Specific gravity and Inverts...

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Oceanicsublimat

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 9, 2005
Messages
374
Location
Macon, GA
I've read that starfish should not be kept under a specific gravity of 1.024..is this right? and if so, how should I raise it? I am still cycling and my coralife deep six reads that I'm 1.021..but I know that's probably wrong, are u supposed to add 2 or more to the value to compensate for water temperature, making my actual sg 1.023? My water temp is about 80*. I gave some of my water to the lfs and they told me that my SG was high, don't know what the reading was there.. but that was after I added the dr, the water got a little stirred up so that made all my readings a little high I guess.. the lfs was using the instant ocean swing arm tester... I want to order more lr in a few days and I want everything on it to live(except the undesireables of course) will this be a problem for the life on the rock?
 
If you are serious about this hobby a swing arm is VERY inaccurate a refractometer would be much more precise and give you much less of a headach in the long run. As far as starfish I have my tank at 1.025 and have never had a starfish die on me.
 
I want to raise my sg to about 1.024 so that I can accomodate starfishes as well as other species of fish and inverts..any suggestions? I just mixed up a batch of saltwater at 1.021 temp unknown(cold):) was gonna let it sit till I needed it.. I guess I'm gonna get another brand of swing arm sg meter to test against mine before I do anything.. I may buy a refractometer later..
 
If you want to raise your SG, the most important thing to do is raise it slowly. Keep some aged SW on hand and us this for top-offs instead of FW. Your SG will climb slowly over time. Keep a close eye on it so it does not get too high.
 
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