Sk8r
02/10/2010, 06:08 PM
Salt is a life and death issue.
This is something everybody needs to know, because a salt-mistake will happen sooner or later.
Imagine a balloon full of gas at surface pressure, rising up through levels of lesser pressure. Boom. That's representative of a living cell with one level of salinity inside, and another outside. A cell has a fragile outer membrane that can outright rupture in that situation. A cell dies. If it happens to be a fishy kidney cell, that's bad. If it's a bunch of them, it's very bad. The fish may die several days later of a toxic buildup due to kidney damage...and kidneys get it worst, because THAT's what has to deal with fluid balance.
The major, major deal with acclimation is salt. Ideally, phone the people you're going to buy fish from and ask them what salinity they ship in. Many will say 1.021. Fine. Set up your quarantine tank at 1.021. When your fish arrives, granted the temperature is close, you can open that bag, TEST the water to be sure, test your QT tank to be absolutely sure, and then just put the fish straight across into qt with no dripping or messing or waiting. Over the next 4 weeks (observation time) slowly bring that 1.021 of the qt tank up to match your display salinity [General reef range (1.024-1.026) FOWLR, usually 1.021]. I use an autotopoff unit to keep that salt level absolutely even all the time. This is a little stricter than the ocean itself manages (rainstorms, passing currents), but in a little glass box, fish don't get the option to move if they're uncomfortable.
If you follow this habit, your fish will be happier.
Inverts often come in at 1.024. Again, test. And you MUST acclimate: creatures in shells can't sweat---or exchange fluids rapidly. They die very readily of salt shock. (Osmotic shock). If you're within .001, you're good to put the critter into your tank. If not, you'll have to use the drip method. But DON'T drip for more than 45 minutes. Ph changes in the bag can be a problem once that bag is open.
And IF you have a topoff accident and find you've dropped your reef salinity to 1.020...DON'T bring it rapidly back up UNLESS you know you've caught it within 5-10 minutes of the accident.
Think of it this way: the faster the change, the harder on the kidneys. Your critters have already been through one rough change, they've been sitting in this water a while, they're still alive, and they've lived through it all, but they're not feeling well. To bring it all back to level again super-fast is going to hit them with one more rough change, and could just push them over the edge, because their tissues have adjusted now to what they're in---they're not happy, but they're not dead, which is good. Start to raise salinity by drawing off some water and then topping off with high-salinity salt water, little at a time, very little: this may play hob with your preferred bedtime, but it's good not to rush this. At a certain point, you can say, well, they're still alive and within a decent range (1.022) and at this point, just slow down, top off with salt water as needed, and you'll be fine.
More things to know about salt: if your salt solidifies, don't use it: the buffer in the mix is shot. It will give you big problems with alkalinity. Keep salt buckets tightly lidded. This is an expensive mistake.
Don't let salt crystals from 'salt creep' fall from a hose onto your corals: it will burn a white spot.
Salt mixes vary in what 1/2 cup to a gallon gives you. I use Oceanic, which gives a nice buffer and calcium level (reef) and mixes up at 1.024 salinity.
You can hasten salt mixing by putting a maxijiet 1200 in a 5 g poly bucket. It will definitely be ready by morning. In an emergency, I've used a mag 5, and the mix was useable (in a crisis) in about 4 hours. You're a lot better, however, letting it mix overnight. If, however, you have to choose between really polluted water or a cracked tank and a 4-hour salt mix, go for the clean water. Salt can burn if not mixed properly, and you're measuring the hazards of, say, a mild irritation of the gills vs, say, suffocation. Sometimes you go for the better of two unhappy choices.
And last of all: NEVER get caught without enough salt on hand to mix up a lifesaving refuge tank for everything you value. If you have an imminent tank-crash crisis, the fastest safety lies in moving all your specimens to clean water, even with a simple air pump going (which actually can help prevent the crash, because you've removed a significant part of the bioload from the stressed tank). Estimate how many gallons that would take, and be sure your reserve salt is always adequate.
