Whenever I replace water because of evaporation, I replace with saltwater with the same salinity as my tank, but on this board I see talk of "freshwater top-offs". Won't that lower my salinity level? Should I be changing with freshwater or should I continue with saltwater?
You should replace evaporation with fresh water. When water evaporates from your tank the salt stays behind. Salt does not evaporate!! So if you add salt water for evaporation you are adding more salt, so your salinity will rise. So for now on fill with freshwater and check your salinity now befor it gets to high.
Hmmmm.....how long have you been keeping a saltwater aquarium?
basically when you set up a saltwater aquarium you add water and salt to raise the salinity or specific gravity of the water to the desired level. Lets say 1.023 sg or about 30 ppt....thats a measure of the salt content of your water.
Now...when water evaporates out the salt stays behind....so as the water evaporates your specific gravity or salinity level will actaully rise. That is why fresh water is used to replace evaporation....and it is also why maintaining a consistent water level is important....it will help keep salinity stable and prevent serious fluctuations.
In the case of water changes you are actually removing water from the system along with the salt in that water......if you remove say 10 gal of salt water then the salt in that water is also removed so you'd then replace that removed/discarded water with new salt water that has the same specific gravity or salinity level of the water removed. If you remove 10 gal of salt water and replace that with fresh water then the specific gravity or salinity will be lower after the system stabalises.
Does any of that make sense? :thinking:
That makes a lot of sense, and considering what I've been doing, I take it that I am screwed, eh? Should I take some of the saltwater out and put some freshwater in? I have been keeping a saltwater aquarium for a month now.
Originally Posted by TheWeirdo
1.026
Thats not high at all. I keep mine there and havent experienced any problems. What are all your parameters? There has to be another reason you lost a fish.