raising salinity? (best way)

[ste6168]

Alright, so i just checked my tanks salinity for the first time in about 2 months and its pretty low... 1.023, i would like to raise it back up to 1.025. I know that you have to do it slow, over the course of time but what is the best way to do it? I really do not know how...


Thanks again, Mike

[Hop]

Add some salt water rather than RO water for top off...

[ste6168]

alright, well should i make sure it is the same salinity as the tank or could it be a little bit higher until i get to the right spot?

[Hop]

Depends on how slow you want to raise it back up. I have 40 gallons of SW standing by for emergency water changes and I just add some to the tank every so often and check it with my refractometer. I would say that during a normal month, mine fluctuates between 1.023 and 1.025 several times.

In your case I would add some, wait about a half hour and check your SG. Repeat over a few days until you get it up to where you want it:)

[hopper]

I might be wrong on this (someone might chime in and give a better opinion), but I would just add a little bit of salt water mixed the way you normally mix it and use this for top off water until you get it back up to 1.025. I am going to take a wild guess and say that 5 or so gallons would get you back. Doing via top off would serve two reasons. It would get salinity back up slowly over time and you will have better success getting it right without going too far over 1.025. Of course I would wait a few hours between top offs to measure the salinity.

[ste6168]

alright, i think i am just going to top-off with some saltwater of the same salinity of my tank... That makes the most sense to me.

Thanks guys

[L and L]

I would just mix up some 1.023 mix and when you need to add RO/DI top - off... i would just add that.

Then you'll eventually get to 1.024 and mix that up and add. ... and you'll make it 1.025.

This what I did (hehe), and somebody might chime in on "don't do this".... but, I just added a table spoon of Kent Sea Salt to my sump every other day (hmmm or every day... I can't remember).

But, I do remember that it didn't cause any problems.

[L and L]

hehe. oops... I used the same cliche "chime in" like you did Hopper.

Us Southern minds think alike. =)

[Sk8r]

Remember that you're not comparing that salt topoff with the tank, but with the usual freshwater topoff, and pouring all that salt in: it will come up fairly rapidly, so test every morning.

[L and L]

Good point. I was thinking a small amount of salt water topoff like a 16 oz glass per day.

I evaporate 2.2 gallons / day and adding that much more salt will certainly raise it quicker.

[pufferpoison]

WOW i had the exact same question on the exact same SG readings. You guys are great.

[jdenton]

This calculator http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=819894 will tell you exactly how much salt water to add to bump it up to the desired level. I believe you should only increase salinity by 0.0005 per day ie. 1.023 to 1.0235 on day 1, then 1.024 on day 2, etc.

This calculator is from Germany so be sure to go to Settings II and change to english units and Settings I and change salt measurement type to density.