? on Raising Salinity.

[harlequinnut]

I'm finish with hypo and are currently trying to raise the salinity gradually. My question is if it's possible to pour a cup of salt into the sump everynight and monitor the level that way or do I have to keep changing out water from tank with newly mix salt water to raise the salinity back to normal?:help:

 

[elfdoctors]

It is preferred to use premixed saltwater.
The other technique could be used. The major issue is that certain crystals will dissolve faster then others and you will have extra fluctuations in your chemistries. You also don't want undissolved crystals floating around the tank.

 

[bang guy]

Right... never pour salt directly into your tank.
IMO the safest way to raise Salinity is to use normal salinity saltwater for topoff instead of fresh water.

 

[elfdoctors]

Bang is correct replacing evaporation losses with saltwater IS the safest way to raise the salinity.
However if you are finishing hyposalinity this method would take forever. To just get your specific gravity up to 1.024 you would have to wait until 62.5% of your tank had evaporated. If you waited until 10% of the water had evaporated before you added normal strength seawater, I calculate you would have to repeat this process 6 times. (The salinity would rise to 1.0115, 1.014, 1.0165, 1.019, 1.0215, and finally 1.024).
I would rather take some of the water out and replace it with saltwater and raise the salinity over a week.
For once I disagree with BangGuy!

 

[bang guy]

Elfdoctors is correct about the time His way sounds safe enough to me. I'm just rarely in a hurry

 

[harlequinnut]

Bang, I wasn't going to pour salt directly into tank, just in the sump. But I guess that's not that much of a difference, right? How bout if I take out the tank water and add in the same amount of salt water(mixed overnight), but the added salt water would be at a elevated salinity level. example 1030 or 1035?

 

[elfdoctors]

I wouldn't make the water any more concentrated than ~1.030. If saltwater gets more concentrated then that you risk precipitating out minerals which may adversely affect your chemistries. If you were to add more concentrated water it is also a good idea to add it gradually (e.g. remove 5 gallons at once and then replace 1 gallon of more concentrated water every 15 minutes).
There is no need to rush the process. You should raise the salinity over a week as this is more stressful for the fish than having the salinity drop.

 

[bang guy]

Ditto what elfdoctors said.