I just started my first saltwater tank six days ago. It is a 14g Fluval Evo. I have a lot of experience in freshwater aquariums so I started a salt tank for a new challenge.
The problem I seem to have is my salinity variability every day. I have a monitoring system that I built for monitoring pH, temp, and EC in my freshwater tanks and it records all three parameters every 60 seconds. I am seeing a 0.5ppt increase in salinity every three hours and this is with a fully enclosed lid on the tank (see graph below). For example, this morning at 0930 it measured 31.28ppt and just now at 1230 it measured 31.79ppt (I know its a little low but I'm having trouble stabilizing it).
I do not have an ATO yet but I am wondering if this amount of increase seems normal or if there might be something wrong with my EC probe. I have calibrated it recently. The probe is currently measuring:
EC : 48730 uS/cm
TDS : 26318
Salinity: 31.82ppt
SG: 1.024
For reference I am seeing roughly 1/3gal of evaporation a day. Not much at all.
The problem I seem to have is my salinity variability every day. I have a monitoring system that I built for monitoring pH, temp, and EC in my freshwater tanks and it records all three parameters every 60 seconds. I am seeing a 0.5ppt increase in salinity every three hours and this is with a fully enclosed lid on the tank (see graph below). For example, this morning at 0930 it measured 31.28ppt and just now at 1230 it measured 31.79ppt (I know its a little low but I'm having trouble stabilizing it).
I do not have an ATO yet but I am wondering if this amount of increase seems normal or if there might be something wrong with my EC probe. I have calibrated it recently. The probe is currently measuring:
EC : 48730 uS/cm
TDS : 26318
Salinity: 31.82ppt
SG: 1.024
For reference I am seeing roughly 1/3gal of evaporation a day. Not much at all.