Salt Creep Out of Control

[swiftvision]

I've gone from 1.025 down to 1.021 in a month. No water changes (yeah yeah yeah).

It's causing hell in my tank and my RODI station is now an issue as I keep my spare salt water at 1.024 so I can't even do a water change if I wanted to (I'm done mixing individual 5 gallon buckets).

For the last MONTH I've completely swapped my RODI ATO storage tank with 1.024 salt water. It has had LITTLE effect in changing the salinity.

WTH is going on? I've had the tank running 8 months now. This is now the third time I've corrected salinity back to 1.025.

My tank is covered. Most of my sump is covered. What is going on here????

100 gallon display, 150 gallon system, 18g fuge, 30g sump, large protein skimmer, x3 reactors, calcium reactor.

 

[heathlindner25]

Are you using a air stone or similar?

 

[swiftvision]

There are no air stones in my system:

 

[Diana A]

What are you covering your tank and sump with?

 

[swiftvision]

What are you covering your tank and sump with?

Plexi covers 100% of my tank, overflow, ATO storage, Fuge, and incoming section of my sump. Only the area around the large skimmer and small return section are open to the air:

 

[ca1ore]

Sorry, tank/sump has a cover ..... Or is covered in salt creep? Salt has to be going somewhere, so if it's not caked all over the place, look for leaks. Skimmate perhaps?

 

[swiftvision]

There are no leaks and no salt on the underside of the plexi.

I do pull out (2) full sized cups of skimmate every week, about a gallons worth.

But if this is the case...isn't everyone having this same issue that runs a skimmer? So like everyone?

 

[ericarenee]

What are you doing to substitute water changes.. You said no Water changes in 8 Months, You are either Dosing Elements such as Iodine, Iron . potassium and so on Or your system is out of balance.

Only time i have had Salt Creep and Salinity Creeping down is when i was doing iodine and potassium as a experiment with Mangroves.. This proved to be not worth it

My Suggestion is Do a good size water change and get a reg water change scheme and the issue will correct itself.Especially on a tank of that small size water changes are Super important . Mostly to replenish those trace elements we Do not Test for .

I Do 20 Gallon by-daily water changes For Just this very reason....To keep things stable that we can not check for... 20 gallons is a Super small % of my Total water Volume.

 

[swiftvision]

What are you doing to substitute water changes.. You said no Water changes in 8 Months, You are either Dosing Elements such as Iodine, Iron . potassium and so on Or your system is out of balance.

Only time i have had Salt Creep and Salinity Creeping down is when i was doing iodine and potassium as a experiment with Mangroves.. This proved to be not worth it

My Suggestion is Do a good size water change and get a reg water change scheme and the issue will correct itself.Especially on a tank of that small size water changes are Super important . Mostly to replenish those trace elements we Do not Test for .

I Do 20 Gallon by-daily water changes For Just this very reason....To keep things stable that we can not check for... 20 gallons is a Super small % of my Total water Volume.

I have a calcium reactor and dose trace elements 3x a week.

You do a 10% water change every day? Nice, but not going to happen for me. I finally got my water change station working the way I want it and will be able to do water changes much, much easier now.

 

[mcgyvr]

no magic is happening... water is leaking /splashing anywhere there is salt creep.. plain an simple..

Its condensing on the lids and gravity takes it from there..
Did you mention what you are using for salinity measurements?

 

[ericarenee]

I have a calcium reactor and dose trace elements 3x a week.

You do a 10% water change every day? Nice, but not going to happen for me. I finally got my water change station working the way I want it and will be able to do water changes much, much easier now.

10% daily not quite .

i have about 1200 gallons including my sump Fuge tanks and plumbing pipes as they run a long way.. When i shut my Circulation pump off it drains 50 gallons back into my main sump for a idea of water volume.

Anyway I agree with above that its salt creep or a leak of some type..
Curious to what your ph Alkalinity in your tank is. And the Humidity in the room of the tank?

 

[TangingOut]

There are no leaks and no salt on the underside of the plexi.

I do pull out (2) full sized cups of skimmate every week, about a gallons worth.

But if this is the case...isn't everyone having this same issue that runs a skimmer? So like everyone?

You pretty much solved your mystery right here. Pulling out nearly a gallon/week which is being replaced with top off fresh water will continue to drop your salinity. When I was skimming on the wet side, I would make up the difference with an extra 1/2 cup of fresh saltwater on my daily 1.5% water change. When my coral demand called for an increase in 2 part dosing, I no longer had to add the extra cup. In fact I occasionally had to remove a cup of tank water every now and then.

 

[thegrun]

How are you measuring salinity and are you calibrating the instrument regularly?