen would be to top off with salt water or if you were adding more water in the water change that was removed.

You're not topping off with salt water, right?

What about other levels, like ph, amonia etc?

 

[mwwhite]

You need to circulate freshly-mixed saltwater for 24 hours before using. Using it early could explain the spike.

By R.O., do you mean RO/DI? (Reverse Osmosis, De-Ionization). The DI unit is important.

My $.02

 

[Photosnowman]

No I usually top off with straight R.O. water

 

[bertoni]

The salt level in the tank shouldn't change if the newly-mixed water has the same salinity as the tank. 24 hours of mixing isn't necessary. Some salts do mix up to a high pH, but aeration will bring that down.

I'd start by verifying that the SG device is accurate, that the RO filter is working properly, and that the pH of the water for changes is okay.

This article will help with the SG device:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php

If you're using a refractometer, the PinPoint 53 mS solution is fine.

For the RO system, you'll need a good TDS meter. Maybe a LFS can run a quick test for you?