salinity question

mastertech

mastertech

Member
simply put.....
i had a hydrometer for months and my salinity was 1.026.
coral and fish started to look sad over the past months and all parameters were perfect.
i purchased a refractometer and found my REAL salinity 1.020
i have a 135 gallons of volume. i dont want to do 50 plus gallon water changes that tends to get expensive and timely. (i have already done 20g to raise it to about 1.0215
simply put, is there any safe way to add salinity WITHOUT water changes?
(also i would like to raise it faster than the top off method because i dont have alot of evap)
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by mastertech
http:///forum/post/3206411
simply put.....
i had a hydrometer for months and my salinity was 1.026.
coral and fish started to look sad over the past months and all parameters were perfect.
i purchased a refractometer and found my REAL salinity 1.020
i have a 135 gallons of volume. i dont want to do 50 plus gallon water changes that tends to get expensive and timely. (i have already done 20g to raise it to about 1.0215
simply put, is there any safe way to add salinity WITHOUT water changes?
(also i would like to raise it faster than the top off method because i dont have alot of evap)
Instead of topping off with FW, top off with SW
 
mastertech

mastertech

Member
i dont mean to seem like im in a rush just think it would take a month or more to raise the salinity of this tank just by topping off with saltwater.
i have been brain storming (look out!) and i think i am going to make a very high salinity batch of saltwater (1.050 or so) and start a drip on the main tank.
keep in mind i know the ramification if i fail to keep track of every little moment that passes by and i think i can safely raise the salinity to the desired level in about a week. (dripping a little each day)
 
mastertech

mastertech

Member
also... in a prior thread, about a week or so ago, i had had mentioned that my clown stopped hosting and eating. i have not seen him eat in 6 days, until today and i honestly think that the low salinity (along with other factors) may have caused this concern.
yesterday i did a 20 gallon water change to raise the salinity from 1.020 to 1.0215 today he eats????? i cant factor in any other reason.
 
tank a holic

tank a holic

Active Member
did you calibrate your refractometer before you tested the water??
.006 it a big difference
also as for raising it... in my 125 I evap 1 gallon per day, 2 gallons of fresh water lowers the specific gravity .001
so at this rate it would take 12 days to get you back to 1.026
the low SG evidently isn't killing the fish but a swing of .006 too quickly will
I still think you may have gotten a bad reading
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
agreed with topping off w salt water. raising the sg from 1.020 to 1.022 in a day wouldnt cause enough stress to effect anything. a nano's sg flunctuate a lot more daily.
 
mastertech

mastertech

Member
Originally Posted by tank a holic
http:///forum/post/3206521
did you calibrate your refractometer before you tested the water??
that is the first thing i did. the refractometer is calibrated.
i have never checked the hydrometer against a calibrated refractometer. (my mistake) the plastic piece of crap was sold to me and i dont appriciate it.
 
tank a holic

tank a holic

Active Member
well dont go attack the LFS guy lol
my LFS uses a swing arm and claim refrac's are a waste of money
my swing arm and refrac read the same as long as you dont have airbubbles on the arm
its good that you calibrated
that said, just top off with salt and let it take care of its self

slow and steady wins the race
 
mastertech

mastertech

Member
Originally Posted by IBEW41
http:///forum/post/3206447
can you take 5g out add salt to it wait a day then add it back
thanks... sometimes you miss the obvious. that a great idea.
Originally Posted by tank a holic
http:///forum/post/3206613
well dont go attack the LFS guy lol
my LFS uses a swing arm and claim refrac's are a waste of money
my swing arm and refrac read the same as long as you dont have airbubbles on the arm
its good that you calibrated
that said, just top off with salt and let it take care of its self

slow and steady wins the race
i will not attack the LFS guy. just venting a little (or is it whining, sometimes i get those confused
)
my swing arm is trash, going to keep it for a teaching tool for others i may infuence in the future.
calibrated with two differant sources of RO/DI and both read 1.000
i will continue to top off with saltwater but i may quicken the prosess with IBEW41 idea.
 
tank a holic

tank a holic

Active Member
just make sure you dont go over board,
we dont wanna get too high too quick
then again.... well um..... anyway

when you add the 5 gal's back in do a little at a time and test
bont go ovet .002 in a days time, then skip a day and go .002 more
 
mastertech

mastertech

Member
thanks tank a holic for all you input and support. (what a great group of folks on a great forum)
im really not in a big rush. just dont want it to take a month. (doing the top off with saltwater method)
 
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