New to saltwater tanks-have a salinity question.

christian84

christian84

New Member
Hello all,
For years now my husband and I have only had freshwater tanks. We have been quite successful in keeping our fish alive :)
Well about 8 weeks ago we had a major disease outbreak in our 30 gallon tank. Which killed all of our fish. We had bought a fish from a pet warehouse... bad idea.. well that fish had caused the outbreak. We know because that tank had been fine for a year and had no problems until that new fish. Anyway all those fish died. So we thoroughly clean and detoxed the tank, and decided we wanted to try our hand at a salt water tank. Well we got live gravel and live rock and the saltwater and have let is cycle for 6 weeks. After checking the levels for the millionth time to be sure the tank was pristine enough to get fish, we wentr got our first fish, a clown fish. It's been three says and the fish seems to be doing quite well, it's eating and just swimming around. So to get to my question, we think the salinity of the tank may be a bit high. But we're not sure. We have a hydrometer, but we're not sure what level it should be at. I've searched and searched and have found several things saying what the level should be at for fish only tanks and marine tanks and reef tanks. So i don't what what ours should be at. We don't have any corals, just the live gravel and live rock, and just the one fish for now. So what should the salinity level be at? It is currently reading between 1.024 and 1.025, is that too high? Please help
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Hello. Your salinity is at the higher end. But it is safe. For reef tanks you want a higher salinity for corals and such.now you can go lower. I have a fowlr( fish only with live rock) I keep mine at 1.022. Safely and for long term keeping you can go as low as 1.020. Alot of fish stores by me keep there tanks even lower. Its cheaper less salt. But I wouldnt do it for long term. if you want to lower yours when u do water changes mix your salt to a salinity of 1.020-1.021. This will bring your over all tank salinty down. Its easier for fish to go from high salinity to low then it is low to high. When mine gets to 1.023 I just add a half gal of fresh water and that brings it down for me. Iam not saying u should do that.I add fresh every other day or so due to evaporation. Sorry to go on and on. But your salt is fine but if u want to lower it. Its not hard to do. Good luck
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Hello. Your salinity is at the higher end. But it is safe. For reef tanks you want a higher salinity for corals and such.now you can go lower. I have a fowlr( fish only with live rock) I keep mine at 1.022. Safely and for long term keeping you can go as low as 1.020. Alot of fish stores by me keep there tanks even lower. Its cheaper less salt. But I wouldnt do it for long term. if you want to lower yours when u do water changes mix your salt to a salinity of 1.020-1.021. This will bring your over all tank salinty down. Its easier for fish to go from high salinity to low then it is low to high. When mine gets to 1.023 I just add a half gal of fresh water and that brings it down for me. Iam not saying u should do that.I add fresh every other day or so due to evaporation. Sorry to go on and on. But your salt is fine but if u want to lower it. Its not hard to do. Good luck
 
christian84

christian84

New Member
The water had evaporated and we hadn't gotten around to refilling it. It had gotten pretty low so we had to add 5 gallons of DI water before we had put in the fish, and the salinity was between 1.023 and 1.024. the last day or so it had gone up to where it's at now. We are just worried because that clown fish was 22 bucks and we don't want it to die from the salinity being to high. So any info and tips are much appreciated. And it's fine i didn't think you were going on and on.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
ok first now that you have fish. you have to watch your salt level. evap happens. it can be more or less depending on how much areation you have, tank temp,room temp and such. since your at a safe level its up to you. if you want to lower it you can or just maintain it where u have it now.when u buy your fish,ask the store what they have there tanks at. if its close you wont have such a long acclimation time. w my fox and mandarin it took me almost 3 hrs bc the place has such a low salinity. as is your tank is fine. your clown should be fine. what kind of clown did you get?
 
