High salinity kill urchin?

[Jazzii9j]

Will high salinity kill my new pincushion urchin?

 

[Calappidae]

What type of high salinity are we talking about?

High salinity will eventually kill anything, if that's your question.

 

[Jazzii9j]

It maxed out on my hydrometer. Was told to be topping off with fresh water not salt. I want to try and solve the problem this morning. I just don't know if it will save my new urchin. There hasn't been any movement.

 

[donut0079]

If you are using a hydrometer and not a refractometer I would double check. When I maxed mine out it had more to do with bubbles than specific gravity. I would definitely suggest investing in a refractometer.

 

[sam.basye]

You will need to remove some tank water (water change) and add fresh water only until the specific gravity pointer goes down into the green range. This may take several tries with small changes.
Ex. If you have a 10g tank with the hydrometer off the charts:
1. Remove 2 gal of tank water and replace with 2 gal of fresh water (no salt).
2. Recheck hydrometer.
If still off the charts, repeat step 1.
If the pointer goes down a little after step 2:
3. Remove 1 gal of tank water and replace with 1 gal of fresh water (no salt).
4. Recheck hydrometer.
Continue this process until your hydrometer is in the green range.

This method will work with various sizes tanks - adjust the volume of water removed accordingly to the size of your tank.

If you end up taking out too much and the hydrometer shows a low SG, you will have to add some mixed Saltwater back to the tank.

I highly suggest finding some info about the different parameters that should be in check for sw tanks so that yours is successful in the long run.

 

[ginpang]

Maxed out [emoji33] ..... Too abrupt of salinity change might also kill it.

 

[Bent]

Your making this way too complicated.

Get some RO water from the grocery store, drain the tank A tad and keep filling it with fresh RO water until the salinity gets where it's supposed to be.

Stop topping off with saltwater. Salt won't evaporate. Top off with RO water.

 

[Calappidae]

Also, calibrate your hydrometer by using RO water. It will always have 0 salinity, this way you can use math to pinpoint exactly what your hydrometer is truely reading.

Ex. Your hydrometer is reading 1.015 with RO water, now you know to just subtract .015 from the next readings.

It's just better to get a refractometer.