J
jv hermit
Guest
I have been in this hobby for a year now and am still a bit confused about which specific gravity to keep my fish in. I have a 90G FOWLR tank. When I first bought my tank, the very experienced lfs owner told me to keep my SG at 1.016. He told me to keep it at 1.016 for several reasons: The fish would not be stressed, a higher SG would just be a waste of salt, and most importantly parasites would be kept at a minimum because they can't make it in less saline water. He keeps his fish at 1.016 and they are the most healthy, colorful and eating fish of any fish store within 50 miles of my house. And believe me I've been to them all! I've read a lot of books and they all have different opinions on the subject. The book from Bob Fenner even says that there is no perfect salinity and that commericial fish only systems are routinely kept at a lower salinity to keep parasites down. My question is this. I know that reef tanks should be kept at a higher salinity because the invertebrates need it. But for fish only systems do you believe in keeping the SG lower to combat the ever present parasites that live in our tanks? Are there any other advantages to keeping the specific gravity at 1.016? :notsure: