New Reef Tank Questions

[lrs183]

Hello all,

I am coming at you all with a handful of basic questions. But before I get started, here are a few basic bits of information about my setup:

21 Gallon BT Aquatop cube.
Built in protein skimmer
Came with LED lighting in three shades: Very deep blue, white light, and what appears to be a mixture between the two.
20 pounds of live sand
21 pounds of live rock
Water heater with a digital readout that I have set at 80 degrees F.

Here are some of the questions I have.

The lighting, first and foremost. Is there a difference between any of these shades? Or are they all for the most part just to give your tank a different look? I have heard and read varying opinions about what kind of effect the different shades of lighting have. If they do in fact make a difference, when should I be using each type of lighting and for how long? Obviously for any tank, fresh or saltwater, you don't really want to leave your tank lighting on for more than 12 hours in a given day, so I intend to not turn it on any earlier than 10-11AM and then turn it off around 9PMthrough 11Pm at night.

My second question would be, when I get around to purchasing a second water pump for inside the tank for added water movement, do I need to be trying to give the surface water some tension? Or in a saltwater tank is that not really something of concern? I know in my freshwater tank there is quite a bit of top water movement due to the filter and the bubbles etc.

Third, I would have assumed the rocks I purchased would have covered a lot more area than they did. However surely enough 21 pounds of rock in fact was a lot smaller than it appeared once inside the tank. Right now I have a lot of caves and crevices formed with a minor amount of rock stacking within the tank. Should I be going for more of a pile look going upwards like a hill or does that not really matter and is personal preference?

Water changes and the frequency. I intend to keep this tank low on the count of actual fish. Maybe 2-3 at the absolute most. The rest will be essentially a cleanup crew giving a lot of neat aspects to the tank. How often should I be looking at doing a water change and how many gallons would you all recommend? As well, with water evaporation, what is the best route to refill this water? I do know you are not to top the tank off again with more saltwater as there is not actually any salt leaving the tank during evaporation. However, I don't want to rely completely on my LFS for RO water as that will get very costly. If a store has a gallon of water that is noted as being filtered and treated via RO, is that sufficient? I won't cut corners if I have to as it is too expensive to let it get ruined over something as simple as water. But if possible I'd like to save a little bit of money in the long-term if it's possible.

My last question is, while it obviously can vary dramatically from tank to tank, how long would you all assume the cycling will take? With the sand and live rock, I also added in bacteria to the tank and put in one dead shrimp to have sit there. I intend to take the shrimp out after one week unless it is gone by then (doubtful). But I am just curious as to what you all think? Obviously patience is key in this hobby so I will wait however long I need to, but it's more of a curiosity question than anything.

Thank you all so much and I am sorry for the book,

Robert:beer:

[Reefmedic79]

Question 1: Do you mean shades as in the amount of blue that is visible to you? Then the answer is mostly no. The blue is needed, in fact most would say it's more important to have more blue than the white. The key is a balanced spectrum, which is accomplished by using 2 or more different types of bulbs, unless your using metal halide bulbs, and even then most people supplement their MH's with bluer fluorescents or LED's.

If by shade you mean the Kelvin rating on bulbs, then it's much more important. The lower the Kelvin rating (3,000-6,000K) of a bulb the more red/yellow the bulb is and higher numbers (10,000-20,000K) have a bluer spectrum. Lower kelvin rating tend to improve the growth of corals, where higher tend to improve the color of corals. Most reef keepers don't tend to go lower than 10,000K though in our tanks.

Question 2: Turbulence on the surface of the water increases oxygen exchange and helps dissipate heat in the tank, both good things. Aesthetically it also improves that shimmer effect in the tank many people like. Overall it isn't necessary to have very turbid water on the surface, as skimmers and/or having a sump also provide sufficient O2 exchange.

Question 3: It's mostly a personal preference after the general excepted rule of 1lb/gal of rock is used. More rock will increase the surface area for beneficial bacteria to populate, in turn increasing your filtration capabilities.

