Sad Stupidity RO water mistake

[littleminnnow]

My poor tank, I was going to do a big water change with some RO saltwater. Went to the LFS and got 10 gals of what I thought was RO saltwater, well, it was fresh water. I put 10 gallons of fresh water into my 25 gal reef tank. Guess what, my tank imploded and now everything is finally stable again. Taste your water first!

Salinity: 1.026
Phosphate: 0.9
PH: 8.4-8.5
Alkalinity: 14
Nitrate: 5.0
Calcium: 400

(alk is high cause I dosed too much all for reef cause my corals were melting from the shock)

Any tips for people who have accidentally done this? Miraculously, all the fish survived.

 

[Fish Fan]

First off, if you made a mistake, don't beat yourself up, we've all been there

I think some of the confusion may be in the terminology.

RO = Reverse Osmosis. This is freshwater that's been filtered so it's nearly pure.

RODI = Reverse Osmosis with DeIonization. This is freshwater that has been through an RO filter, and then next through a DI stage that brings the water to basically pure freshwater.

In reefing, we use RODI filtered freshwater to both mix new saltwater and to replace freshwater that evaporates out of your tank.

If you asked for "RO saltwater" at your LFS, that may have confused the worker who just heard the "RO" part.

Are the parameters you listed what your tank reads after this incident?

 

[littleminnnow]

Yes that is after the incident. The fresh water was in the tank about an hour before I realized. I started panicking about my corals and dosed too much All For Reef.

 

[Fish Fan]

I'd suggest going slowly from here. Give everything a chance to readjust slowly, try not to get out of hand with the AFR

 

[littleminnnow]

Good advice. I have a propensity to panic and try to fix everything all at once, making everything less stable. Thanks for your input

 

[Fish Fan]

You're welcome!

Typically it's thought best that if there's a problem with your tank that you recorrect it slowly, but I think if I was in your position I would have done the same thing.

 

[littleminnnow]

I'm really hoping that the corals bounce back. They were looking so good. I'm past the huge bacterial bloom. I'll be so relieved once everything is stable again,

 

[Fish Fan]

I think you'll be back to normal in a short period of time