sansouci01
Aquarium Advice FINatic
what reading should I maintain for my fowlr tank ?. Also, how precise should I keep my salt level. I mean, is it ok to vary a couple points either way
salinity level for my fowlr tank
- Thread starter sansouci01
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dragonfisher33
Aquarium Advice Addict
as long as you're in the ball park range, it shouldn't matter as much since the fish is more tolerant than the corals. but just out of good practice, keep the salinity as constant as possible to avoid stress on the fish or other problems with pH swings.
OP
OP
sansouci01
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Thanks.
Is checking your salinity a daily thing. I'm new to salt water and setting up my first tank tomorrow. I don't plan on adding any fish for a while. Want to get used to keeping the water parameters in check before adding any livestock.
Is checking your salinity a daily thing. I'm new to salt water and setting up my first tank tomorrow. I don't plan on adding any fish for a while. Want to get used to keeping the water parameters in check before adding any livestock.
You're tank will need to cycle for 4-6 weeks with rock and sand before adding fish anyway so you can practice and get a feel for it during that time. Google Fishless Cycling for saltwater to learn how to properly and humanely cycle your tank. The size of your tank will determine the salinity changes. Like my 210 could sit for a week without a top off and i wont lose enough water to see a noticeable increase in salinity. On the other hand if my 55 lost the same amount of water as my 210 It would probably be harmful to the fish. What i would do is fill it to the level you wanted to keep it at and set the salinity to 1.024. (Make a water line with a sharpie on the least conspicuous spot for max. then test the salinity every day until you get an unsafe swing condition. By that i mean slowly letting the tank rise in salinity to 1.026 (evaporation is slowly rising the salinity since salt doesn't evaporate) your fish will be fine but when you top off you're dropping the salinity almost instantly so the fish will get stressed and or die for the more sensitive animals, corals and inverts. I never let my salinity go higher than 1.026 and no lower than 1.024 in my fish only tank to avoid stressing my fish when the salinity changes at top off. Once you see the water level for when the tanks salinity reaches 1.026 then you make your minimum line with a sharpie and now you know what level to fill it to keep your salinity the same every time and a absolute minimum to let the water level get to before topping off. You can never top off too often. I topped off my tanks every morning before i bought Auto top off systems. Long reply but hopefully it helped
OP
OP
sansouci01
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Thanks..great advice. I have a 20 gallon high so keeping the water topped off will be critical I'm assuming. I made my water last night and it agitated over night. Checked it this morning and it read 1.025 so I guess I'm good to go. I bought some microbacter7 at my lfs yesterday. They told me it would help cycle the tank faster. At 10 bucks a bottle it better do something..lol.. I have live sand and base rock.
Rmckoy
Aquarium Advice FINatic
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2013
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The parameters are likely to swing as it's a new immature tank .
As it matures it will not swing as much .
As for top off and evaporation ,
I am topping my 75 once a week when I do water changes .
Over the period of a week I don't notice a readable difference in salinity which I find very weird .
I will HIGHLY recommend research and confirm with different sites .
This forum is a amazing place to ask questions .
We are all here to help .
Cheers !
You'll need an ammonia source to help cycle the tank. I use the pure ammonia dosing method. But you can do the same with a piece if table shrimp. I use the ammonia dosing method because the shrimp stinks pretty bad but the end if the cycle and I just think its cleaner to use ammonia. Just google both methods and choose which is right for you.