Question 4: As a generalization, water changes should average about 10% /week. I actually do a 20% every 2 weeks though. I don't however suggest changing more than 30% at a time though as the change in parameters may be a little stressful for some fish and inverts. So in your case 2-4 gallons every 1-2 weeks.

Water evaporation is best handled with an Auto top-off system as it prevents the need for you to physically top-off the tank daily. Without one I do suggest topping off daily as this will prevent to wide of swings in the water parameters. In a pinch, bottle "RO" water will do, but that can be costly as well. I suggest purchasing your own RO/DI filter and make your own, in the long term you will save money.

Question 5: Most cycles take anywhere from 4-8 weeks, some are shorter and some longer. The only way to confirm if a cycle is complete or where you are in the cycle is to test your water for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. I suggest getting your own test kits and only use your LFS as a second opinion to your results. Quality is key when it comes to tests, I personally use Salifert, and always have.

Overall read the stickies at the top of this forum and feel free to ask as many questions that come along as your experience grows, we're all here to help.

[WELCOME]

[lrs183]

Well, in terms of what is visible to me there are 3 blunt settings, as stated above. The very deep blue color, a mix of blue and white (it's a soft blue, you could say), and then the white light. The lighting is what is built into the system. The LFS told me it would be fine for soft corals, though it would not work for hard corals and likely not for anenomies either. As a new enthusiast to the saltwater world, I am ok with this as I don't want to overwhelm too quickly anyways. Likely in a year or two, like I did with my freshwater tank, I will upgrade to something bigger and go further with it. But there are three evident settings to turn it to, which is why I wondered what would be the best. I read somewhere that leaving the setting on the dark blue actually causes the corals to dull out somewhat, so I may avoid that. m

The tank is completely closed top so hopefully evaporation will not be too intense. I will do daily top offs starting tomorrow as I only just opened it yesterday and haven't had a chance to locate a solid RO source without going to the LFS.
Overall though I just want to make sure I have this lighting situation correct as I don't want to go burning anything up.

[Maxxumless]

Instead of buying RO water, buy an RO/DI unit and set it up under your kitchen sink. You'll save $$$ and have purified drinking water to boot. Ex. One of my tanks evaporates 5g a week plus 20g a month in water changes - my LFS charges $0.50 a gallon for RO/DI water. Thats $500 a year for just one aquarium. I purchased my RO/DI unit for $129 on eBay ($80/year to refill). It saved me thousands!

[lrs183]

I will definitely have to look into that. Do you all have any RO filters that you would recommend?

[lrs183]

And what do you mean by refilling it? How does that all work?

[Maxxumless]

I purchased a unit much like this one (link (http://www.ebay.com/itm/REEF-HOME-DRINKING-RO-DI-dual-output-REVERSE-OSMOSIS-PURE-WATER-FILTER-SYSTEM-/200803354291?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec0d006b3)) like 8-9 years ago from the same company (FilterDirect) and can't complain. It works and works well. These filters have cartriges that must be changed every year or so. If it's a 5-stage filter, that means you'll have to change 5 filters. The dirtier your water, the more often you will have to change the filter media. You can buy a TDS meter from Amazon for like $15 to see how much dissolved solids are in your city's water. Mine reads 666 - that's some damn dirty water. After it comes out of my RO unit it's 28. After the DI unit it goes down to 0. Zero is optimal. My DI unit is the fastest to need refilling (about 400g), but I buy a large quantity of media - enough for about 3000 gallons. Total cost per year to refill all media is about $80. There's also Spectra Pure (google) and their units come with more frills, but at the time I got my unit Spectra cost like twice as much for the same filter. Now, costs are a little better.

[lrs183]

So this is something I could literally just put water in from the faucet and let it do its magic? Definitely sounds nice if that is the case. I know for a fact our city water is not very clean, or rather it has a lot of minerals in it. TDS meter? If I were to use the filter for nothing more than producing RO water for the tank, would its filters get gunked up like you say yours do?

