opinions on salt level

schnyd

schnyd

New Member
We are new to the hobby. We've heard several opinions on salt levels for fish-only tanks from LFS and wondered what people here thought. We were told .022, but just heard from another LFS that .017 is better.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Not sure if you need to know this: 46 gal, fish-only.
 
fixitdude2001

fixitdude2001

Member
Hi, I feel 17 is way too low , 22-23 is a safe number. The person that told you 17 has had a problem with disease were as lower salinaty will kill and not let new outbreakes start. this way of controlling things like ick should be done slowly dropping salinaty and then slowly raising it back to around 23. YOUR fish will be happier with the salinaty around 23. cya
 
tanker newbie

tanker newbie

Member
well it actually depends on what your going to have in there, for instance you said fish only, is that fish only with maybe a few inverts or Litterly fish only, if its only FISH ONLY then personally i think 1.020 to .025 is okay, the lower it is theres a chance for protecting your self for diseases. however if thers other life forms in the tank, then 1.022 to 1.025 is okay, take into consideration other than fish everything you cant see thats in your tank, i feel 1.023 to 1.024 is perfect for reef or non reef tanks
 
pufferlover

pufferlover

Active Member
I tend to run my fo tanks at .1021 and my reef at .1022 altho the reef could be higher say .1023 and work fine. Lfs will do .1016 to .1017 to help mask disease from showing but I have learned not to take their word for what their tanks are at. I take my gauge and do my own check of their salinity before I even take the fish home. By using my gauge it gives me a better fix on how to acclimate the new fish to my tanks. Once in a while (not often) when I would go to a store and see a fish I wanted and whip out my gauge after telling them why I had brought one they would look shocked but never refused my request to gauge their water, if they did I said bye-bye.
 
K

krustytheclownfish

Guest
As everyone has already said, keep your sg in the range of 21-25. Fish are pretty adaptive, so as long as it's not an extreme reading you should be fine. The trick is to keep in constant no matter what value you choose. Fish don't like the sg going up and down constantly
 
kappadoku

kappadoku

Member
I personally think people have a larger margin of error.
Fish breathe easier in lower salinity. 1.020 is perfect for a fish only.
Inverts like it higher, Upto 1.025.
So, IMHO, fish only 1.020-1.023. Reef 1.023-1.025
 
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