[Samper]

I come home this evening from work and find that my auto top off system has failed on display with the gravity fed refugium. I left at 8 this morning and have been gone around 12 hours. I don't know when it failed but it was since yesterday. My sump is overflowing and there is water everywhere. The SG is at 1.020. I quickly siphoned out enough to get it to the right water level in the sump. I then did a five gallon water change because that is all that I had laying around. Yesterday I did a 29 gallon water change and this new five gallons has only had 24 hours or so to age. I'm making water for more exchanges. I am going to slowly raise it back to where it needs to be but adding this much ASW that won't have aged for any time scares the heck out of me. All of my corals and livestock appear to be happy despite the problem. The longterm effects are my worry. I need quick advice. Will check back often.

[Samper]

Part of me says to add a few cups of salt to the overflows every 15 minutes and quickly get it back up but my Linkia will surely die. I got a second opinion from a local reefer that said to do the same thing but.....I'm not sure.

[Ninong]

It's always better to age your saltwater before using it. Emergency situations are an exception. Twenty-hours of aging is fine. I wouldn't worry about that. Three or four days would be better but 24 hrs will do. In a real emergency, you might have to use new saltwater that has only aged for 30 minutes.

The fairly rapid drop in salinity may not harm your corals so much as it may affect your other inverts -- molluscs, echinoderms, etc. You will have to keep on eye on those over the next several days. I don't believe your fish will be affected.

You can gradually raise the salinity over the next couple of days by using saltwater for water changes that is much higher in salinity than usual.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Samper

Part of me says to add a few cups of salt to the overflows every 15 minutes and quickly get it back up but my Linkia will surely die. I got a second opinion from a local reefer that said to do the same thing but.....I'm not sure.

I wouldn't do that if I were you. The salinity has already dropped. Any damage that's going to happen because of the rapid drop in salinity has already happened. I would take at least two or three days to get it back up to where it was before. And I would NOT add "cups of salt to the overflows every 15 minutes."

[Samper]

Ninong thank you. I was thinking that since it has slowly dropped over a minimum of 12 hours maximum of 24 that raising it quickly via salt additions to the sump/overflows would be a bad idea. I'm headed to the school to get 40 gallons of distilled water. Will keep you guys posted.

On a side note the Alcyonium sp. that I have been keeping has never looked happier.....am getting a pic.

[charlie]

Mix up a few batches of 1.030 Chuck, and do a 10 gallon change every day for about 3 days. Check your salinity somewhere in between. Ninong is right about the other inverts, but if you can manage to raise it back up to where it was in a week, I think you should be alright. Wishing you lots of luck, hang in there man, you probably caught it just right!!!

[charlie]

Got any quick updates for us?

[Samper]

I have performed ten gallons of water changes and am about to do another five. I got 40 gallons of distilled water last night from the school and have had it mixing since about 1 am this morning. The SG has come up to right around 1.0215. After this wc I'll have 30 gallons left mixing. I am going to change 5 gallons every morning and evening until the container is empty. Having access to that still has allowed me to get water mixing almost instantly compared to filling my container with RO/DI thus giving me more time to age and prepare it properly. Hauling all that water was not fun but I managed it. Had I waited just one day longer to do my water change I would have had week old water ready to go and could have sprung into action like aquaman or something.

I'm in high spirits but am keeping an eye on everything. Viewing with my red led this morning all appears well. The L. laevigata is my easiest to find eco indicator and it is cruising slowly across the front glass. LPS are feeding as usual and colors/polyp extension on everything else seems fine. I know that many problems could take a while to show up so I'm sort of preparing myself for anything.

[charlie]

The long term is the best way to view this, I believe you are headed in the right direction though!!! What salinity are you mixing at to raise the level? In the short term, I think you are OK with the mixing time, I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya.

[Samper]

The first 5g was at 1.026. Everything else is at 1.030 following your advice. Will keep you guys updated and thank you for your concerns/advice.

[Poseidon]

I think you will be fine Chuck! Keep going slow, and good choice to NOT add salt to the overflows. Adding "raw" salt to a tank is NEVER a good idea.

[Samper]

Well I'm back to 1.026 and haven't lost a thing.......yet.