Specific Gravity

[neotrin17]

When I add my I-Bionic II solution for the Alkalinity the specific gravity goes much higher and my skimmer just starts sucking the water out... is there a way to raise my alk without having the specific gravity go up so much?
Any suggestions?

 

[greatfullreefer]

Raising your alk should not have adverse effects on salinity that i am aware of. :notsure:

 

[neotrin17]

On the back of the Alk bottle it says that it may increase your Specific gravity.
So I thought this would be the prob.

 

[belothsurf]

What does the sg go up to?

 

[neotrin17]

I actually havent tested it...i dont have a tester or whatever you need. It just says your skimmer may start to suck a lot of salt water out and will need adjusted due to the increase in S.G.

 

[belothsurf]

hmmm,:notsure: I'm not sure about that. I didn't think anything would affect your sg, except for evaporation. You need a hydrometer to measure your sg/salinity. They are cheap, less than 15 bucks. If you can afford it, get a refractometer, they are upwards of 50 or 60 bucks. You definitely need one or the other.
The only additive I know about that will affect your protein skimmer is water conditioner, just makes more foam for a while.

 

[alison]

:happyfish Never heard of that chemical neotrin. Although when I add my chemicals, my protein skimmer fills faster, so I turn it off when dosing, and doing live dt, phytoplankton. They reccomend that, otherwise, it just goes right into the skimmer. Also, I might suggest you invest in a refractometer. The cheepo salinity meters don't even come close to what your salinity really is, so you may not even have a problem if you do have the cheapy hydrometers. You can get a good refractometer for like $40 anywhere. Good luck, ali

 

[kyle10]

first i dont think bionic will effect your sg.
second how do you even set your tank up let alone two tanks without a way to measure your sg levels????:notsure: :notsure: :notsure: :notsure: :notsure:

 

[alison]

:happyfish Kyle- he said his salinity goes up and down, so he has something to measure it, we were just saying buying a refracometer instead of a hydrometer might be more acurate to tell what his salinity is. -ali

 

[neotrin17]

Thanks Ali.
Yeah I will invest in a refractometer....
When I does the Bionic II my Protein skimmer goes nuts and produces tons of white foam...just draining the tank. Maybe when dosing it I will just turn the skimmer off for a while until things settle down.
It has never done that before until I started using the Bionic II Alk yesterday.
thanks for the help guys.