Reducing Salinity

[jumpfrog]

In checking my salinity readings and accounting for temperature I've found my numbers have risen to 1.0275. Way too high from what I've read. Part of the problem I think is that the tank is now running a couple of degrees warmer. From ~78 to ~80. Still within reason I think but it has affected salinity. In Alabama and summers commin' early this year. We air condition so it won't be getting any warmer in the house that now.
Anyway....Any recommendations on how to slowly bring my salinity back down. I was thinking of removing a gallon a day and replacing with straight ro/di until I get it where I want. Seems like a very slow process. Would a 2 for 2 work as well or is that too aggressive?
Thanks

 

[bammbamm74]

Question, would salinity rise because temp rises? I wouldn't think that more salt would end up in the water because the temp got higher. I would think it has to do with the water evaporating. If you are topping off you evaporated water with mixed water, then you salinity would go up. Evap. is mostly water, not salts. Um, as to how much to exchange a day, I would wait for someone to answer the question that knows the proper answer.

 

[kris walker]

I would change it all in one day. There are really large salinity changes in nature quite often, and going from 1.028 to 1.024 over say an hour is no big deal. However, some would say if you have really delicate animals, like blue linkia
stars, then you need to do it over 24 hours.
kris

 

[kris walker]

BammBamm, the normal *salinity* (say 1.022-1.028) at tropical latitudes will not change with temperature. Only the saturation point will change, but that will not affect those existing normal salinities. Now, temperature will change the specific gravity reading on a hydrometer. I forgot which way it goes, so I'll stop there.
kris

 

[lerch]

Jump I am having the same poblem that you are, I am having a a heck of a time keeping my salinity right. I live in Oklahoma and it is getting hot here too but I don't think that is the problem, I would just start removing some satlwater and replacing it with fresh water daily and see where that puts you.

 

[jumpfrog]

Thanks for the input. Maybe I do misunderstand something. I've read that when you get your hydrometer reading (I'm using one of those swing arm types) that you need to use the reading on your meter and then cross reference to a chart with temperatures to get your true reading. The chart has an additive correlated to temperature. As the temperature goes up then so does the additive you add to your hydrometer reading. That's why I thought that my increased temperature was raising my overall salinity because the additive increased. Maybe one of sharks understands and can express this point better than I can.
The real question I had was how fast should I adjust the salinity downward? I probably should have mentioned too that I have a 72 gallon tank with a 10 gallon refugium 2/3 filled with water. Swapping one to two gallons a day of salt water for fresh would be less than a 3 percent change in water and probably would have a very tiny affect on reducing salinity. I want to go slow but not excrutiatingly slow if it's not necessary.
Any thoughts?