salt reduction
 

:eek2: new to saltwater and up to now have had no trouble with my tank, water was always tested and fine. Here it is middle of the night and I just got home and my salt is a little high and I can't find my idiots book, how can I lower the salt level, no room to add water, just did a water change last night............

Take some saltwater out and replace with freshwater.

But do it slowly. Don't make to big a change at once. Did you check your water that you added for the water change yesterday? I'm wondering how it got high.

salt reduction
 

From the little experience that I am getting, when I have done a water change, I always used less salt than called for and it was always fine before, this is the first time it was high but no I didn't check it before I put it in. Do you mean do a strip test like normal checks?

Yah it just does not get high by itself. Temperature will effect the SG.

The temp is also a little higher than normal, had the air off all day, so this could cause it to raise the salt level?

How hot did your tank get. What are the reading you are talking about.

Michael, it was not in danger level, just higher than normal. It is
almost always in the middle range, but tonight it was at the top of the safe level...........

Give me some numbers. What is your normal SG and what was the high reading you took

Do you have anything to check the Specific Gravity of the water (salt content)? A swingarm hydrometer will work, but not always accurate. A glass hydrometer is better, but once again not always accurate. A refractometer is the best if its properly calibrated.

You should always check you water before adding it to the tank to make sure it matches the tank water. You must have something if you know the tank is high.

Temp may play a role, but not drastically. How high was the SG in your tank?

okay here is my test: nitrate is close to 80
nitrite is 0
alkalinity is 300
ph is about 8.0
temp is about 79

Alk 300? Do you mean calcium 300? Is it a fish only tank? Nitrates at 80 is high even for a fish only. Especially if you just did a water change. What is your SG at? I thought that is what you meant was to high.

I'd continue to do at least weekly water changes and probably twice a week till I got the nitrates down. It seems as if we aren't talking about the same thing here.

okay, I am using a strip test, it shows nitrates is high at about 80, it says alkalinity is ideal at 300 and it shows the ph level also fine. I was going by a floating hyrdrometer but it just shows a green "safe level" and it was a little above the safe level. Am I confused on which is the salt level? Can I add some nitrate decreaser?

Connie read these they should help you.

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No, the hydrometer tells you about salt. It doesn't have any numbers on it? Is your tank a reef, fowler, fish only???? It makes a difference on your water chemistry.

I wouldn't add any chemicals to try to reduce nitrates since it's really only a short term fix. What kind of filtration are you running? The best thing for high nitrates is water changes with water that doesn't have nitrates in it and cutting back on feeding.

As for the SG, the thing you want the most, is to be consistant. Always check your water when doing water changes so you don't change the tank. Just make sure the two match.

Thanks for the help. I took a water sample to the store I always deal with and my water was fine. I threw out the old meter and bought a new test kit. They also told me not to use our tap water even treated for water changes, to use ro water. I didn't even realize that could cause algae problems, I thought it was something else. I am still in a learning process here, I have had the aquairum only about 4 months really and I just get really nervous about the possiblity of killing fish through neglect when I should have been worried about stupidity :D I guess I just over-reacted and I am sorry if I wasted your time, but I did learn more through this. I also threw out the test strips because it was sometimes just too close to tell the colors apart. I actually have been extremely lucky so far, because I have had a hard time getting the chemistry in my head, (blonde moments). Nitrate, nitrites, salt, ammonia was making me dizzy :confused: But the store I deal with are very patient people and family-owned and always helpful to me. I just have never read a breakdown of what everything is, (ph, alkalinity, nitrates, etc.) it was all greek to me. But, I haven't killed them yet, and am doing better with it than I imagined so thanks so much for your help and if you have any good tips for a newbie please share. Connie