Lowering SG and Salinity...

[r00onmac]

so my hydrometer finally came in today and i put it into the tank (the red sea one that gives continuous readings) and it said my SG is between 1.027 and 1.028 ... .now i don't have any RO/DI water around right now to lower it...

is it possible/okay to use tap water treated with Novaqua just to even out the SG down to recommended levels? my shrimp, snail and fish are living beautifully but i know that levels being out of whack can cause stress so i don't want them to stay like that for too long...


also got my test kit in the mail today and my levels are
ph: 8.2
ammonia: 0
nitrIte: .05-.1
nitrAte: 0-2.5 ppm

not exactly zero but what might be expected with a tank that has .75" of fish, peppermint shrimp, turbo snail and a little over two weeks of life with no water changes yet...

 

[incysor]

I'd leave it alone until you get RO, or RO/DI water. Everything has adjusted gradually to the rising salinity levels, and it'll be fine for a couple days.

B

 

[r00onmac]

well if that is your recommendation ill take an hour and go on a road trip to the LFS... i wanted to get some of those nassarius snails anyway to eat the deterus (sp?) on the sand... and my one turbo isnt fast enough to keep up with the algae on the walls... so maybe ill grab one of those too...

 

[r00onmac]

(the trip is really to get RO/DI water though... forgot to mention that... lol made it sound like i wanted to get more snails instead of fixing the salinity level)

 

[hooterhead]

don't change the SG more than .002 per week. i'm not really sure how much this applies to salt water but that is the rule with brackish. slowly change it. especially when fish and inverts are living in the tank. the bacteria and inverts could die from the sudden change and then you've got a problem.

 

[Abarnswell]

Help! My salinity is too high!!! I'm cycling two new tanks (a 10g. and a 15g.).

The salinity on the 10 gallon is 1.029, and the salinity on the 15 gallon is even higher than that (it's off the scale of my hydrometer).

So, I need to remove some saltwater and put in some RO freshwater? Do it gradually, so as not to shock the bacteria in the tank. (I don't have any inhabitants, except for a very happy stowaway feather duster who is growing like a weed.)

What is the ideal salinity reading? My hydrometer indicates a range of 1.020 to 1.024, but I have heard higher from other people. What is the general guideline?

 

[incysor]

don't change the SG more than .002 per week. i'm not really sure how much this applies to salt water but that is the rule with brackish. slowly change it. especially when fish and inverts are living in the tank. the bacteria and inverts could die from the sudden change and then you've got a problem.

Salinity doesn't need to be changed that slowly in saltwater tanks.

A change from 1.027, to 1.025, is hardly anything.

If you were heavily stocked with very sensitive corals like some acroporas, then I'd say use a drip line to slowly change it over the course of the day. Checking every couple hours to check your level.

Since these tanks are in the cycling process it doesn't really matter at all. Just pull some of the saltwater out, and add RO water until you're back at the correct levels. You may want to keep the saltwater you pull out, because you may need to add some of it back in if you pull too much at first.

B