Water change last night/bad numbers today

yogisfriend

New member
I did a 25% water change last night (Oceanic) and some of my numbers went through the roof.

Ca= +500 (color didn't change)
dKH = 13.4
Mg = more than 1500 (color barely began to change)

Sg = 1.025
Ph = 8.3
trites = .1
trates = 25
Amm = 0
phosphates = 0

Is this the salt mix? I have used this from the beginning and it seemed alright. However, this was my first use of Salifert tests for Ca, mg, and alk. Numbers were always fine with red sea tests.

I have no livestock other than snails and hermits, which are doing fine.
 
I would say yeah. I used Oceanic one time. The EXACT same thing that happened to you happened to me. I think their salt mixes are very inconsistant from batch to batch. Thats why I switched to Tropic Marin Pro. Thats my opinion, hopefully this won't turn into "what is the best salt" debate agian!
 
Good morning, whiteshark!

Yeah, I know what you mean--no debate necessary. I always heard good things about Oceanic.

I just had another thought--the pump I use to mix the salt started to seize up on me a bit. I soaked it in vinegar water, and when I went to mix the salt for last night's change, I just pulled the pump out of the soak, shook it off a bit, then put it in the salt mixing barrel. Would that change the numbers?
 
I doubt that the vinegar would do that.

Additionally I doubt that a 25% water change would do that. What were the parameters before the water change and did you test with the same test kits that you tested with after the water change?

I would suspect either the parameters have been growing higher each month due to the salt you are using in combination with poor test kits.

Salifert kits are the best in my opinion. If the tank is new you are going to have very low use of Calk and alk and mag. It stands to reason the levels would go up if it's not being used. I would retest to confirm the readings. If you get the same I would change salt mixes.

I use Instant Ocean and am very satisfied. I have to supplement with Randy's two part alk and calk with the IO. My tank has been up 59 days now and he corraline algae is really using alk and calk up.

Regards,

Pat
 
Personally, I don't think so. Is it the same bucket of salt you have been using or is it a new bucket? If it is the old one, maybe the salt just wasn't consistant all the way through. I got a bucket of Oceanic that I used once. Now it just sits there because it sent my calcium up to 700! :eek:
 
It's the same bucket mixed to the same SG. The only thing different was the vinegar soak for the pump.

On Wednesday, I used the Red Sea tests; ca was 440, alk was 10, mg was 1300. Today was the first time I used the Salifert tests.

The tank is only 14 days old.
 
The Calcium and Magnesium levels are usually high in Oceanic so they are believable. The dKh number of 13.4 for Alkalinity might be a test issue or pre-existing as the salt usually brings only about 8.0
If you still have some of the salt try mixing some new water and test it to see which parameters the salt might be affecting.
Also the Nitrites shall be 0 and Nitrates are high. Is this a relatively new tank? How much water (in gallons) did you changed?
Also if all parameters are high it might be due to high salinity although your reading seems OK. Are you using a refractometer?
 
I would believe the salifert tests WAY b4 I ever would consider bothering with the results of the Red Sea. With every water change you did you probably raised calc. and Alk. Like jbieck said, test some newly made saltwater with the salifert tests.
 
yes, I have a refractometer. I changed 30g in a 120g tank. This was my first water change in the tank; I was waiting for the cycle to finish, which it did. Nitrites went up to .1 after the change--they were 0 on Wednesday, trates have stayed steady at 25 for the past 8 days, and the ammonia never registered at all.

I am going to take three samples to the Big City this afternoon and have three different places check it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6983789#post6983789 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yogisfriend
yes, I have a refractometer. I changed 30g in a 120g tank. This was my first water change in the tank; I was waiting for the cycle to finish, which it did. Nitrites went up to .1 after the change--they were 0 on Wednesday, trates have stayed steady at 25 for the past 8 days, and the ammonia never registered at all.

I am going to take three samples to the Big City this afternoon and have three different places check it.

Good you are having the water tested by a third party but it will be good if they could also test some of newly prepared water but you need to let it mix for 24 hours before really testing.

Also due to the Nitrates, I would recomend continue water changes to lower those Nitrates once you solve if the salt was the issue.
 
the tank is only 14 days old... nitrates will go up and down without water changes, but I like that your doing them, BTW...

your not dosing anything, are you? That may sound like a stupid question, but... if your using ANYTHING to dose... be it invert feeding stuff, ph ups or downs stuff, it would be useful to know.
 
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