Water Change Gone Bad

[ALYee]

I just did a water change 2 days agao on my 29 gallon reef which consists of about 40 lbs live rock, 40lbs live sand, 1 perc clown, 1 damsel, 1 cleaner shrimp, xenias, frog spawn, kenya trees, 4 sand snails, turbo's/hermits, 2 sand sifting stars fish, anemone, and star polyps. My tank water level was a little low when i did the change so in total i added 10 gallons of fresh just mixed water. I made the mistake of not turning off my sump pump when i vaccumed 5 gallons out and so the sump water level got too low and the pump started taking air and putting a huge amount of bubbles in my tank. I plugged it out and waited for the tiny bubbles to clear some what and then i added the 10 gallons of fresh sw to get my water level back to where it should be. after i added the water my cleaner shrimp starts freakin out and the next day he died along with my xenias which look like a blob of slime now. what was the problem? help me out please.

[smirkis]

what temp was the water u added? 10 gal on a 29gal tank is almost 50% which is kind of a lot, if the temp wasn't the same it coulda swung. and if water level was low and u topped off with salt water basically, u might have increase salinity also

[bpro32]

what he said

[BigAir]

Not to mention you said something about just mixed water. When mixing, you should let the water mix w/ a powerhead long enough to stabilize the chemical parameters.

[Redeye]

agreed, sounds like too big of parameter swing, or your salinity was WAY off on the new water going in

[manny77]

What is a good rule of thumb on water changes? 1/3 of the tank size? Or is that still too much? I have a 37 tall and does about 5-10G 2x a week. Depends on what the levels are in the water.

[bpro32]

ultimately it depends on your levels, but I say 10% per week just to replace the trace elements if nothing else...

[smirkis]

10% a week is good.

unless u premix/heat or have scripps laying around pre-heated, u can do large changes without issues.

[ALYee]

Well the temp was an estimate which i always do but this is the first time i've added so much freshly mixed sw. i had let it sit for maybe 5 min and then checked the limits and it was good. the thermometer in my tank didnt budge so i dont think it was that drastic. there were a lot of tiny bubbles though could that have possibly done anything?

[sdreefer69]

i try and do water changes as slow as possible when they need to be done, that way the levels in the tank dont change super fast shocking anything. that might help. micro bubbles are super annoying.

[HIDDENREEF!]

I agree with everyone shrimps and xenias are sensitive with change in temp and salinity make sure you premix your salt for a least for a 24hrs with a powerhead and heater so it doesn't shock your livestock. I also get micro bubbles when i leave the return pump on when doing water changes nothing to worry about just don't let it run dry.