I am working on cycling a new 55gal planted aquarium.
I had a bad heater and managed to cook off a few gallons of water over the last two weeks (heater would never turn off!) so I bought some aquarium water from my local pet shop to top off what I lost.
Turns out I bought 2 2.5 gal aquarium bottles and one SEAWATER bottle. I didn't notice the mistake until I was done pouring :-(
So I was maybe a week or two away from being able to get fish and I am wondering how much damage 2.5 gallons of seawater will do to a 55 gallon system.
Do you know what the salinity if the water was?
You'll have to recycle and wash everything.
The fast addition of salt will kill the beneficial bacteria in the filter and substrate, start with draining the tank and rinsing the filter media and substrate, soak all decorations.
Putting everything back and fill the tank and turn everything on.
Test water parameters after a few hours and post what they are.
Also you should get prime water conditioner and make your water at home with tap water, it's cheaper and things like this cant happen
A few water changes of about 25% each should be all you'll need. No need to start over. 2.5 gallons in a 55 should be pretty diluted. Why are you buying water?
I was a few gallons low (around 7.5 since it was just in the black band after I added all three bottles) and my tap water is hard. I actually filled the 55 by running my tap water through my Zero Filter over the course of a few days.
With a planted tank just being setup I would just replace all the water and start over again. No need to worry about the seawater effects.
my .02
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