[Maxxumless]

They all do, just not as quickly. Depending on how much water you use and how dirty it starts out, it could last a couple of years vs just one. I use mine for drinking, cooking, and three aquariums and I have to change mine once a year. I use the RO water to drink and cook and the DI water (two pipes with a valve I switch between the two) for the aquariums. (Example TDS meter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002C0A7ZY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002C0A7ZY&linkCode=as2&tag=toweguar-20%22%3EHM%20Digital%20TDS-EZ%20Water%20Quality%20TDS%20Tester,%200-9990%20ppm%20Measurement%20Range%20,%201%20ppm%20Resolution,%20+/-%203%%20Readout%20Accuracy)).

And yea, it's like magic lol :)

[lrs183]

Hmmm, I will be researching this soon! Definitely interested in it. I don't plan to use it much but if it produces as good of water as bottled water then perhaps I will use it and cut back on buying that, too!

[lrs183]

What is the deal with RO and RO/DI systems? Is the DI necessary? I just noticed RO systems are considerably cheaper.

[Maxxumless]

RO stands for Reverse Osmosis and that's what you're buying at most stores that say "Pure Water" or "Filtered Spring Water". They take water from wells, run it through a RO filter, then charge you $1 every liter. DI stands for deionized is pure water. All the ions have been removed; no other impurities. DI is optimal because you KNOW you're not putting any impurities into your tank. DI should only be for aquariums while RO should only be for consumption. DI requires a resin that strips ions (de-ionize) from the water. That resin eventually will be exhausted and will change color as it does. Then, you must refill the container. The resin is what is raising the price.

Long story short, companies are charging people $1 for .04. Seriously, city water in most places is actually better for you than what you find in most bottled water. After a few weeks in the sun, most of these bottles actually start breaking down, leaving toxins in the water for you to drink. One particularly bad one acts like female hormones. If you have kids that drink a lot of bottled water, an RO unit would be a healthy alternative. DI is only for aquariums and a must IMO.

[lrs183]

Last stupid question. So for your aquarium you only need a DI system? Or you'd want a RO/DI? Assuming I personally used it only for the aquarium. Last question. I promise!

[Mg4life0331]

ro/di. its a multiple step filtration. ro to start and finishing with the di part. if it was just di, you would blow through those filters quickly

[lrs183]

Ok that sounds good. I just wanted to understand my options. I just threw down so much on the aquarium that spending 150-200 right now sounds like a lot. There were generic RO deals for less than 100 which is why I asked.

[Maxxumless]

Last stupid question. So for your aquarium you only need a DI system? Or you'd want a RO/DI? Assuming I personally used it only for the aquarium. Last question. I promise!

Mg answered the question - they're stages, each with a canister, filled with different media.

Stage 1 - Pre-Filter/Sediment Filter (5 micron)
Stage 2 - Carbon Filter cartridge
Stage 3 - Carbon Filter cartridge
Stage 4 - Reverse Osmosis Membrane (Single most expensive cartridge)
Stage 5/6 - Carbon Filter (For Taste - usually a smaller throw away filter)
Stage 5/6 - DI Resin (refillable)

Stage 5 and 6 labeled like this because the last carbon filter is bypassed if you go DI or is used if you want to drink the water. So, no DI for drinking. So, if you buy an RO/DI unit that also is setup for drinking it's probably going to be a 6 Stage unit. If you just get one for drinking water, it will probably be a 5 Stage unit. Drinking water units will come with a 5 gallon tank (3.2 actually) and a spigot. Those for aquariums will not.

Questions is what this forum is all about. Keep 'em coming :thumbsup:

[Mg4life0331]

Yeah don't feel bad about asking questions here. I'm fairly new, and I'm still learning a ton. There are a great group of members here that gladly answer people.

[lrs183]

Would the RO/DI system you linked earlier work sufficiently for not only drinking water but also tank water? How do you go about getting the water for the tank and it not be water made for drinking? As well, would a system being purchased typically come with filters or no?

I appretiate all of the help! Very much.

[lrs183]

As well, what do you all think of water changes during the cycling? If so, how often? With it being new.

