Can salinity swing cause re-cycle????

[thirty5]

Well if anyone was watching my 75 Gal Tank thread, you know that I MESSED UP!!!

I was not properly monitoring my salinity levels and they dropped like a rock!! Went down to like 1.01.

I think that I cause this by turning off the main pump and not turning off the skimmer which seemed to basically make it SUPER WET SKIM and then having the cup directly into the sink I never realized that it was skimming so heavy.....

Then having my RO unit act as the ATO it was just filling the system with RO water. I have since installed a proper ATO!

I lost almost all of my LPS that was in the tank, only the zoas have made it along with a Dendro and a Duncan. I also lost my neon green nepthia (I think that it is).

I just tested again:
Ph: 8.2
AMMONIA: .50
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Calcium: 440
Salinity: 1.025

Can the drop in salinity kill off the good bacteria and make the take re-cycle???

 

[strgazr27]

Sounds like the loss of all those inhabitants at once has caused the ammonia spike. It may be possible that the lowered salinity could have killed some of the bacteria but I think my first thought is the more likely scenario. I could be wrong.

 

[thirty5]

True, I didn't have that much that was lost they were all small pieces and I figured that the tank would be able to handle the deaths.

It is just frustrating to have just purchased them all at the swap and now they are gone . I moved a few pieces back into my nano and they do look better already. So I will just keep an eye on the levels to see what happens next. I am definately going to be much more "on top" of the tank.......

 

[strgazr27]

Sorry to hear that bud. I just bought a Reeffanatic ATO and airlifter. I was doing TO's on my first setup like you using manual additions of RO. Not taking a chance w this setup anymore.

 

[Boomer]

Your issue thirty5 was Salinity shock to those inhabitants. You went from say 1.025 to 1.01 back to 1.025. What is that in real Salinity, depending on temp, is from 33 - 34 ppt down 12 - 13 ppt and then back up to 33-34 ppt. Most corals can not handle that. Salinity should not be raised or be dropped more than 1 ppt /day or 0.001 Sg / day. And throwing in the Ammonia @ 0.50 ppm just makes things even worse.

 

[mbg75]

At least it happened now, instead of when the tank is packed out...

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[thirty5]

I was saying the same thing to my wife earlier.

At least it happened now, instead of when the tank is packed out...

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[cryptics]

I would say the ammonia spike is due to the coral die off. You probably also have die off you don't know about worms starfish and stuff in your live rock. I would dose PRIME or something simular in their quick to get the ammonia down or you could lose more.