New Tank - Salinity Question

Jeffh8503

New Member
So I have a tank that has been cycling for about 3 months now. I added fish three weeks in and they seemed to be doing fine(acclimation by floating the bag and slowly adding water to the bag). (5 Damsels, 1 Tang, 1 Clown, 3 Snails, 1 Anemone). The anemone died almost instantly and I added another clown that died after 24 hours. Soon after all of the other fish began to get stressed and die. I thought it was due to the toxins released by the anemone. I made it through a very rough diatom bloom and now have a clean tank. Ammonia, Phosphate, Nitrate, Nitrite levels were all within normal range and stayed that way for the next month or so. I added several turbo snails, 2 hermit crabs, 2 horseshoe crabs, and an Urchin today...they were in the water about 5 hours. Something clicked and I realized that I didn't have a hydrometer (stupid mistake...I know...no judgement please). I went and bought one and the salinity was off the charts. I sort of panicked and continued to remove water five gallons at a time, while adding fresh water until the hydrometer read the salinity was 1.025. Afterward I thought I was a Saltwater Champion.....and then I read several articles that all said not to do what I did. What is the likelihood that my entire livestock that I added will be dead in the morning?
 
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snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
50/50 chance.

Shall wait and see!

Also, don't add that many fish at one time. Add peaceful fish first, then progressively more aggressive. One or two at a time.

Other things to check is temperature, ammonia, nitrate and pH as the tank keeps cycling.
 

pegasus

Well-Known Member
I'm going with 60/40... :p

You never want to make steep changes in salinity, pH, or temp. The one thing that was in your favor is that you can lower salinity faster than you can raise it. Not sure how large your tank is, how many 5 gallons were removed, and how long you took to get it to 1.025 SG. If I may, I'd like to offer a good piece of advice... ditch the hydrometer and get a refractometer. If you get a refractometer, you may find that your hydrometer is a bit off. Sometimes they're pretty bad off. When I got my refractometer, I discovered that my salinity was 1.230, when the hydrometer showed 1.023. Hydrometers are calibrated at 25C, and since most of us don't know what that means in Fahrenheit, we just accept the reading at face value... which is usually very off. Micro bubbles on the needle will give a false reading, typically higher... but not always. A good refractometer with ATC will take a lot of the guesswork out of checking your salinity. I'm sure if you ask anyone here, they'll tell you it's money well spent.
 
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