[lrs183]

Tank on day 3 (or 2.5) is a pH of 8.0, ammonia .25 (roughly), nitrite 0 and nitrate 5.0-10. Hopefully this is solid as of right now! Salinity is at 1.022 after topping off so I may let it evaporate a little bit to boost the salinity as it has some breathing room anyways with how full it is.

[Mg4life0331]

Would the RO/DI system you linked earlier work sufficiently for not only drinking water but also tank water? How do you go about getting the water for the tank and it not be water made for drinking? As well, would a system being purchased typically come with filters or no?

I appretiate all of the help! Very much.

Well drinking RO/DI tastes like crap. My dog likes it, but its because he finds the bucket I'm filling. Its not because I give it to him. Conversely, he likes to eat cat crap. Some point to the lack of minerals present that you need. I think that is just opinion, but I have no facts to prove it either. RO by itself is not pure. It can have stuff in it. Probably stuff to make it taste better or worse.

RO/DI has nothing in it period. You then add your salt mix to get the right stuff in it. Lets say that RO removes 90 percent of what tap has, then that means 10 percent could be a lot of differing things. Things you don't want, copper, phosphate, the list continues. RO/DI is water and nothing else.

I got a 5 stage that included a carbon filter. I ain't wasting my filters on drinking water. I just don't care. So I unplugged the carbon section and threw it in my shed. Pretty sure with all the tea, lemon, and sugar I put in my southern concoction it isn't healthy anyways. So what difference does it make if I make RO/DI tea?

[Mg4life0331]

As well, what do you all think of water changes during the cycling? If so, how often? With it being new.

There is a chart on here that shows it doesn't really matter. You will get there in roughly same time. Think one guy saved one day by changing water. I didn't and I am about 2 months after my cycle. I had low nitrates when I was finished, probably due to a deep sand bed, but I can't prove that. If you use API testing, and if you have Nitrites present, testing for Nitrates is useless. You get false positives.

Most change because the nitrates are sky high, YMMV. If you want to change water, thats fine. If not, thats fine too. However if you were at the end of a cycle and you were very high on nitrates I would change a large amount of water. Like 50 percent or more to bring it down.

If you want to change during cycle I would just do 10 percent a week or 20 percent every 2 weeks. Its really up to you imo.

Im no expert by no means, but I read these stickies here for 2 months before I ever started and I have no problems.

[Mg4life0331]

Tank on day 3 (or 2.5) is a pH of 8.0, ammonia .25 (roughly), nitrite 0 and nitrate 5.0-10. Hopefully this is solid as of right now! Salinity is at 1.022 after topping off so I may let it evaporate a little bit to boost the salinity as it has some breathing room anyways with how full it is.

I guess you are getting there, just wait till ammonia and nitrites are zero. I dosed a tremendous amount of ammonia to get massive spikes. I know I got a ton of bacteria that way. You can ghost feed the tank to keep a food source so your bacteria doesn't die. When you fail to provoke ammonia you are free to add fish.

[JAnwyl]

Ammonia turns to nitrate turns to nitrite so you got to account for those changes when cycling. If Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate reads You'll have nitrites soon enough.

People will hate on me for this.

But I always buy premade saltwater in the 5 gallon water jugs for water changes (20% change) but for top off I use tap water. Haters got to remember place tap originates from. Some tap water is crap some is amazing, I just happen to have decent tap water. Ro/Di is definitely the best method tho.

One thing I will say (probably get hated on for this thought) Is lots of times guys that have been in the hobby for year or so can give you better advice on cycling. Guys that have been in hobby for couple years can give you advice on lighting (reasoning to this) My reasoning is that people in this hobby for year or so have recently done research for cycling, where as guys that have been in hobby for a while feel the need to research for that new lighting system. Not to say veterans have recently refreshed their info on cycling or new hobbyists have researched lighting.

Question #1 Usually the Purple is actnic Lighting and the white is referred to as White. I run actnics for an hour before and hour after whites. There is a difference between the shades but It's been a while since I did the research so I'm not gonna give advice that could be horrible. Since I don't know details of your lighting system, I can't give much advice.

