what am I doing wrong?

[HUNGER]

have you tried mixing up a new batch of salt watter with a differnt batch of salt?

[Blown76mav]

I have 40 gallons of fresh saltwater, but I don't really want to throw it away......

[slandis3]

Lonnie did you retest your new saltwater you made up? I would recheck the nitrites.

[Aquatic Specialists]

are you oxygenating the salt mix for at least 24 hours prior to doing you changes?

[Blown76mav]

Ok, I rechecked the Nitrites, still 20 ppm, BUT......

I think I know what to blame besides myself LOL.  I added a MP40w, let me tell ya this is a BAD Mother of a power head, for the first two hours of it being in the tank I ran it at full blast because I thought it was cool to see the undertow, the tank was cloudy for at least those two hours from all the stuff coming out of the coral bed.  I think this is the cause of the spike in Nitrites and am planning a big water change today and tomorrow.

Any thoughts?

[slandis3]

I would bet that is what caused your corals to start acting like that.

[Blown76mav]

Ok so I got fat fingers, its NITRATES that are 20 ppm, not nitrites (they are 0) could this be the cause?

[lazylivin]

Most definitely, that is good you have found the cause. However if your Alk went to 5 that would be just as stressful if not more then the Nitrates.

[jungliztkruger]

i am thinking that detritus pockets can be alkalinity "sinks" and will lower alkalinity. if the detritus in the tank all became suspended at once that could cause a drop in alk and then the subsequent rise in nitrates as the waste is being processed.

does this make sense?