Salinity slipping

[flight1201]

I have an ato and I have noticed over the past 10 weeks that my salinity has drifted from 1.025 to 1.024. Is this normal? Any suggestions on how to keep it more stable? I have 120 gallon aquarium with about a 40 gallon sump. My tank is about 10 weeks old.

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[scooter31707]

Are you testing at the same time everyday or different time. I've noticed that I'm about 1.026 at night and 1.025 during the day, and also my PH differs also. I don't know if there is any scientific research on this or not.

 

[sde1500]

You empty your skimmer a few times? That water is salt water, and would be replaced by freshwater from the ATO.

 

[scooter31707]

You empty your skimmer a few times? That water is salt water, and would be replaced by freshwater from the ATO.

Yep. that too, forgot about that one.

 

[madweazl]

Tools used to measure salinity have a slight variance based on temperature, salt creep, skimmer cup reduces some volume, filter socks being changed removes some, etc.. Over time it can add up. Can use saltwater for the top off for a bit to gradually bring it back up (difference is small enough that it wouldn't really matter on the time frame).

 

[AlSimmons]

I have an ato and I have noticed over the past 10 weeks that my salinity has drifted from 1.025 to 1.024. Is this normal? Any suggestions on how to keep it more stable? I have 120 gallon aquarium with about a 40 gallon sump. My tank is about 10 weeks old.

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Dropping a point here & there is really no big deal IME. I try to keep my SG at 1.026, but the tank probably varies between 1.024-1.027 throughout the year and nobody seems to mind. (mixed reef)

 

[lespaul339]

You empty your skimmer a few times? That water is salt water, and would be replaced by freshwater from the ATO.

This. If you have your skimmer set up to wet skim it will gradually drop over time.

 

[flight1201]

I have been skimming wet. This might be the cause. I just can't seem to get the skimmer dialed in. It seems to be skimming dry and working fine one day and then I get ho,me from work and find the cup completely full. My skimmer is a reef octopus 150. I also use a refractometer to test my salt. It is way easier to use than the float version my LFS sold me originally.

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[lespaul339]

I have the same skimmer as you. They are very touchy to get dialed in, but once you do you should be able to pretty much keep it where you have it and leave it. The way I have mine set up is to have the bubbles start right at the neck of the collection cup. That way the foam can build up and work it's way up into the cup. Sometimes I set it up to wet skim if I have just blown off the rocks and have a lot of detritus floating in the tank.

Another factor could be how deep you have it sitting in your sump. Mine only sits in 6" of water. I built a platform out of egg crate for it to sit on in my sump. Then, I built an extension for the outlet part of the skimmer out of pvc so it can drain down into the water and to keep it quiet. Pretty simple to do.

 

[flight1201]

Thank you so much lespaul339. I have mine set to 7". I will raise it up to 6" and see if it is more stable.

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[lespaul339]

So I looked over my lunch hour and the bubbles go about 3" into the neck of the collection cup of my skimmer. I get a nice wet/"dry" skim that way. Hope that helps.