Question #2 A choppy surface is desirable. It creates Oxygen exchange and that lighting shimmer. One of the best mods for my tank was a surface skimmer. It adds a little chop (power heads add most) but most importantly it causes water to go in the filter from the top (all those undesirables like oils and other stuff are taken into filter) (my JBJ would take most water from maybe inch below surface, Those teeth in most overflows act as a surface skimmer and cause a waterfall effect, this skims things off surface)

Question #3 If I remember right (its been a while) i have around pound and a half rock per gallon. Recommendation is (Pound per gallon+) Local clubs and craigslist can be a good resource for rocks but can also contain hitchhikers. So can a LFS though. I sold to LFS and they don't give a ****.

Question #4 I do about 20% a month. (I think I did about 20% every two or three week for first year but now that my tank is established thats what I do) I would say that if a local store has water noted as being filtered maybe that is good for topoff. If you ever plan on going bigger (I had the 24 for about 2 or 3 years before I got a 50 with sump) I would say go Ro/Di and save over the long term. (People are gonna have different advice than what I gave here take mine with a grain of salt)

Question #5 Cycling is gonna vary. When you think cycle is over Remember Ammonia Becomes Nitrate, Nitrate becomes Nitrite, So if you have Ammonia or Nitrate you need to be patient, Nitrite your close but not done yet. When you think cycle is done put hardy fish in first, Don't torture it because of impatience. Clowns are extremely hardy I have one that is about 6years and friend has one that is about 5years.

[Maxxumless]

Would the RO/DI system you linked earlier work sufficiently for not only drinking water but also tank water? How do you go about getting the water for the tank and it not be water made for drinking? As well, would a system being purchased typically come with filters or no?

I appretiate all of the help! Very much.

Yes, it is for both aquariums & drinking water. I'm not sure on how it's set up, but a valve must be placed between State 5 & 6 so that the drinking water goes to the tank and the pipe that produces DI water is coiled up under your sink. When you want DI water you will take that pipe, put it into a container and then stitch the valve so the flow goes to the DI cartridge instead of the tank holding your drinking water. So, think of a Y , one side goes to the reservoir tank, the other goes to a container you fill with tank water. If it doesn't come with that Y valve diverter connection, Lowes and Home Depot have them. (Here's an example of how some people set them up LINK (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTONjczeGGY)).

As well, what do you all think of water changes during the cycling? If so, how often? With it being new.

None until the cycle is done, then 30%-50% making sure that temperature and salinity are the same. The bigger the spikes during cycling the more bacteria will be created. If you change water during a cycle you may actually prolong your cycle (probably not by much though). Also, keep the lights off. There isn't really any need for them anyway.

Tank on day 3 (or 2.5) is a pH of 8.0, ammonia .25 (roughly), nitrite 0 and nitrate 5.0-10. Hopefully this is solid as of right now! Salinity is at 1.022 after topping off so I may let it evaporate a little bit to boost the salinity as it has some breathing room anyways with how full it is.

When ammonia & nitrites read zero it is Ok to start adding life. It is important to only place fish/inverts that your biological filtration can handle. You also shouldn't add a cleanup crew until there is something to clean up - else they'll just die of starvation. If your rock was live and already pre-cured, your cycle won't take too long. Maybe even a week or two. If the rock is newer, it could take upwards of 6-8 weeks. Remove a piece of rock from the tank, sniff it. If you smell anything, especially a fishy smell, stuff is still dying. Live rock shouldn't smell of anything - it should just smell 'fresh', if thats a real smell.

Diatoms, reddish brown rust looking stuff that forms on rocks, glass, & sand, will start to appear after you've cycled. It's normal. People that use tap water or just RO water will experience longer periods of diatom growth. There are almost always compounds/elements in tap water which fuel algae growth. RO water, though much cleaner, cannot remove all these compounds/elements from the water. Generally speaking, people that use tap water run a high risk of fueling unwanted algae grown. RO users much less of a chance - but still a risk. DI users almost none. This does not however prevent you from adding impurities yourself by over feeding, overstocking, or not performing tank maintenance every couple of weeks.

