ADDING waTer and Temp Change

[duece biga]

was wondering if my water level needed to be topped off an my salinity is perfect can i just add fresh water or do i have to mix it with salt. The water level is about a inch from the top and im just wanting to top it.:help: Also could temp change make my water evaporate faster. Because i have a 44gal and it stays at about 79 degrees an i never have to top it but my 46 gal jumped from 78 to 86 one night then back down to 74 because i havent quite figured this heater out yet.

 

[mudplayerx]

You should never top off more than 1% of your total tank volume in a 24 hour period. Also, never add salt to topoff water, only when you are doing water changes.
ps- a 1% topoff should never be capable of affecting tank temperature. If your water is changing temp during a topoff, then you are adding ENTIRELY too much water at once.

 

[loodachris]

Also, you need to watch your temp in the tank where it is changing very rapidly. Maybe get a bigger/better heater or chiller, but that much of a change in that little of time is extremely dangerous. You shouldnt need to add salt to your top-off water because when the water evaporates the salt stays, raising your salinity, until you put back what was lost to balance it back out again.