Help Salinity too Low.

erazon1980

New member
So the other day I noticed my zoas were closing up and did all my tests then tested my salinty. I do regular water changes of aprox 20%. My salinity using a refractometer is reading at 1.020. Is it better to use salt water for my top off. Or should I do a water change at a high salinity of 1.028 and see where I am from there. I dont want to stress out the fish.
Thanks
 
Add some salt to your top off to make the adjustment. Just go slow and let the system cycle before retesting (10 min depending on your flow rate).

Also ensure your refractometer is reading correctly.
 
Yea, first order of business is recalibrate the refractometer, use calibration fluid not RODI. Then topoff saltwater is the way to go, nice gradual rise to not stress anything out too much.
 
Since you have corals in the tank and they are stressed; I suggest a quick rise to at least 1.023 followed by more gradual increases( say .01 per day ) to 1.026 . Increasing the sg of the top off water really only gets around the equivalent of a 1% daily water in terms of increasing sg change depending on the evaporation rate.So, for example, using 1.026 top off water would only increase sg from 1.020 to 1.0206.

A 15% water change with 1.035 sg replacement water should bring it to 1.0225;a second 15% water change on the following day, again with 1.035 replacement water, should bring it up from 1.0225 to 1.0244.
 
My suggestion would be a more practical
- In general: As you use a Refraktometer, use the [psu] scale instead the SG and calibrate with saltwater at ~35 psu

- Calculate the amount of salt needed to bring you from now, to your desired sailinty level which is around 35psu
(if you tell us your water volume and which type of salt you use we can help how much this will be)
- weigh in the amount of dry salt from your seasalt mixture and put in a bucket keeping it dry
- take a part of it (2%...5%) and add slowly/directly into your system at a position with high water flowrate
- repeat after at least 30 mins ... until your salinity is up to 35 psu
(it doesn't matter if you skip dosing eg over night or when you are at work.... just takes longer to get to the desired pus level)

best rgds
Martin
 
Topping off with saltwater at your target SG also is an easy and fairly gentle way to raise the SG. That's what I'd do, most likely. For tanks that are evaporating more than about 0.0005 units SG per day, I might top off with part saltwater and part freshwater.
 
Back
Top