[acabgd]

Remember Ammonia Becomes Nitrate, Nitrate becomes Nitrite, So if you have Ammonia or Nitrate you need to be patient, Nitrite your close but not done yet.

Wrong info here ^^^... Ammonia turns to NitrIte, then turns to NitrAte. Especially important for newbies to understand and test for.

Get some good test kits, such as Salifert or Red Sea. Don't settle for API, they're useless.

Get a RO/DI system, you will save a lot of money long-term. You can also check BRS and their RO/DI offers, they're destined for reef tanks and their refills are quite cheap.

Get an ATO (auto top-off) for your evaporation. It might be fun to refill water manually now, but 20 days will pass, 40 days will pass, 80 days will pass and you'll grow tired of refilling manually. You'll also leave house for a few days and your tank will evaporate so much, that your salinity might become drastically high. ATO is one of the best investments you can make, along with RO/DI.

[JAnwyl]

Another thing. When it comes to livestock take peoples advice that have been there done that.

On clean up crew I think Emerald crabs are great but someone had some issues and think they are a nuisance, I have had problems with hermit crabs eating my zoos so I don't get them anymore but no one else seems to have had issues with that. So spending time in front of the tank and seeing whats happening is great. When I started the hobby my tank was next to the couch in front of the tv. So i spent plenty of time watching.

Placement of the tank is a big deal.

[lrs183]

Thank you very much for the informative response. I will start keeping the lights off in the tank. I only kept them on for standard amounts of time but like you said there's no reason to.

My rock definitely came in prepped and alive. I've been seeing a large number of critters in the tank. Well, not large numbers but a solid amount which means the tank is promoting life. Fortunately none of it seems to be bad, so I got lucky there. The only thing I had question with was a worm that I saw crawling on the back of the tank at about 5am when I got home from work. Was.. maybe 1-2 inches at the most? Hard telling for sure, very thin overall. Pure white. Looked like it had a crap ton of legs. At first I thought it was this hitch hiker that packed a strong punch that essentially sits attached to rocks in the tank. But I came to find that beast isn't a worm. So my concerns about it faded. I also have that little starfish that people seem to have varying opinions about. Though I've only ever seen one at any given time. I'll be monitoring it. Figure I'll thrown in a harlequin or this bumblebee shrimp eventually if I feel the need to. I know the bumblebee isn't as strict on its diet so that may be the choice.

But yeah, I bought live sand and live rock. Got to pick it all out myself from a big tank which was fun. Its Fiji rock. When would you recommend that I add a cleanup crew then?

As well, my tank at most will host 2-3 fish. The rest will be verts etc.

[lrs183]

I'd like to get an auto top off system. I'd say at this point that's about the only piece of equipment I am missing. Will one even fit with a nano size tank? I'm ok with doing top offs. I do manual stuff with my freshwater which I attribute to why its doing so well. But then again luxuries are nice. What do they normally cost?

[JAnwyl]

Auto top off will be great.

http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/hitchhiker.shtml For referencing hitchhikers

[lrs183]

I guess you are getting there, just wait till ammonia and nitrites are zero. I dosed a tremendous amount of ammonia to get massive spikes. I know I got a ton of bacteria that way. You can ghost feed the tank to keep a food source so your bacteria doesn't die. When you fail to provoke ammonia you are free to add fish.

Janawl and Mg, I read your posts just now as well and definitely appreciate them. I'm at work and my phone didn't load them for some reason. I actually have a dead shrimp in the tank currently and have since I opened the tank. So that's my form of ghosting I guess you could say. Its dissolving at a good pace now but I intend to remove it by the weeks end if its not gone by then. I also dosed the tank opening night with a bottle of bacteria. So perhaps that helped a bit.

In regards to choppy water. My water was actually really calm until this afternoon. The surface water that is. I bought a second power head today so I have one aimed grazing over the rocks and the other aimed upwards creating tension. Gives a nice shimmer effect as well which I like. At first though I was really limited due to the return pump being my only movement.

