carbonate hardness

[kimoy]

what is the safest way to raise you salinity on you reef?

 

[hansnfrans]

Ummm.....swap water out with freshly mixed saltwater of a higher salinity. Now my question for you.....Are you sure you meant to ask about "salinity" or did you mean to ask about alkalinity? The topic of the thread leads me to believe you meant alkalinity instead

 

[kimoy]

yeah i meant salinity, not alk. my alk is at 8.0 constantly. my salinity was always 10.24 but i added too much ro water and went down to 10.20 and wants to raise it back up.

 

[hansnfrans]

Generally speaking, reef tanks should be kept at approx. 1.025 to 1.027. Especially if you have starfish in the tank (I would assume that the same applies if you have sea urchins). So if this is a reef tank, I would set that salinity up to around 1.026 gradually. Personally I would do water changes with water that has a specific gravity of 1.030 until the tanks salinity reached 1.026.

But, like I said, make sure to do this GRADUALLY because you shocked everything with that swing of 0.004 and you don't want to make things worse by sending the specific gravity in the other direction too quickly.

 

[Doubledown]

How do you top off for evaporation?

In place of fresh RODI water, use saltwater for topoff and it should raise it nice and slow.

 

[Rod Buehler]

I agree. Use salt water as your top off to bring that salinity back up.

 

[kimoy]

thanks guys.
if i go with using salt instead of rodi for top off, do i still need to use a saltier water than the normal?

 

[Doubledown]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8304730#post8304730 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kimoy
thanks guys.
if i go with using salt instead of rodi for top off, do i still need to use a saltier water than the normal?

No. It just takes a little longer to reach the desired level, which is fine.

Be sure to test the SG though and switch back to freshwater once your tank water has reached your desired SG level. This method can/will continue to raise the SG past the makeup water level if left unchecked resulting in elevated SG in the tank.

 

[Rod Buehler]

You probably already know, but I'll say it anyway. ....

Dont use any kalk mix with the salt water top off

 

[miztic]

If you added *too much* RO water to raise the salinity like that, wouldn't evaporation raise it back up to where it should be automatically ? unless you took out salt water and replaced it with RO ?
I'd top off with salt water, but you definately have to keep on top of it or you'll end up swinging it the other way..