Adjusting SG.

teamsleep

teamsleep

Member
I have been running my tank at a SG around 1.023 and have yet to have a problem with any of my inverts or mushrooms. Latley I have had a couple of Astrea snials that have been staying in the same spot for long periods of time but they dont seem to be dead becuase everytime I put something near them I can see them move alittle. I am concerned becuase I have been reading on this site and found that inverts should have a SG of around 1.025. So I am trying to raise it up in time but I am afraid that I may do it to fast and shock the cleanup crew I have and kill them all. I was wondering what is the best way to raise it and how often and how much should I increase at a time?
Thanks Bob
 
briandg

briandg

Member
Just a suggestion, but I would just add salt water in my top offs instead of fresh water until you get it where you want.
 
teamsleep

teamsleep

Member
By adding the salt water as my top offs would I have to mix it and let it sit for a day like doing a water change or just add the salt to get the level to where I want it to be then pour it in right away, well in time to let it mix alittle.
 
briandg

briandg

Member
I would let it sit over night. Test your salinity in your main tank before mixing. Mix the top off to match the salinity in your tank at night and circulate it with a power head over night. Then the next morning when you add it, it will be just like a water change, the same salinity as in your tank. Keep doing this until you get the salinity level you need. This way your letting the evaporation change your salinity and you'll know that you are doing it slowly enough. Others might have different suggestions, but this seems the safest to me.
 
zman1

zman1

Active Member
Originally Posted by briandg
I would let it sit over night. Test your salinity in your main tank before mixing. Mix the top off to match the salinity in your tank at night and circulate it with a power head over night. Then the next morning when you add it, it will be just like a water change, the same salinity as in your tank. Keep doing this until you get the salinity level you need. This way your letting the evaporation change your salinity and you'll know that you are doing it slowly enough. Others might have different suggestions, but this seems the safest to me.

IMO that's a good slow sound way of doing it...
Side note: Hydrometers can be way off if that's what you're using.
 
fbm

fbm

Active Member
I will probably get flamed here but the way I raised mine was I would mix a cup of salt per 1/2 gallon of water and use that as a top off. I would mix the heck out of it for about 5 to 10 minutes and just dump it in. I had no problems at all and I figured that volume that I am adding is insignificant. Just my opinion. But that is how I honestly did it.
 
zman1

zman1

Active Member
No flame here - I acutally don't do the sound slow way either. My SG drops from wet skimming and salt creep. I usually bump the change water up a little to bring it back when needed. There are risks with that and wouldn't reccomend it to someone else -
 
zman1

zman1

Active Member
I have both Refractometer and a Hydrometer. There s a big difference between the two when comparing tank water at 80 degrees.
 
briandg

briandg

Member
Originally Posted by fbm
This is the one I have and although I have never used any other one, this is a high quality one and can't beat the price.
Agreed, best piece of equipment I've purchased for my tank. Definitely get one if you can.
 
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