[lrs183]

**picture didn't upload correctly so it is rotated at an odd angle. The critter is whitish color. I believe if rotated to the right it should be correct**

Anyone care to identify this? It was moving really slow and resembled in general shape a pod. Though significantly larger (pencil eraser size maybe). I know the picture quality is terrible but I just got home from work and was trying to get it with flash.

Dead center of the pic, slightly to the right and down. It's crawling downwards.

[lrs183]

Is checking water parameters on a daily basis during the cycle not necessary? Such as ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites etc. Or should I be doing it daily? I check the salinity on an every day basis but that's because the water can go right back in the tank.

[Reefmedic79]

IMO, no it's not necessary. Newer hobbyist do it, I think, because they get an unrelenting urge to do something with a tank that is cycling. With my tank in fact, I didn't test for the first 2 months. When I did finally test, I had 0 ammo and nitrite, and trace nitrate. I then did my first water change and then put a big pinch of food in the tank. Tested again after a week showing no changes, then started to slowly added my CUC.

[lrs183]

Well honestly, as much as I enjoy the feeling of being a chemist when doing the water tests, it is in fact something that I would be alright without doing on an every day basis if I don't have to. Mainly for the reason that if I can, I do my best to never put my hands in my aquariums as I don't trust various chemicals that could be on them throughout a given day. I didn't even really like removing one of my live rocks today to extract a crab from it. Was a simple process as I just set it down and waited a few minutes for it to come out of the rock and then knocked it off. Pretty sure I positive ID'd it as an Emerald Crab but I have read too many mixed reviews of how they are for a tank so out it went.
But back to the point, I like for my tanks to do what they need to do without me meddling. Simply put.

[lrs183]

Here's a question for you guys. So here in the future its gonna be time to do a water change along with adding salt to get to a specific gravity and so forth. Here are my questions

How much can you lower salinity in a day
How much can you raise salinity in a day
If I top the tank off due to evaporation and then immediately do a water change, how do I make the water going in match the salinity of the tank? If the tank is 1.025 and my mix is 1.027 for example, how would you all handle the situation as to not waste X amount of water?

I am getting a ref factometer tomorrow. So I am hoping my hydrometer is correct when it says 1.022 (slightly low I know).

I guess I am super stressing out cause I realized today that while the tank looked completely full, the reservoir in the back was low where the return pump is so there was a good amount of water to add. Maybe 1 gallon? 2 would be an exaggeration. So I went from right at or barely below 1.024 to 1.022 on the hydro. And today I did a tiny top off with salt water to take the tank from 1.023.5 to 1.024 and then realized the error in my ways. Hopefully someone can ease my stressing as in my head I'm convinced I've nuked the tank. Hopefully the live rock and critters are more resilient than that?

Most hydro from what I read always give low readings anyways. So maybe until tomorrow when I go to the LFS and they do a reading and I buy a refractometer it'd be best to keep it lower.

Ugh... noob stuff I'm telling ya. Dunno how I flopped that one.

[lrs183]

BTW, all water additions and salinity changes were today within a one hour time frame. Not spread over 2 days

[lrs183]

Anyone wanna put my mind at ease? Haha

[Reefmedic79]

It definitely would behoove you to get a refractometer a.s.a.p. The rise and fall that wide could cause issues with more sensitive invertebrates, but at this point in your tank you should be fine. It's this reason why an ATO is so beneficial.

Salt should never be added or mixed in your main system. Mixing salt into water cause a few different chemical reactions, that deplete O2 from the water as well as increasing temp. A 5 gallon bucket with a small pump is great for mixing to the desired salinity.

[lrs183]

Well I purchased a refractometer yesterday. My salinity was 1.024 (2 points higher than the hydro). So fortunately I was safe. And now that I understand the overflow taking in most of the top off water along with also bring the visually inspectable area for evaporation that won't happen again. I picked up a small CUC yesterday and a orange spot Valencia goby. All still very happy and the goby is eating well etc. I got one turbo snail and he has been going to town, lol. In a few weeks I'd like to maybe get a pistol shrimp and one other fish. Or just the shrimp and then some time down the road get another fish. I also got a peppermint shrimp but I haven't seen him, haha