Please help with Salinity

[Travisgause]

Okay guys and gals I could really use some help. My salinity is at 1.021, I want to raise it to 1.024. I evap around 5 gallons of water a week. Is it possible to add salt to my makeup water to raise my salinity? Is this is a safe way to do it? Now here is where I am confused (I promise I really am smart). At what level do I mix my top off water at so that I achieve a final reading of 1.024. Also if you have an answer, could you please give me the steps you took to get to that answer so I can learn. I read a lot of stuff on the net and I think I confused myself at this point. Thanks in advance, the help is appreciated.

 

Specs of the tank are 40 gallon breeder W/10g sump.

40 gallon total water capacity

[rfalk]

I would raise the salinity over a period of time with water changes. Make your salt water change water up at 1.025-.026 (safe levels) and add it to you sump. Over time the tank will come up to those levels.

[Travisgause]

How much time do you think? I do a water change every 2 weeks. Do I bring it up over 2 or 3 water changes? Sorry to sound dumb

[rfalk]

If you are looking to raise the salinity I would do water changes a little more frequently in small quantities. Slower would put less stress but Id personally probably just start doing smaller more frequent water changes in the 1.026 range and test my tank until it was at 1.024.

[WRX]

I would just add a little saltwater daily to the sump. As it evaporates your salinity will rise as your ATO won't be running due to adding the salt water.

[Travisgause]

Thanks guys for the tips. I will slowly bring the salinity up. I think i'll go with top off water with a SG of 1.026 and add it into the sump daily in place of my ATO. Thanks again,

[ajmckay]

There are many acceptable ways to do this - the most important part is that it's done slowly. There's also no formula or anything so just measure daily until you get to the level you want.

 

Just don't add straight salt.

[rfalk]

Thanks guys for the tips. I will slowly bring the salinity up. I think i'll go with top off water with a SG of 1.026 and add it into the sump daily in place of my ATO. Thanks again,

 

Just make sure to test regularly because your replacing evaporated water with 1.026 sg so you can easily raise your water above 1.026. That's why I would do small water changes more fool proof but this will work too.

[cruiZe]

Since you have a sump this will work. Today I did a water change- Tank was 1.024 which is a little low for me so I put in 4 cups more than the ATO level.

 

So when that 4 cups of water evaporates it will slowly raise the salinity until the ATO comes on again - then the ATO will keep it stable. If next day it is still low salinity - add another 2 cups of saltwater over your ATO. You can't get more gentle than that.

 

If you top off with saltwater that will work too (basically the same thing except I'm doing it manually) but it takes more testing and if you forget it will be bad.

 

Edit - here is a calculator .

http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/EvapSalinityCalc.php

I guess my way won't make much of a difference - you need like 5 gallons to evaporate to raise it that much! point is - do it slowly - no need to bring it from 1.021 to 1.024 in one day. how did it get that low to start with?

[J Fox]

I'm in the same boat... Testing 29 gallon tank at 1.022. I will start this weekend by doing my weekly 4 gallon water change with 1.026 ?

Thanks

[cruiZe]

this might be silly - but how is everyone testing their salinity? I have 2 hydrometers and a refractometer and sometimes am still doubting myself. This weekend I measured out exactly 1 gallon of water and 144 grams of salt I think it was that Red Sea Coral Pro says will mix to 35ppt... One of the hydrometers read a tiny bit high, the other was about 1 point low and obviously refractometers have to be calibrated (and not with just RO)

 

something to think about if you only have 1 way to measure it

[WRX]

this might be silly - but how is everyone testing their salinity? I have 2 hydrometers and a refractometer and sometimes am still doubting myself. This weekend I measured out exactly 1 gallon of water and 144 grams of salt I think it was that Red Sea Coral Pro says will mix to 35ppt... One of the hydrometers read a tiny bit high, the other was about 1 point low and obviously refractometers have to be calibrated (and not with just RO)

 

something to think about if you only have 1 way to measure it

I recently started using a Milwaukee digital refractometer and really like it.

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I'd just top off with saltwater. At 5 gallons per week, topping off with water at 1.024 should get you right at around 1.024 total salinity.

