emergency!! salt way too low!!!

[michaelabellz]

Whats the safest way to raise salt fast? my salinity is at 1.020 and i have livestock and zoanthids.

 

[michaelabellz]

And i dont have an ATO yet.

 

[hds4216]

1.020 is not *that* low. It should be fine for the short term, especially if you don't have any super finicky fish/inverts. Be sure to slowly raise it over the course of a few water changes by using slightly saltier than 1.025 water.

 

[Bufu11]

If everything still looks ok, depending on tank size. I would do 1-5 gallon water changes with the salt at say 1.030 or so to slowly raise it over a few days. But depends on tank size for how much can be changed at once

 

[Idoc]

There are many ways to increase it...just do it slowly. Your fish should be fine during the time it takes to slowly increase the salinity. Live aquaria, etc... keep there water around that level all the time...or at least that's what their water reads when I receive shipments from them! I would guess the zoas may be a little ticked at first but should pull through without too many issues...but then again, I'm not a zoa guy so I haven't dealt with lower salinity with zoas.

Water changes 10-20% -- you can set the new water to be around 1.026 upon entering...then do a water change every other day. You don't want to increase it too quickly...fish don't handle quick increases in salinity very well.

 

[michaelabellz]

1.020 is not *that* low. It should be fine for the short term, especially if you don't have any super finicky fish/inverts. Be sure to slowly raise it over the course of a few water changes by using slightly saltier than 1.025 water.

i lost two shrimp in the last hour so im totally freaked out. My refractometer was off by .006 I just don’t want to lose any more livestock.

 

[michaelabellz]

If everything still looks ok, depending on tank size. I would do 1-5 gallon water changes with the salt at say 1.030 or so to slowly raise it over a few days. But depends on tank size for how much can be changed at once

Thank you, I have a 45 gallon tank.

 

[michaelabellz]

There are many ways to increase it...just do it slowly. Your fish should be fine during the time it takes to slowly increase the salinity. Live aquaria, etc... keep there water around that level all the time...or at least that's what their water reads when I receive shipments from them! I would guess the zoas may be a little ticked at first but should pull through without too many issues...but then again, I'm not a zoa guy so I haven't dealt with lower salinity with zoas.

Water changes 10-20% -- you can set the new water to be around 1.026 upon entering...then do a water change every other day. You don't want to increase it too quickly...fish don't handle quick increases in salinity very well.

Okay thank you so much for the help, I’ll try that.

 

[Bufu11]

Did something happen change it fast? You said you don’t have an ATO. I can’t see it killing shrimps quickly if it wasn’t a sudden change. I would slowly raise salinity and check for other issues. High ammonia maybe? What are your other parameters like?

 

[Breadman03]

1.020 is run by quite a few people. It's not ideal, but don't panic. I'd start topping off with saltwater until you reach 1.026. There are other methods to increase salinity, but measuring and topping off is pretty reliable and easy.

 

[michaelabellz]

Did something happen change it fast? You said you don’t have an ATO. I can’t see it killing shrimps quickly if it wasn’t a sudden change. I would slowly raise salinity and check for other issues. High ammonia maybe? What are your other parameters like?

My other parameters are good other than alkalinity being a little low, I have 5 shrimps all together and 2 of them (which were babies) I got from the store earlier today, I drip acclimated them for 2 and a half hours. But it could’ve been because they were the new ones.

 

[michaelabellz]

1.020 is run by quite a few people. It's not ideal, but don't panic. I'd start topping off with saltwater until you reach 1.026. There are other methods to increase salinity, but measuring and topping off is pretty reliable and easy.

Okay thank you for the help it means a lot!

 

[hds4216]

My other parameters are good other than alkalinity being a little low, I have 5 shrimps all together and 2 of them (which were babies) I got from the store earlier today, I drip acclimated them for 2 and a half hours. But it could’ve been because they were the new ones.

What kind of shrimp are they?

 

[michaelabellz]

What kind of shrimp are they?

regular cleaner shrimp.

 

[Bufu11]

My guess is acclimation didn’t go well. Especially if the other shrimp are good. I would just slowly raise your salinity over the next few days and you should be ok

 

[michaelabellz]

My guess is acclimation didn’t go well. Especially if the other shrimp are good. I would just slowly raise your salinity over the next few days and you should be ok

Okay thank you so much for the help.

 

[cngh]

can't comment on the shrimp, and will second (or third?) that although 1.020 isn't ideal shouldn't be fatal (people do hyposalinity around 1.010 or so to treat some fish parasites/disease).

how did you determine your refracto was off? do you have a 35pt solution? or did someone else test it with their refracto? sometimes temperature affects the reading, like if your refracto is really cold.

i had a generic refracto (before I got a veegee refracto, and a milwaukee digital refracto - belt and suspenders, lol) that constantly needed adjusting, and sometimes just warming it up without any adjustments gave me different readings. i guess what i'm saying is get something you know with certainty is accurate (whether another refracto, or 35pt solution) before doing anything drastic.

good luck!