High Salinity!

[errdivideby0]

The salinity of my aquarium has climbed up to 1.028 luckily, I don't have anything in it right now. My aquarium is 75 gallons and what I was thinking of doing was taking out 5 gallons and adding 5 gallons of regular fresh water. Would this help with the problem?

 

[Ziggy953]

How did it climb to 1.028? Have you been topping the tank off with FW or SW?

As water evaporates the SG will go up, water evaporates salt does not. When the water level in your tank drops you need to add fresh water only.

 

[errdivideby0]

When the water level drops. Always add freshwater too it not salt water. As for how it got that high I do not know. One day when I was doing measurents it just went up. Would the five gallon change of salt water and fresh water help to fix this?

 

[melosu58]

I`m thinking 5 gallons might be too much. Start with 2 gallons at a time.

 

[errdivideby0]

Okay I'll be sure to try that tonight. Thanks!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

How are you measuring the salinity? Hydrometer or refractometer? If hydrometer, are you compensating for temperature? (Your other thread mentions temperature issues... that's the only reason I bring it up.)

 

[errdivideby0]

I'm using a hydrometer to measure my Salinity. Right now I've got my temperature under control. It's currently at 78 which is where it was before when I was getting salinity readings of 1.024 and 5. Also what do you mean by compensating for temperature? I know that salinity can change with water temperature due to density change and all that but don't know how to calculate all that

Also I just finished doing the 2 gallon water change (took out 2 gallons of salt and put in 2 gallons of fresh). I'll see what happens in the morning and hopefully it was that simple.

 

[roka64]

In my experience, the hydro was very inaccurate at lower temps. When I was filling up my buckets of salt, I used cold water and the salinity hardly showed any at all. When it heated up, it was pretty high. I'm not sure how much effect a higher temp would effect it (especially at a swing of 2-8 degrees) since I have never tried that....simple solution...get a refractometer.

 

[errdivideby0]

I'll probably end up doing that on Friday when I go to my LFS to get the rest of my Live Rock. I was looking online and they're not that expensive and it'll give me less problems. Sounds like a good idea.

 

[GhostKnife]

It is a much easier read in my opinion as well.

 

[mtlion]

I agree with the refractometer, you can get them for a reasonable price on ebay (think I paid around $35 for mine). I was using a hydrometer at first and was getting VERY extreme readings even with multiple tests. I also agree that you should try only a few gallons at first. I had a salinity problem when setting up my tank (mostly due to the hydrometer I think). I took out saltwater and replaced with ro/di and then it was too low. Start small!

 

[errdivideby0]

Well the two gallons did the trick, my salinity is down to 1.025. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Ziggy953]

excellent news