LFS "expert" almost killed my tank

[RioReefr]

Just as the subject says.....lesson learned don't trust the LFS people -- research (on this forum), do you own testing, trust your own gut instincts.

I had a refractometer fall into my salt mixture bucket and became useless. As I was waiting to buy another one, I asked my LFS "expert" if he could come over and test my salt mixture.

He comes over the same day, uses his so-called "trustworthy refractometer I use in the store all the time". Tells me my aquarium is really low at 1.021 and suggests I make my 10% water change at 1.030 and do another 10% @ 1.030 to get my levels at 1.025. I trusted him and his judgement.

A day after the 1st water change, I noticed the petals on my nice mangrove plants starting wither, my small duncan corals closed up. Strange I thought and mentioned it to him. His response: "I wouldn't worry about, could be spike in magnesium/pH due to the water change". OK, seems reasonable.
2 days later, did another 10% water change with the same salt mixture he had tested at 1.030. I do the change, he comes back over with his "trustworthy" refractometer, measures my tank at 1.025 and says "perfect, you are good to go now". The next days, literally all the petals on mangrove fall off. Duncan corals completely closed up. Kryptonite trumpet looking really bleak, some of my trocus snails had died. Now, I have a nasty brownish algae outbreak. My beautiful Leather Corals covered with the crap.

I knew something was seriously wrong! I immediately ordered the newly released Hanna Instruments Salinity meter and a new Refractometer. When they arrived in a couple of days, I measured the tank AND....as you might have guessed by now....1.031 sg (41.5 ppt) on both new/calibrated devices. ***!!!

I immediately get on the phone with the LFS guy and tell him about it and his response: "Ok, when I get home I will test with my other refractometer to see if there is any difference".
I already knew there was going to be, so I started making some plans to slowly reduce the salinity. Literally, everyday I was taking small amounts of saltwater out of the tank and adding in the equivalent of RODI-only water.
Anyway, when I he did not respond to me I went over to the store to confront him. His response was something like this "yeah, you were right...my bad bro...mt refractometer measured 1.020 on 1.025 water, haahaaa" (in smirky tone of voice).

I said "Dude, ***?!....how can you call yourself a professional and NOT calibrate your equipment?". He basically said, "Listen, things happen...what do you want me to do about it now?....but excuse me, I have to attend to another customer now". Totally blew me off like nothing happened.

It literally took me 2 weeks to get my aquarium back to a normal state. My small little duncan frags shows some signs of life, but looks horrible and will probably die. My mangrove plants did not survive. All the petals fell off. 4 trochus snails died (and probably the cause for the nasty outbreak). Seems like all the hermit crabs made it though.
Green star polyps look horrible, but I think they will make it.
Leather coral is healthy and full. All the fish made it. The peppermint shrimp and Clam survived.

Total loss not much in terms of financial (maybe a $100), but more a loss of time/effort and aggravation to get things right again. Totally disappointment in this person for something incredibly basic. His lack of empathy was terribly disappointing, he really did not care one bit.

On the flip-side, I really like my new HI Salinity digital meter and got great customer support from them. Again, trust your own instincts and treat your tank like a family member.

[humphreyhh]

That’s terrible... sorry to hear that.


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[theMerchant]

Get some calibration fluid for your new salinity meters. It's best practice to calibrate at 35 and not at 0 with rodi


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[mcgyvr]

Mistakes do happen in life.

[pisanoal]

That sucks that this happened, and you are right that your LFS should be calibrating their equipment.

That being said, I think you need to take some personal responsibility here. I would never make that drastic of a change in that short amount of time based on 1 test with 1 piece of equipment. Especially operated by someone else, and especially if the tank is already doing fine. If there are issues in the tank, then thats another scenario but if not, why make sudden major changes? Even if there were issues, sudden changes only tend to exacerbate stress.

Not saying your LFS didn't screw up, but you are responsible for what happens in your own tank. Im not trying to be mean or rude, but thats the tough lesson to learn here I think.

[sde1500]

Sounds like two people combined to almost kill a tank. Sorry, but part of it is on you. He also answered your question, confirmed his mistake, what did you want more from him? To stay on the line longer for you to yell at him? Certainly unfortunate his equipment wasn't calibrated, but why did you even bother having them come by? A tank can wait a bit on a water change while you wait on new equipment. I am glad nothing too terrible came of it. Tanks are surprisingly resilient to salinity changes. My tank recently had drifted that high due to auto water changes not being as precise as I had hoped they were. Only lost one acro.

[Orsamax]

RioReefer, thanks for sharing. It's obvious that you are/were upset. I think, forgive me for paraphrasing or for putting words in your mouth, that you were primarily warning others against trusting even so called "trustworthy" individuals. That is a good thing to share. I've seen, on here no less, people recommending to take your water to an LFS and get it tested. Be wary. I also suspect that you knew you were also telling on your self for trusting someone else with your tank. I appreciate your honesty, and I think that the positive perspective of this event is to realize that we all make BIG mistakes at times. I don't think that you need a lecture here on that.

[homer1475]

The Hanna salinity meter is the cats ***! Got mine in the mail last week and haven't put it down.



I have several refractometers, a couple hydrometers, a milwaukee, and now the hanna. Guess which one I'm exclusively using now? So easy to use, just turn it on, dip it in the water, wait a few seconds and it gives you salinity(in PPT, SG, or PSU), and temp of your tank.



Over the past week I have used all 3 different methods of salinity testing, and the hanna was always the closest to the hydrometer(only one that doesn't have to be calibrated).