does my tank hate me?

[vonG]

I've been pretty meticulous with up-keep since getting my 29g cube.

I upgraded the protein skimmer. Converted the crap stock lighting to Modular's LED upgrade.
The tank is doing great.

BUT... my question is...
When I'm doing small water changes (1 big Al's bucket worth) using heated water, with the same salinity as the water in the tank... everything goes for a sheeeit.
Obviously where there's a disturbance, anything that can close up does.
But my Duncan gets all gnarly and puffy, like it's infected. Obviously it's protecting itself.
And most of the corals will shed some of their lining, as I have all kinds of stringy stuff in the tank hanging off the corals after a short time of the water change being done.

Then, a day or two later - everything is back to 100%

I'm assuming this is normal?

running a decent size bag of charcoal. live rock in the back of the filter section of the cube for filteration (not illuminated), and my skimmer is working really well (I dump it at least every other day when it's full of green gunk).

Nitrates are pretty low (10ppm) and everything else is flourishing.

video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJlKAnIMQt0

[leemay]

it sounds like you are changing too much water that's parameters are different from your tank.
Its a good idea to test the new water and your tank water, if any of the parameters much different it will stress your livestock.

[vonG]

a big Al's bucket is 5 gallons, no?

the tank is 29g

I put in a yogurt container or two of water in every 3 days or so because of evap.
3 gallons is 10% change.
I didn't think the extra 2 gallons would make that big of a dif.

I guess I'll go with smaller changes.

[leemay]

i thought it was 5g,

you are likely doing 25% if you account for live rock displacement.

your corals are telling you whats up!

check alk, ph salinity and temp of both and let us know what you get.

[NanoSF]

Ya this is not right. It can't be a too much water thing. Ya that is a little on the high side, but if your parameters are very close you shouldn't have that kind of problem. You say warm water, but are you actually measuring the temp to see if it is equal. I mean you really want to be within one degree or even half a degree, and aim for exactly the same. Same with salinity. You have to be exactly the same give or take a very tiny leeway. Also, what kind of water are you using? Have you changed salt brands? Maybe add the new water in more slowly. No matter what though, there is something wrong. The corals should not react at all really. Maybe a positive reaction if anything. Especially if you are reducing nitrates since you have some. With a zero nitrate tank you may even get a bit of a positive reaction from corals because they are getting something that may have been deficient before the water change.

The only other possibility I can think of is that something is way off in your tank and the corals are adjusting to that. When you put the new water in the thing that is off changes drastically for a day or two then goes way off again. Things like PH, Alk, Cal.

[Greatwhite]

Just something that popped out at me here.. Are you replacing evaporated water with salt water?  When you're dealing with a small tank, seemingly little changes can be big in the grand scheme of things.

If your water is 1.025, and you're evaporating - the salt stays.  If you then put in more water that tests at 1.025, you're actually increasing the amount of salt in the tank as a whole.  Eventually, you'll be 1.026, and with further evaporation - it will just build up. 

Water changes = salt water.  Top up = fresh water.

You should always fill slowly.  Never pour the new water in because it will stir up too much stuff.  I'm talking trickle almost.  Syphon the water in with a small hose like air line tubing or perhaps a little bigger.  Yes, it will take time - but it will reduce stress on everything during the change.

And as mentioned, reduce to 3g water changes and see if that helps.  It may - or it may not, but it sounds like everything else is done right...

[vonG]

right now, salinity in the tank is 1.024
a little high?

how to reduce that at a slow enough rate not to freak anything else out?

tank looks better today.
nearly everything back to 100%

[JetJumper]

I keep my tanks at 1.025 / 1.026 for salinity.

[Greatwhite]

1.024 is good... I keep mine at 1.026.

You can raise it over time by topping up with salt water, or doing a water change with slightly saltier water.  You can lower it by doing water changes with slightly less salty water.  Just don't make big jumps either way.

[NanoSF]

That is not high. I wouldn't go lower than that. Some people are even higher than that. It's not really an issue of it being high, it is an issue of it being consistent. What Greatwhite is saying is that your 1.024 might creep up over time if you are topping off your water with salt water, or not topping off at all. If all you do is water changes then when you fill it up with the new salt water your salt level will rise over time.

Even though your tank looks better today, that doesn't mean you are not doing something wrong. Like I said just keep everything

Oh looks like Greatwhite replied already

[vonG]

perfect.

that's why I post here before doing anything 

Thank you for your help guys.

[az]

are you mixing conditioner and salt to new water properly?
sounds like new water isnt mixed right.
salinity is not the issue here.

[kole18]

1.24 , 1.25 - 1.27 salinity is ok that's we're corals like it . By the way at red sea salinity found out around 1.27 I'm talking about the red sea ocean base on national geographic survey lol I'm watching a lot of this program on tv. Az is right could it be your adding additives might not be in proper level as far as we know your salinity is perfectly in right param.

[vonG]

no conditioner has been added to distilled water and marine salt.

edit - tank is 100% today. everything is happy.

[yellowtang]

Ok the question is?
Are you worried about the state your
Tank looks after water changes? Or are u worried
About loosing corals after water changes.?
u said it yourself that 2 days after it goes back
To normal then u should be ok.
I too have the same results after water changes
But have not lost anything.

[vonG]

I have yet to lose anything (knocks on wood!)
So it was mostly an open question to see if this is "normal" when doing water changes.

I will do smaller changes in the future and see if that makes a difference.

cheers, and thanks for the tips.

[Hookup]

hum,,, how are you adding in the water?  if it's violent on the corals it might make them slime up...

this is not what I would consider normal...

my guess is something such as pH is off... given Temp or Salinity you would be able to see the "swirls" as the two different waters mixed... but with a big pH difference you would not...

[Greatwhite]

hum,,, how are you adding in the water?  if it's violent on the corals it might make them slime up...

Yeah, this is why I recommend a trickle-to-refill...  I don't think we've heard how the refill was actually done, but my assumption is a bucket of water is poured in, agitating everything.  A nice slow water line in helps if there's a slight variation in PH -- or anything, really.

In a perfect world, the water would have exactly the same parameters.  Unfortunately, this rarely happens for me and I'm sure lots of others.

[delslo]

I have a bc 29 aswell and also do one bucket changes, i have aussie acans aswell, but don't ever have the issues you talk about. I always check the temp and the salinity before adding.

[Cheebs]

I agree that there must be something a little off. With my 40 gallon, which is full of corals similar to yours, I do a 50% water change every 3 weeks or so, even exposing a lot of the corals to air for a brief period. 20 minutes later everything seems back to normal.

If it's taking a couple days for things to get back to normal, it means the tank is dealing with some irregularity that isn't normally present, and it's taking a while to regulate itself. My guess is it might not be your temperature, since you say you are getting it pretty darn close to what's in the tank, and that shouldn't take a few days to come back to normal. Like the others have mentioned, it could be a salinity or pH swing, violent water movement stirring stuff up, or something else that's in your water. Make sure you test and double test to see what's up!