christian84

christian84

New Member
Okay, thanks :) much appreciated. Not sure what the Latin or technical term is, but it's the orange and white one from "Finding Nemo".
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
lol ha ha ha ok. most are orange and white. one of mine is a nemo aswell. i only asked bc some types of clowns can get aggressive when there the first fish added. i didnt have an issue w mine,but i got ocllerious clowns.they tend to be a bit less aggressive over all. most on the market are either perculla or ocellerious. either way you should be fine. if you have any others questions feel free to ask. the salt water hobby is addictive lol so enjoy it. i know i do
 
mjtech12

mjtech12

Member
Hi welcome to our obsession first off how did you cycle your tank? your salinity levels will fluctuate with a hydrometer get your self a refractometer instead its more accurate if you cycled your tank fishless then its ok to just add that 1 fish if not having that 1 fish will start your cycle and your tank really wasn't cycled then what are all the parameters reading do you have a good test kit if you bought an API its garbage I use a seachem kit much more accurate let us know Thanks and good luck
 
christian84

christian84

New Member
Oh wait I do have one other question, when adding water to the tank to refill due to evaporation. Do I have to use DI water, or can I use tape water and just add a dechlorinater or stress coat to the water before adding to the tank? We have a bottle of API stress coat, and it says that it makes tap water safe for adding to a tank.
And MJTech12, We put the live rock and live gravel and saltwater in it first for about 2 weeks. Then we bought some damsels and put those in there, they only lasted maybe 3 or 4 days and died. The people we get our fish from told us when they died to leave em in there to decay and that would help with the cycling process. So that's what we did, which that was 5 1/2 weeks ago. And the last week and a half all of our reading have been the same and are where they should be.
 
mjtech12

mjtech12

Member
Cool just keep an eye on your parameters it might just be too soon you could still have a mini cycle by adding live fish I know its only 1 but it will just take a lot longer you could add 1 or 2 more fish to keep the cycle balanced add some pics I would like to see it
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by christian84 http:///t/395195/new-to-saltwater-tanks-have-a-salinity-question#post_3517964
Oh wait I do have one other question, when adding water to the tank to refill due to evaporation. Do I have to use DI water, or can I use tape water and just add a dechlorinater or stress coat to the water before adding to the tank? We have a bottle of API stress coat, and it says that it makes tap water safe for adding to a tank.
And MJTech12, We put the live rock and live gravel and saltwater in it first for about 2 weeks. Then we bought some damsels and put those in there, they only lasted maybe 3 or 4 days and died. The people we get our fish from told us when they died to leave em in there to decay and that would help with the cycling process. So that's what we did, which that was 5 1/2 weeks ago. And the last week and a half all of our reading have been the same and are where they should be.
To answer your question,
you should only be using RO/DI water when dealing with your tank. If your mixing saltwater, you use RO/DI water + salt. If you are topping off your tank, you only use RO/DI water, since salt does not evaporate. Avoid using dechlorinators of any time directly in saltwater, because it can swing your pH drastically. You want to keep your tank as stable as possible - whether it is temp, salinity, or water parameters like calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and pH.
Test your water with a basic test kit. Usually new hobbyists buy API kits at first, which is ok for a fish only with live rock tank. Test your ammonia and nitrite levels and make sure they are zero. If readable, your cycle still hasn't ended. Once your ammonia and nitrite are reading zero, feed the tank like you have a couple of fish in there. Test it at the end of three to five days to make sure that there are still no detectable ammonia and nitrite levels. Once that's done, you're good to go by adding one or two of your first peaceful fish.
Welcome to this addicting hobby! I hope you enjoy your stay in the forums.
 
zeroc

zeroc

Member
You should get a refractometer anyways. I've seen swing arm hydrometers off by more than 25%. They're cheap now anyways, you can get them for 40 bucks. Well worth the investment to have an accurate salinity reading.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Good start! looks like something I did back eight years ago with my first tank. :D
You'll get there. Just a matter of time.
 
christian84

christian84

New Member
Thanks. That's just our first saltwater tanks. We've got two freshwater tanks. That used to be a freshwater tank that had been perfectly stable for over 3 years, until we had added a new fish and killed everything in there. so we just cleaned and detoxified it and decided to try our hand at a saltwater tank, cuz neither of us has ever had one.
 
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