 

As a side note, I'd shoot for a salinity of 1.026SG/35ppt. Most salt mixes are designed to give you calcium/alk/Mg levels close to those of natural sea water, but only if you mix it up to the concentration of natural seawater (1.026/35ppt). A salinity of 1.024 (32ppt) is around 10% lower than the salinity of seawater (1.026/35ppt). This means your Ca/alk/Mg levels will probably be 10% low right from the start.

[no694terry]

Since you have a sump this will work. Today I did a water change- Tank was 1.024 which is a little low for me so I put in 4 cups more than the ATO level.

 

So when that 4 cups of water evaporates it will slowly raise the salinity until the ATO comes on again - then the ATO will keep it stable. If next day it is still low salinity - add another 2 cups of saltwater over your ATO. You can't get more gentle than that.

 

If you top off with saltwater that will work too (basically the same thing except I'm doing it manually) but it takes more testing and if you forget it will be bad.

 

Edit - here is a calculator .

http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/EvapSalinityCalc.php

 

I guess my way won't make much of a difference - you need like 5 gallons to evaporate to raise it that much! point is - do it slowly - no need to bring it from 1.021 to 1.024 in one day. how did it get that low to start with?

 

thnaks for the calculator. turns out my 3 gallon fw top offs arent as bad as i thought lol

[chipmunkofdoom2]

this might be silly - but how is everyone testing their salinity? I have 2 hydrometers and a refractometer and sometimes am still doubting myself. This weekend I measured out exactly 1 gallon of water and 144 grams of salt I think it was that Red Sea Coral Pro says will mix to 35ppt... One of the hydrometers read a tiny bit high, the other was about 1 point low and obviously refractometers have to be calibrated (and not with just RO)

 

something to think about if you only have 1 way to measure it

 

I just use a refractometer. I have calibration solution and calibrate regularly. I also make up some of the saltwater calibration solution as recommended by RHF every once in a while as well just to have a second opinion so to say.

 

I did a similar test with my Tropic Marin Proreef salt. I mixed up exactly how much salt they say I would need to make saltwater with a salinity of 35ppt. It was a point off (I forget which direction). After calibrating, recalibrating and recalibrating yet again, the refractometer was correct. I think this is probably due to the salt mix settling.. I was probably getting more trace elements in the scoops of salt mix than actual salt crystals.

 

Either way, I think the stability is key here. If your salinity is a point above or below 1.026/35ppt, I don't think that is too big of an issue so long as the salinity remains the same.

[J Fox]

I am using the Milwaukee digital. I guess I will calibrate it with solution and check again.

[Travisgause]

Since you have a sump this will work. Today I did a water change- Tank was 1.024 which is a little low for me so I put in 4 cups more than the ATO level.

 

So when that 4 cups of water evaporates it will slowly raise the salinity until the ATO comes on again - then the ATO will keep it stable. If next day it is still low salinity - add another 2 cups of saltwater over your ATO. You can't get more gentle than that.

 

If you top off with saltwater that will work too (basically the same thing except I'm doing it manually) but it takes more testing and if you forget it will be bad.

 

Edit - here is a calculator .

http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/EvapSalinityCalc.php

 

I guess my way won't make much of a difference - you need like 5 gallons to evaporate to raise it that much! point is - do it slowly - no need to bring it from 1.021 to 1.024 in one day. how did it get that low to start with?

It was a combination of things really. One reason is I was testing with a swing arm hydrometer that was severely off (it resides in the county landfill now). I bought a refractometer and calibration fluid and I am using that now. I was also skimming really wet. It seemed that as the salinity went down so did the amount of big bubbles that my skimmer would make. I kept turning the skimmer up to compensate. I added a reactor and the amount of water it held was replaced by fresh top off water from my ATO. The #1 reason it go so low was that I am really new to this hobby. There are a lot of little tricks that you don't hear about much ie: the skimmer issue, reactor issue, etc. I am learning new things everyday as I truck along. Lots of little tips and tricks to be learned. I have been raising my salinity slowly. I went from 1.021 to 1.022 by turning off the ATO and adding makeup water that is reading 1.026. I add around 1/2-3/4 of a gallon a day. I went with the 1.026 as to not raise the level to fast. It seems to be working quite well. Thanks again all for the help, much appreciated!

[cruiZe]

Learning is what this hobby is about! The skimmer lowering salinity can be bad , esp if it overflows ! (I know ) One that gets me is as my floss gets clogged it creates more back pressure and guess what ...

[Travisgause]

The learning portion is what keeps me on my toes