Hypo Help Please

[alaska clowns]

I'm attempting hypo on my 38 gallon ich-infested QT, equipped with HOB power filter and CPR backpack skimmer.

All the LR + Inverts out of the QT tank with ich and into the DT (JUST KIDDING - I put 'em in a spare 10)

I think I've changed out 2 or 3 gallons and my sg is down to 1.024.

I'm monitoring my PH and it's down to 7.8. So, if the fish don't die from the ich, I'm going to kill them with unstable PH!?!??!?

Should I adjust the PH of the freshwater with baking soda, and if so, by how much? Or is it too late to do that? Or do I just stop the whole process? AHHHH!

One other slight problem, I think...my temperature is around 81-82F... can I leave it here, or should I adjust downward a bit?

Sorry, these probably seem like silly questions to all you seasoned aquarists. But I do appreciate your help.

 

[Tigerlusken]

I'm not experienced and I had to cancel my last hypo attempt as I got to high ammonia levels, but I still did alot of reading. Here's the thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2109754

I would add the baking soda to the top off freshwater, and the freshwater you're exchanging for saltwater to lower the salinity. What Haffs09 suggests works very well:

Fill your water container with fresh water and add baking soda until it matches the pH of the hospital tank. Now you'll know how much baking soda you'll need to add for that amount of water in the future. You'll may want to wait several hours and test the pH again to make sure it's at the right level.

Do some experiments of your own with fresh saltwater, baking soda and adding it in so you know it doesnt go wrong when you add it to your QT. I would raise it very slowly, it's probably way more stressfull with a ph change to the right ph, than to have it low but stabile.

You can also buy "pure" baking soda, sodium carbonate, in my case that was alot cheaper than baking soda and dont have any secret ingredients.

I'll follow your progress before I do my second attempt, let me know how your ammonia values are! Good luck

 

[alaska clowns]

Thanks for your response! I now need to title this thread "hypo disaster."

I did lots of testing for ph- with the tank water, with tap water, with spring water, with baking soda-adjusted water. I figured out how to match the PH - I'm glad that I only have to adjust it up and not down, because I'm not sure how I'd do that.

I tried to follow the instructions from here
http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/hyposalinity.html
which says:
Your starting point should be between 1.025 and 1.027. Replace about one fifth of the volume with RO, RO/DI or aged freshwater that has been well aerated. Repeat this 12, 24 and 36 hours later, monitoring the specific gravity along the way. After the fourth water change the specific gravity should be 1.010 or pretty close. Wait a few hours to make the final adjustment to get down to 1.009. Note that you can estimate the resulting specific gravity. If you are changing one fifth of the water and the current specific gravity is 1.025 the result will be:

((1.025*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.020 approx.

Then, after 12 hours:

((1.020*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.016 approx.

After 24 hours:

((1.016*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.013 approx.

After the 4th change:

((1.013*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.010 approx.

So it was this morning that I calculated how much per water change I'd need to add fresh water. I came up with 7.6 as one-fifth of my total water volume (38 gallon tank). WELL..... I thought to myself "That's an awful lot; I'll start with 4 or 5 gallons the first time." I checked my salinity after a few gallons and it was 1.010 :eek1:
I grossly miscalculated. If I would have THOUGHT about it, or studied the equation better, I should have only been replacing 1/5 total of my water volume with freshwater.

So now, I will have to wait to see what comes of my utter stupidity.

Don't do what I did!!:bounce1:

I'm going to get myself kicked off RC

 

[sandwi54]

I'm not sure where the calculation went wrong. Replacing 7.6 gallons of 1.024 water with freshwater will land you at 1.020. Are you sure you changed only 7.6 gallons? To get straight down to 1.010 you'd have to change more than half of the 38g of water. What exactly went wrong?

 

[alaska clowns]

So I did understand the equation correctly?!?

I was just about to blame my kids for playing with the refractometer and its cool little calibrating screw driver.

Where I went wrong was, I think I was holding the baby at the same time that I was looking through the refractometer. Not sure how I saw that low reading, but I panicked and figured I'd better put everything away and go to bed if I was going to go doing things like that! After I put him to bed and read your post, sadwi54, I looked again and it wasn't 1.010, it was indeed 1.020. Sorry. Thanks for confirming the calculation - you inspired me to not give up tonight

Tigerlusken - thanks for the link to your thread. You were asking all the same questions that I have had in the last couple of days! Sorry to hear about all the problems you are having. Maybe your fish will be ich free because of transferring them back and forth between the two tanks Hope you're able to get that figured out.

BTW, my bottle of Amquel says it is safe for fresh or saltwater, so I would think that it would be safe to use in a hypo situation to help, along with the water-changes, to control the ammonia?

I'll update my post to let you know how hypo is progressing, hopefully minus any more blonde moments.

 

[Tigerlusken]

Amquel looks like a nice find, just what I was looking for as most of the saltwater ammonia removers I found didnt work at lower salinity. My only concern is that it also lowers ph.

It does not reach toxic levels even in cases of accidental or purposeful overdosing. The only concern is in the situations where AmQuel lowers the pH (acidity) in the water.

(that was copied from here http://www.novalek.com/kordon/amquel/index.htm )

Someone should invent a ph adjuster, like an ATO that automatically adjust your ph :rollface:

For now all my fish are active and eat well, no signs of any ich at all so just going to leave them alone for a few weeks while the tank is getting Salifert stop parasites, hopefully that will reduce the chances of filthy parasites eating away on my fish until I can find a bigger tank - or find out where to get amquel in norway! Hope your fish are doing good as well

 

[MrTuskfish]

Remember that a 38 gal tank, with Lr & substrate, doesn't contain 38 gals. of water. Here's a neat little helper:http://reef.diesyst.com/volcalc/volcalc.html
Oh yeah, expect your skimmer to stop skimming when SG drops. Normal and no big deal.

 

[sandwi54]

Remember that a 38 gal tank, with Lr & substrate, doesn't contain 38 gals. of water. Here's a neat little helper:http://reef.diesyst.com/volcalc/volcalc.html
Oh yeah, expect your skimmer to stop skimming when SG drops. Normal and no big deal.

Agreed. With LR and LS it will be less than 38 gallons. You would have to calculate the actual number of gallons for the water in the tank, as well as in the sump.

You may use amquel or prime to detoxy ammonia and nitrite. I've used both and I think prime does a better job. However, try to do water changes to combat ammonia/nitrite and only use water conditioners as a last resort. Using an overdosed prime/amquel for detoxification will lower pH too.

Best wishes!

 

[alaska clowns]

Thank you kindly for your help! My process is simplified because the tank is bare (except for a few pvc fitting - hide-outs). That doesn't necessarily mean I'll be able to do my math correctly Thanks for the great link to the volume calculator - will definitely bookmark that for future reference!