help water change went wrong

walkytalky

Ok folks,
Everyone said do a 'partial water change'. K so I did. I did the pail thing added all the chemicals I needed in the pail of fresh/saltwater, left it overnight.
NOW everything is going thru the roof. nitrates,amonia,ph and at this point I am not even going to check the calcuim. My salt is fine.
Am I panicking too soon or what am I aspose to do now????

SKAustin

What was your water source? tap water, RO, RO/DI, distilled?

walkytalky

tap water. but I put in the prime.

Kellsindell

Prime takes none of this out(PO4 and NO3) it only takes out CL. your calcium should be fine. i suggest going to local fish store(LFS) and getting water there that is RO/DI. Then doing another water change.

How long has the tank been up?

onefish2fish

phosphates(PO4) and nitrates(NO3) only takes out chlorine(CL)

i think i got it right

using tap water is bound to give you an unwanted algae outbreak, unknown trace elements, possibly chloromine, and contain other un-wanted things for a reef tank.

as suggested either purchase some reverse osmosis (RO) water from a LFS or purchase a RO unit that you can make your own from tap water

walkytalky

i just retested. Amonia went down. Nitrate went down a bit.

SKAustin

Go to your local Water Dept. and request a copy of the most recent report on your local tap. That alone should convince you never to use Tapwater for your tank.