my softies have shriveled up after adding more LR

[BeachVacationer]

Bought some live rock from a LFS and I added it into the tank. For almost 2 weeks most of my soft corals have shriveled up. My params seems ok. I also switched my salt mix at the same time. So I'm not sure what is going on. It's a 5 gallon nano that's been running for about 11 months.

 

[GilliganReef]

What do you mean by Params are ok?

What are they?

What do you have for live stock?

Equipment?

 

[kgeig001]

You probably shocked them with too many changes at one time in such a small tank. Make sure parameters are in check and give it time. Softies can be finicky especially leathers.

 

[BeachVacationer]

Parameters, I check ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, sg, kh, ca, mg and phosphate. 0, 0, 0, 1.024, 10, 520, 1440, 0.02

I use tap water, but I just got a RO filter and I'm aging 5 gallons of it right now. Hoping to start WCs soon to replace water made from tap.

I have 2 small clowns, a skunk shrimp, a small zebra hermit crab and a few astria snails. Softies include some zoas, frogspawn, torch, acan, gsp, sinularia, shrooms, monti, and 2 tiny rbtas.

 

[BeachVacationer]

I took my tank water to Aquarium Adventures to to have them test it. She said the salinity is too high at 1.028 and the pH is high also. I've purchased live rock and some corals from Craigslist and noticed their water measured low on salinity but didn't connect the dots until today.

Being a newbie, I only have the IO Hydyometer which I've had for almost a year. It says my tank is at 1.024 but LFS just said it's at 1.028. When I tested water from my craigslist buys, theirs reads about 1.016 on this thing.

Obviously this hydrometer is out of what. My LFS is charging $60 for a proper meter but I know it's overpriced and I can probably get a better deal online so I didn't buy that today.

So I know I have to adjust my salinity asap.

The question is, if I mix 1 gallon of store bought distilled water with 1/2 cup of my Omega Sea reef salt which is their formula and measure that on my hydrometer and adjust my tank to that measurement, would that be good enough to get my tank to a decent salinity range until I get a proper sg meter?

What's a reliable one that I should order online.

I assume adjusting salinity over a few hours is ok?

 

[BeachVacationer]

My frogspawn is looking terrible, so I need to address this sooner than later before other corals starts going south. I think my acan is taking a hit also. SG at 1.028 cause issues?

 

[jlmawp]

I'm sort of new too, but I would think that adding live rock like that will inevitably result in a die-off that will produce a decent amount of ammonia, even in an established tank. Not to mention any nutrients already in there that are now leaching into your water.

 

[jenjen]

Swing arm hydrometers are often out by a bit, but as long as you keep them clean they are usually pretty consistent. You can measure water from your LFS that has a known sg to calibrate your hydrometer - use a jiffy marker to mark the level you want. Then make sure to rinse it well with fresh water after each use so the arm doesn't start to stick.

As for adjusting the sg in your tank, I would remove some water and replace with fresh to lower the sg. You can lower quickly, but should never raise quickly as fish and inverts have a difficult time adjusting to a raise.

 

[joshbrookkate]

If I were you, I'd buy the refractometer form your lfs. Savings not worth the wait, IMO. Because the corals are showing signs of distress, I'd be getting the salinity issue resolved asap.

 

[BeachVacationer]

Yup, ordered one. But in the meantime, I bought a gallon which I used as a reference to make a batch of my own water from my new ro filter. Did some WCs, we'll see if corals perk up soon.

Thanks.

 

[jenjen]

Sound decision. Let us know how the corals look in a day or 2.

 

[BeachVacationer]

Here's a pic right now. All of them are not happy yet...