salinity check.. how high is too high??

[claymc]

I just checked my salinity with my refracto, and it's creeped up to 1.033.. :eek1: WOW.. I've tried to keep it around 1.025, but over the past few weeks it's bumped up...

What is everyone's thoughts? What is the best strategy to lower it back down.. slowly i assume..

Thanks!
-clayton

[bertoni]

I don't know of any strong data on the upper limits of acceptable SG, but I wouldn't let it rise above 1.028 or so. 1.026-1.027 is about the canonical ocean average.

I would lower the SG in that tank about 0.001 units every other day.

[steven_dean17]

whats causing the creep up? Are you adding salt with topoff? Yes to lower some little water changes and don't add any salt.

[aquawolf]

Be sure to double check that your top off water is fresh RO water, especially if you are buying it.

When I first started I had a 12 gallon nanocube and was buying RO water since it was such a small amount. One day things in the tank started looking bad and I tested and found my salinity almost at the top of the hydrometer scale. I had no idea why it had climbed that high until my wife suggested that I taste the topoff water. The young guy at the LFS had filled the jug with salt water instead of fresh. Needless to say I bough an RO unit immediately after that.

Hopefully your tank will fare better than mine did since you have a much larger body of water. Good luck!

[Aadler]

Winter time increases evaporation due to the dry weather... I top off 3g a day easy on a 110g total water volume system. It can jump as much as .005 in 8 hours. I have taken it down .003 at one time without any adverse effects, but by the time my top off water gets to my display tank it prolly drops it slowly, so i would not recommend doing this if you top off directly to your display tank. but i have small tanks that get up to 1.035 with some regularity, lps and softies have been fine with this. I dont think you will have great long term success, but I would not fear it, I cannot say the same if you have sps in there however, there is one hydnophora in that tank as well that is fine with those swings.

[Aadler]

I would listen to bertoni, dont pay attention to me :c)

[claymc]

I would lower the SG in that tank about 0.001 units every other day.

Do you know of a calculator for this??

I haven't done a water change in a few weeks, but last time I did, it did with low salinity water (to slightly add trace elements). My guess is that because of salt creep, and topping off with this batch of water caused the rise..

I have approx 90 galls total. If I'm at 1.033 what would I need to remove to bring it down to 'normal' range...

Thanks!
-c

[stevelkaneval]

remove the salt its simple.

[bertoni]

To get an exact number, we'd need to know the actual water volume in the system. Let's assume it's about 50g. Replacing a gallon of tank water with RO-DI water should be fine, if done once a day.

[Aadler]

2-3 gallons a day will lower your total salinity about .001, however, this does not account for the evaporation for that day.

[poppin_fresh]

Check your measurement device. I found out my refractometer was off by .005 for some reason. Thought my tank had crept to 1.030, but it was actually fine.