SG question NOOB

[Sundiego]

My lfs guy told me as a general rule that 1/2 cup salt mix to 1 gallon of water was the ratio.

After doing so my SG was 1.020. Im am trying to get it to 1.026. I have added more salt (about a cup) and it increased to 1.022ish.
BTW This is for my quarantine tank, my actual tank has not arrived yet. I also gave the salt 24 hrs to dissolve.

I have to keep adding more salt and waiting 24 hrs each time.

Tonight I just addded approx another cup, and will see what the sg is tomorrow.

Does anyone have another general ratio to use? I feel that I should just add more salt than needed and then dilute as necessary, so I dont have to keep waiting the 24hrs and then test.

FYI- My quarantine tank is 29 gallons, and no there are no fish in it yet.

Thx Mark

 

[seaham358]

Read the side of your salt does it say there? When I mix my salt I toss it in the bucket with a power head mix add salt and measure the SG if its close I leave it and when its up to temp I check again. I never wait 24 hours to check SG, I wait about 24 hrs before I use the salt.
Do you have a power head in the tank to mix the salt? I would get a small one and use that to help mix the salt and check the SG as you add the salt, its pretty close after a few min of mixing.

 

[Sundiego]

I do have a powerhead. I will look on the salt bucket for a ratio. I use Kent Sea Salt.

Today I am almost to 1.026, thanks for the reply.

 

[melosu58]

Most LFS have theirs on the low side around 19 or 20. IMO I would find out what your LFS water is and set your QT to about 1.022 - 1.024 and make your main tank the same as your QT so as not to have a big acclimation jump from the QT to the main.

 

[Sundiego]

Well my quarantine tank is at 1.026. I thought this is ok. Am I wrong?

I got that spec from here:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

 

[melosu58]

I can deal with that. I keep mine at 1.024.

 

[Sundiego]

lol

 

[MT79]

I would suggest running your QT low to start with(1.017-1.020). Going from lower to higher SG is stressful on all animals, especially inverts(going from higher to lower SG is less stressful). Running the QT at the lower range SG makes sure it is going to be less, the same, or atleast close to the LFS the animal comes from, reducing one more stress factor. As said LFS always run low SG to save salt and $$. While QT'ing you can slowly bring the SG up to that of your main by topping of w/ SW instead of FW. That way it can be done much more slowly, after the fish is more acclimated to it's new surroundings and eating, etc. HTH and good luck!

 

[MT79]

My lfs guy told me as a general rule that 1/2 cup salt mix to 1 gallon of water was the ratio.

After doing so my SG was 1.020.

1/2 cup per gal. sounds about right to me. IME you should be higher than 1.020 w/ that amount of salt per gal. What are you using to measure SG?
FWIW I use a little over 1/2 cup, maybe 1/8th cup more, per gal to get 1.026 SG using a refractometer.

 

[Sundiego]

Maybe I should get a refractometer. I just broke my hydrometer 2 min ago....

I just squeezed it to hard and it broke in my hand. Thankfully not in the tank.

Can you say rookie lol

Thanks MT as soon as I get a new meter to measure I will bring the levels down.

Mark

 

[MT79]

Sorry to hear that. You can get refractometers fairly cheaply these days. Drsfostersmith.com has a decent one for ~$45. It's definitely a wise investment if you plan on housing corals or other sensitive inverts such as shrimp, starfish, etc. Plastic swing arm hydrometers, as well as the small floating glass ones sold for hobby use, tend to be inaccurate, especially over time or without proper care. I have seen many post about people finding their tank SG is +/- .003 or worse, when comparing their old hydrometer results vs. a refractometer. HTH

 

[melosu58]

Mike is right . Refractometer is the way to go. Here is the one I got. Not too bad.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...fractometers&ref=3969&subref=AA&N=2004+113761

 

[Sundiego]

Thanks I picked one up yesterday!

 

[chase33]

I keep my salinity at 1.024 and it takes a little over 10 cups per 20 gallons to get to that level. I add the salt and test as soon as it has dissolved. If reading is low (which is usually the case because I'd rather start with too little salt than too much) I add more salt and test again in about an hour or so.

 

[roka64]

I would keep my QT the same salinity of the LFS, less acclimation in getting it into the QT. Once they are in the QT you can slowly bring up the salinity to the same as your display tank and then you have less stress in acclimation to the new tank...

 

[madhatter208]

Refractometer VERY GOOD

hydrometer Junky.

I orderd my refractometer like a week after i got my hydrometer. The goofy hydrometer.

I deff like the Refractometer a lot more then the pos plastic thing I had.

I got the one melosu listed. Deff a good buy

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Once quick comment about QT salinity...

I've found that before getting a fish from a new store that you haven't purchased from, it's worked better to keep my SG around 1.024 or so. If you get a store that keeps it's tanks SG on the higher end, you're good to go. However, if you do end up with a store that keeps it around 1.020, then it's easy to just dilute down the saltier water of your QT by using freshwater. It's way easier to make salty water less salty than vice versa.

Also... don't trust what your fish store say they keep their water at. Always test the water in the bag when you get home. I've found that most in my area seem to keep it around 1.023-1.024 even though they say they keep it at 1.020-1.021.

 

[roka64]

It's way easier to make salty water less salty than vice versa.

Wow, that is an even better idea, thanks for the suggestion!