This is something everybody needs to know, because a salt-mistake will happen sooner or later.
Imagine a balloon full of gas at surface pressure, rising up through levels of lesser pressure. Boom. That's representative of a living cell with one level of salinity inside, and another outside. A cell has a fragile outer membrane that can outright rupture in that situation. A cell dies. If it happens to be a fishy kidney cell, that's bad. If it's a bunch of them, it's very bad. The fish may die several days later of a toxic buildup due to kidney damage...and kidneys get it worst, because THAT's what has to deal with fluid balance.
The major, major deal with acclimation is salt. Ideally, phone the people you're going to buy fish from and ask them what salinity they ship in. Many will say 1.021. Fine. Set up your quarantine tank at 1.021. When your fish arrives, granted the temperature is close, you can open that bag, TEST the water to be sure, test your QT tank to be absolutely sure, and then just put the fish straight across into qt with no dripping or messing or waiting. Over the next 4 weeks (observation time) slowly bring that 1.021 of the qt tank up to match your display salinity [General reef range (1.024-1.026) FOWLR, usually 1.021]. I use an autotopoff unit to keep that salt level absolutely even all the time. This is a little stricter than the ocean itself manages (rainstorms, passing currents), but in a little glass box, fish don't get the option to move if they're uncomfortable.
If you follow this habit, your fish will be happier.
Inverts often come in at 1.024. Again, test. And you MUST acclimate: creatures in shells can't sweat---or exchange fluids rapidly. They die very readily of salt shock. (Osmotic shock). If you're within .001, you're good to put the critter into your tank. If not, you'll have to use the drip method. But DON'T drip for more than 45 minutes. Ph changes in the bag can be a problem once that bag is open.
And IF you have a topoff accident and find you've dropped your reef salinity to 1.020...DON'T bring it rapidly back up UNLESS you know you've caught it within 5-10 minutes of the accident.
Think of it this way: the faster the change, the harder on the kidneys. Your critters have already been through one rough change, they've been sitting in this water a while, they're still alive, and they've lived through it all, but they're not feeling well. To bring it all back to level again super-fast is going to hit them with one more rough change, and could just push them over the edge, because their tissues have adjusted now to what they're in---they're not happy, but they're not dead, which is good. Start to raise salinity by drawing off some water and then topping off with high-salinity salt water, little at a time, very little: this may play hob with your preferred bedtime, but it's good not to rush this. At a certain point, you can say, well, they're still alive and within a decent range (1.022) and at this point, just slow down, top off with salt water as needed, and you'll be fine.
More things to know about salt: if your salt solidifies, don't use it: the buffer in the mix is shot. It will give you big problems with alkalinity. Keep salt buckets tightly lidded. This is an expensive mistake.
Don't let salt crystals from 'salt creep' fall from a hose onto your corals: it will burn a white spot.
Salt mixes vary in what 1/2 cup to a gallon gives you. I use Oceanic, which gives a nice buffer and calcium level (reef) and mixes up at 1.024 salinity.
You can hasten salt mixing by putting a maxijiet 1200 in a 5 g poly bucket. It will definitely be ready by morning. In an emergency, I've used a mag 5, and the mix was useable (in a crisis) in about 4 hours. You're a lot better, however, letting it mix overnight. If, however, you have to choose between really polluted water or a cracked tank and a 4-hour salt mix, go for the clean water. Salt can burn if not mixed properly, and you're measuring the hazards of, say, a mild irritation of the gills vs, say, suffocation. Sometimes you go for the better of two unhappy choices.
And last of all: NEVER get caught without enough salt on hand to mix up a lifesaving refuge tank for everything you value. If you have an imminent tank-crash crisis, the fastest safety lies in moving all your specimens to clean water, even with a simple air pump going (which actually can help prevent the crash, because you've removed a significant part of the bioload from the stressed tank). Estimate how many gallons that would take, and be sure your reserve salt is always adequate.