1.026 salinity fine?

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pairenoid

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
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ive been using ro water from the lfs, i used to be at 1.024 but their water is 1.025

right now im at 1.026, is that ok? im going to get a coral today, and i know they like higher salinity, but im borderline 1.027

i only have a midas right now
 
alright, question, i plan on getting a mushroom and zooanthid

do i place them on the sand or rock? how do i place them in there, do i have to buy any extra stuff, my powerhead is kind of strong
 
ive been using ro water from the lfs, i used to be at 1.024 but their water is 1.025

right now im at 1.026, is that ok? im going to get a coral today, and i know they like higher salinity, but im borderline 1.027

i only have a midas right now

The Great Barrier Reef runs about 35ppt which is a specific gravity of 1.0264. This should be your target. Higher salinity means a greater availability of elements.
 
alright, question, i plan on getting a mushroom and zooanthid

do i place them on the sand or rock? how do i place them in there, do i have to buy any extra stuff, my powerhead is kind of strong

Where you place them depends on tank depth, lighting, and flow.
 
i have nova extreme 2x24, 20 long tank, so 30 inches across, the lights are 24 inches

12 inches high, 1 x 750 koralia powerhead
 
1.026 is right where I keep my all the time. And everything is and has been doing great for a year now.
 
ok 1 more question, sorry i made another thread but i dont know how to delete it. So my tank is at 1.027, and my ro water is at 1.024, if i top off with my ro water(about 1 inch worth at most), will my salinity increase or stay the same?

should i add tap water to dilute my ro water? I have amquel plus which scared me with its reading, and some tetra safe conditioner ive been using up until now as options to condition my tap water

i prefer to just add the ro water but i dont want my salinity to go above 1.027

my tap water is like
either 0 ammonia or barely any
0 nitrite
should be 8.4 ph but i just tested it at lower around 7 so im not sure what changed
20-40 nitrate
 
You should be topping off with RODI water that contains no salt. If your salinity is anything more than 0 on your top off water, then you will have salinity issues. As water evaporates, salt does not. The more water that evaporates, the higher your salinity will rise, your "fresh" RODI water will then dilute the water back down to the correct salinity.
 
You should be topping off with RODI water that contains no salt. If your salinity is anything more than 0 on your top off water, then you will have salinity issues. As water evaporates, salt does not. The more water that evaporates, the higher your salinity will rise, your "fresh" RODI water will then dilute the water back down to the correct salinity.

Yes, when we say top off with RO water we are referring to 100% freshwater (no salt). This is what you should be topping off with, not saltwater. Saltwater is only for water changes.
 
i only have a bucket full of saltwater ro from the store, i should of just bought freshwater and a box of salt :/, but ill need to buy a refractometer and ro unit soon :/
 
i only have a bucket full of saltwater ro from the store, i should of just bought freshwater and a box of salt :/, but ill need to buy a refractometer and ro unit soon :/

Well you need freshwater on a daily basis so i would be going to the fish store to get some ro/di only or buy an ro/di unit asap. Salinity will rise rapidly without freshwater.
 
i guess next time i go to my fish store to get more saltwater ro ill buy a bucket of freshwater but how can i increase my ph? i went from 8.4 to maybe 8.2 and i might use tap water again once this week so it might go lower
 
i guess next time i go to my fish store to get more saltwater ro ill buy a bucket of freshwater but how can i increase my ph? i went from 8.4 to maybe 8.2 and i might use tap water again once this week so it might go lower

8.2 is fine. You just don't want abrupt fluctuations in you PH. Any PH swings should be gentle. Generally speaking, your PH will be lower when the lights first come on, and higher when the lights go off. This is due to the algae within the corals taking in carbon dioxide and producing oxygen while the lights are on and photosynthesis is occurring. That said, pick a time that you can check your PH. That time should be the same whenever you test your PH. This will create a constant for you.
 
lets say all the water in my tank right now is ro saltwater. Its at 8.2-8.4 ph, my tap water is reading yellow ~7 ph. If i top off 1 gallon of this tap water for evaporation, i read that it will in no way change my TANK ph. Any word on that? Im still researching all this ro/di unit stuff so i will have to suffer and use tap water a few times here and there, since i cant make it to the fish store frequently because of work
parameters i just checked
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
1.025 salinity
77 c
 
lets say all the water in my tank right now is ro saltwater. Its at 8.2-8.4 ph, my tap water is reading yellow ~7 ph. If i top off 1 gallon of this tap water for evaporation, i read that it will in no way change my TANK ph. Any word on that? Im still researching all this ro/di unit stuff so i will have to suffer and use tap water a few times here and there, since i cant make it to the fish store frequently because of work
parameters i just checked
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
1.025 salinity
77 c

It may effect pH, tap water is not advisable for reef tank use and is not 0 TDS (Total Dissolved Solids).
 
You can also purchase distilled water from the store and use it for top offs until you get and RO/DI pump. It usually runs about 0.99 cents a gallon.
 
ah you read my mind, i just did a ton of googling and found out walmart sells distilled water as well as ro/di water

im going to check it out today
 
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