Salt in Brackish Ttank

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natscat

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jul 3, 2003
Messages
2
Location
California
I have a 40 gallon brackish tank. The tank started off as a freshwater, since my brackish fish were still small, but i did add a little salt. Now I have moved all of my freshwater fish into a 25 gallon tank and now the 40 gl is fully brackish. The point is I really dont remember how much salt is in my tank right now. Is there a way to measure the salinity of my water, or will i have to estimate?

Nat
 
You need a hydromoter. This is what us saltwater folks use to measure the amount of salt in the tank.

There are a few different types. One of the popular ones is called a "deep six" its plastic and you put it in the tank to a point and you read the swing arm where it references a scale.
 
I use a floating hydrometer. They are designed more for saltwater, but they work okay for brackish. And, they are really small and you can leave them in all the time. They are harder to find, though. Because most brackish fish do well with fluctuating salinity, you don't have to be as specific as you would with marine fish.
 
Lashilia are you talking about the glass ones? If so you might have better results reading it if you put some tank water in a glass or some other tall container and then put the hydromoter in the glass so as it does not bob up and down from the water currents.
 
The absolute BEST hydrometer for brackish is the aquarium systems full range hydrometer. It test all the way from 1.000 sg to 1.030. In brackish you usually need to test in the 1.000 to 1.010 range. The deepsix doesn't cover that area, it only covers from 1.10 and up.
 
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