Temp And Salt

[brendac]

What is the ideal salt reading? and what is a good temp for FOWLR. I filled my 125g yesterday and followed the directions on the bag for adding salt(1/2 cup a gallon) I do not have a heater in there yet... getting one this week.... But right now my salt reading is low only 1.020 will the salt level raise when I heat up the water?? We have the filter running and the powerhead is on... Waiting for the cycle now

 

[mag395]

It really depends on what you are planning to keep. Most fish are good with a specific gravity from 1.020 - 1.026. For a fish only tank, 1.020 is a little low. If it was me, I'd do 1.023.
For the temp, it also depends on the fish. Most are from 78-82 deg F.
As far as the temperature affecting SG, only slightly. SG is a measure of density of an object over the density of a reference. Density is mass/volume and volume is affected by temperature. Therefore temp does affect SG. However, becuase SG = Denisty(Obj)/Density(ref), with a temperature component in both the numerator and denomenator, it cancels out and doesn't really affect it too much. Here is a link for some info. Sorry about the science lesson.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_gravity