Mr. Limpet
Aquarium Advice Addict
Can my sand, canister filter, or something be absorbing the salt and causing the SG to drop? The tank is cycled and about a month old, I use Instant Ocean and a refractometer.
TIA
TIA
I notice my salt drops and its prob due to my HOB splashing. My tank is currently hoodless with the light sitting on the trip and theres a layer of salt on it. Also anywhere that is in contact with the water evaporation lowers the water will have a layer of salt. Ex. cords running out of tank
I cant think of any other way to lower SG other than doing top offs with RO/DI and small PWCs.
I'm just getting my SG under control in my 55. It's been high for a really long time around 1.028 to 1.030. With no ill affects to my fish. But I decided it was time to get it under control. It didn't take that many PWCs to get it down. Over about 2 weeks I've changed out about 7 gallons of SW for RO/DI and it finally got down to 1.025 yesterday.
Evap would only increase salinity, the only thing I could think of would be an ATO malfunctioning.
I would definitely advise against adding salt to the tank if you have fish in, it's not good for them. If anything just top-off with some saltwater with a lower salinity to raise it slowly
I've almost never heard of SG dropping, usually it's increasing
Only other advice I can give is keep that canister clean, you could end up with nitrate problems really fast if not
where is your SG currently at?
None of those are reasons why you're salinity would just lower, btw I hope your letting that bucket you take out to add more salt mix for about 24hrs, it needs to completely dissolve or the salt could burn any fish you have.
Oh most definitely, even in emergency situations you'll want to wait at least a few hours before adding it back.
Good mixing setup though!
when you mix up your PWC's are you letting them sit for 24 hrs? I ask because you can get false readings before the salt is completely dissovled. do you have a skimmer? Those can lower your SG a bit if you are running it wet as well.
I'm guessing, but the 24hrs which IO doesn't tell you about is the issue. No skimmer yet.
Thanks!
Probably a good idea, just leave the PH and airstone and put in the heater to temp match for 24hrs.
Start that for a few days and report back, we'll figure out where to go from there
It's pretty much a general (unspoken) rule of thumb to follow with all salt mixes.